City Council Agendas and Minutes
HomeSome people say perception is everything. However, perception often times is not reality. The following email was received at City Hall recently:
I have so often wondered if there was anyone in power in Fairmont these days who was interested in returning Fairmont to its former glory. I remember when we were kids and we had three pharmacies, two movie theatres, two bakeries, Woolworth, Ben Franklin, the Santa house on Main Street, numerous shoe stores, women and men's stores, and several restaurants. We had it pretty good. When I read that the new addition to Fairmont was going to be a Wal-Mart on top of the Kmart and Shopko I wanted to cry. The trend all over is revitalizing the old downtowns. It's called the Main Street Project. The old buildings are already there with their old architecture, all they need is remodeling. Have you ever heard anyone in Fairmont wondering about this concept? I haven't lived there for many years but have very fond memories of life there. It is a small town (actually not even that small) but its position near Ward Park is still pretty picturesque compared to many towns. Thanks for letting me vent. Give me your feedback and maybe the name of someone in Fairmont that is responsible for the vision of future Fairmont.
I felt both a need from my official city position to respond, but also from the point of view of a Fairmont resident to clear up this person's misinterpretation of Fairmont.
My name is Mike Humpal. I am the Assistant City Administrator for the city of Fairmont. One of my key responsibilities for the city is community and economic development. While admittedly there will be a bias the following information will be factual and represent the current status and future trend ahead for Fairmont. My responsibilities started in Fairmont 10 years ago when my family moved here from Omaha, Nebraska. Economic Development has been my vocation for the last 18 years.
The Main Street program you discussed is a great program. The State of Minnesota has not adopted this program. However, that has not kept the city of Fairmont from investing just over $3.5 million dollars in building and infrastructure renovation in the downtown area. An additional $400,000 to $500,000 has been contributed by the local business community. This has redeveloped all the water mains, sanitary sewer, streets and side walks in the entire downtown area. It rehabilitated 29 apartments and 11 commercial buildings. The Post Office was converted to office space housing three businesses. There is a new Mexican restaurant, a totally remodeled pizza restaurant, and office supply store. Three private individuals have created a private club that caters to people who like to watch old movies and share high quality wines. There is a new Christian based youth center and many locally owned stores like men's clothing, antique shops, and jewelry stores, newspaper office, and three banks still all occupy downtown and keep it a vibrant and special community place. Memorial Day through county fair week there is a weekly event called Friday In The Park, it hosts live entertainment and lunch is sponsored by one of the downtown businesses. It attracts a large number of people each week. There are two street dances held throughout the summer, as well as, two car shows. The Homecoming Parade and activities are still kicked off downtown. The Glows Parade is held downtown the Friday before Thanksgiving, kicking off the holiday season with the formal lighting of the parks and city street lights. The weekend after Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season with Holiday Delights. Local businesses are open until 12:00 a.m. and downtown is a very lively place. Hardly a downtown that is down and out.
Could it be better? Of course. There could be better exit strategies for family owned businesses so that ownership is transfered from one generation to the next, but a lot of kids today do not want to be in retail. Our local hardware store which was very successful for forty years closed, not because of Walmart or any other market force, but thier son wanted to be a police officer and is with the Fairmont Police Department. Bob Wallace, former owner of Wallace Clothing in Fairmont, said the biggest factor in thier business closing after 50 years was the change in retailing nationally. Bob is our Chamber of Commerce President now. Yes we would always like to see more retail downtown, but commercial business like banks, law offices, and the like all create jobs and keep downtown viable. Yes there is an empty store front, but here again it is owned by a lady that lives out east and rarely spends any money on maintaining the building or marketing. City government and area business only can do so much, property owners need to take responsibility for their properties. Before the retail discussion is over, our local mall is 225,000 square feet and has under gone redevelopment as well, with at least $1.2 million invested.
As far as Walmart goes, it is better to have it in your own town than a town 15 miles away. Right now more and more people travel to Mankato for their shopping. Shopping has become an outing, entertainment, and we lose a lot to Mankato. Like them, hate them, or whatever Walmart does attract other national brand retailers that will have a positive impact on the community and the economy. Walmart is not built yet and JC Penney signed a new five year lease in the mall. They closed in Marshall and Willmer. Walgreens built a new store and Wendy recently opened a new restaurant. We are working with at least three other entities that want to locate in or around the new Super Walmart that will increase their property tax base by $5 Million and employ 265 people. Not all high paying jobs, but there will be a store manager, grocery manager, general merchandise manager, optometrist, and one or two pharmacist. These same types of managers will come with other establishments as well.
Fairmont Medical Center is a regional medical center partnered with the Mayo Clinic. They employ 650 people and 43 doctors. The Center for Specialty Care employs just over 100 people and has 8-10 doctors. These two facilities have spent over $25 Million in additions and building renovation in the last four years.
CHS, Inc built an $80 Million soybean processing facility here in Fairmont that helps value add a major ag product. Fairmont is working with Cargill and Biofuels Solutions on a 100 million gallon ethanol facility using 40 million bushels of corn a year (which will be the largest in the state) to further add value to ag products grown in the area. Both will add over $3 Million annually to the farm economy and about $35 Million in tax base.
We have over 75 units of housing on the drawing board targeted at the senior population. Those 55 and older make up 29% of the population. Fairmont is a good place to retire. It is affordable, clean, has low or no crime, great health care, golf courses, parks, and lakes.
Recently the Fairmont City Council committed to bringing post secondary education to Fairmont and spent $1.5 Million renovating an old grade school into a college and university center. Until 2004 Fairmont was the largest city in Minnesota without a post secondary education institution. Today, there are three institutions offering degrees at the new Southern Minnesota Educational Campus. Presentation College a private Catholic college from Aberdeen, South Dakota offering BS degrees in Nursing and Radiological Tech, AA in Surgery Tech, Medical Assisting, and Medical Transcriptions. They have 115 students enrolled in classes. MSU offers an AA in General Studies. South Central College will be offering an Ag Management program and St. Mary's offers a Masters in Education. The Governor was here on September 16th for the building dedication and hosted his radio show from the Red Rock Center. His comment was that the City of Fairmont should be an example of how local ownership and entrepreneurship can make great things happen. To date local businesses from the area have contributed over $150,000 in donations for technology for the building and creating local scholarships. That's a lot to be proud of considering Fairmont has been trying to get a college established here since 1968.
Positive Economic Indicators:
The population debate is up in the air as Fairmont has been actively pursuing a challenge to the Census Bureau's 2000 numbers and subsequent estimates. City officials believe the city has had a consistent to slightly growing population of between 11,265 and 11,500 not the published 10,898.
New soccer fields, Aquatic Park, outdoor skate park, the overall quality of the parks and lakes, golf courses, and school district in Fairmont make our city truly one of the best places any where to raise a family and grow a business. We know things could be better that is why we don't quit at having a good community we work hard at creating a GREAT community. Positive Action, Positive Attitude, Positive Reality.
Should you have additional questions or concerns do not hesitate to call me at 507 238 - 9461 or email me at ecodevo@fairmont.org.
City of Fairmont
100 Downtown Plaza
PO Box 751
Fairmont, MN 56031
(P)507.238.9461
(F)507.238.9044
citygov@fairmont.org