Frazee council approves capital improvement plan to 2029

By Robert Williams

Editor

During the Frazee City Council’s open forum Wednesday, Oct. 9, Frazee resident Jim Nelson spoke about the League of Women Voters (LOWV) hosting a delegate forum including mayoral and city council candidates at the Event Center on Monday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m.

His comments revolved around the League’s partnership with Creative Community Consulting (CCC) and that a city employee being involved is concerning because of a conflict of interest.

Nelson cited CCC Co-owner and Economic Development Authority (EDA) Consultant Karen Pifher as having openly campaigned for Ken Miosek for mayor and she has a Miosek campaign sign in her yard.

“Her involvement in concerning,” Nelson said.

As a consultant, Pifher is technically not an employee of the city. She co-owns a company that consults the EDA.

Nelson noted that Pifher has the right to personally campaign for a candidate, but he is concerned about her co-sponsoring the event and that she is biased.

Nelson called it a blatant conflict of interest and that city-related employees should not be tied to a non-partisan, grassroots organization, such as the LOWV.

City Administrator Stephanie Poegel clarified that the League of Women Voters were going to hold the forum in Detroit Lakes because of cost and CCC partnered to keep it in Frazee.

“Creative Community Consulting took it upon themselves to work with them to co-sponsor to ensure that forum happens in Frazee,” said Poegel. “That was the driving force.”

Nelson stated that making it easier to attend the forum does not take away from the concerns he expressed. 

According to City Attorney Thomas Winters, the city cannot be involved in the forum and it is up to the individual candidates if they want to participate.

“The city can’t regulate whether they are held or not,” said Winters.

Poegel clarified for council members Jim Rader and Andrea Froeber that there are no city or EDA dollars being used for the forum.

“I believe the intent is to try to hold it at the Event Center,” Poegel said.

Nelson confronted Winters on the possibility that Pifher’s conflict of interest could benefit her company or affect the questions asked at the forum.

Winters stated Pifher has the individual right to support whomever she chooses and that she was not speaking for herself in co-sponsoring the event.

Froeber clarified that she was at the EDA meeting where the candidate forum was made as an informational announcement.

“It didn’t have to do anything with EDA,” said Froeber. “She was, as the consultant, on her own, just informing us that this was coming up if anybody was interested. As Stephanie was saying, because we haven’t had any involvement we don’t know if her involvement was just, ‘we would like to have it in Frazee and not have people drive to DL.’ In order to have a conversation, we can’t fill in the blanks. We don’t know if Karen had anything to do with the questions that are being chosen. We don’t know that and we can’t speak to it because we don’t know.”

Nelson confronted Froeber asking, “You can’t see that there is a possible perception of bias?”

“That possibility would only exist if she had been invited by the League, which she is not a member of,” said Froeber. “She could just be nothing more than a facilitator. You would have to ask her, ‘Karen, did you get to help choosing the questions?’”

“The council should have her answer,” said Nelson. 

“She’s doing it as a private citizen,” said Froeber. “That would be like me going to your house and saying, ‘Jim, how many times did you go to the bank this week?’ Not my business.”

Council member Mark Kemper stated he has received calls that certain people are campaigning for certain candidates, including Pifher, but he clarified that she was doing it on her personal time.

Kemper stated he was somewhat in agreement with Nelson that the city is paying her and that it is her personal time.

“I look at it…you’re part of this you should probably be non-biased,” said Kemper.

Mayor Mike Sharp made a much more poignant statement at the conclusion of the open forum stating he will not be participating in the candidate forum.

“I have decided that I am not going to attend the voter’s forum next Monday,” said Sharp. “I have no confidence that the sponsors will be fair and impartial towards me. During my time on the city council I have seen way too much of this type of cronyism…and if elected mayor I will be laser-focused on this type of nonsense. I’m going to leave it at that. I’m tired of this nonsense.”

When reached for comment, Pifher stated she was advocating for all of the candidates and for keeping the mayoral-council forum in Frazee.

“Our reason for co-hosting was because they were going to hold it in Detroit Lakes,” Pifher said. “Our role as co-host, we’re volunteering our time to do that, was to set up the location, figure out who is going to bring treats and coffee and the League of Women Voters operates their forums based on their guidance from the state. We do not pick the questions. I have no influence over that. They do the forum. We just helped bring it to Frazee.”

When asked for comment on Sharp’s “cronyism” remarks, Pifher said, “I think we have really great candidates for the city council and mayor. They’re all wonderful people. I encourage everybody to vote and I also work very hard to ensure that we are impartial. I do have a personal opinion and if somebody asked me I would share that, however, I keep that out of how we operate everything. I have worked with the council and I show up to meetings and I ask for their input and I feel like we’ve worked together so if there is an issue with me I would appreciate it if somebody would tell me that. Everybody should be involved and vote and have an opinion and I’m not exempt from that, but I don’t bring it into my work and I think all of the candidates are great.”

After the weekend, Sharp changed his mind and will be attending the forum.

“After hearing from the League of Women Voters about their forum protocols, I have decided to attend tonight’s voters’ forum,” Sharp said in an email Monday morning. “Also, I have sent an apology to Karen for publicly assuming that the campaign sign in her front yard meant that she would not be fair and impartial towards me as a forum sponsor. I was wrong for doing so.”

Capital Improvement

The council approved the city’s capital improvement plan for 2025-29.

City Engineer Chris Thorson gave a review of the next five years of projects and trouble areas of water, sewer and street infrastructure.

“It’s just a plan; it is nothing set in stone,” said Thorson.

Projects listed with an estimated cost include:

• 2025: Main lift station and 2nd St. SW Lift Station – $2,203,000

• 2026: Various Water main, sewer and street replacement – $3,720,000

• 2026-27: North River Drive, water and sewer extension and street paving – $2,047,000

• 2027: Main Avenue surface reconstruction with Becker County – TBD

• 2029 Walnut Avenue West – Asphalt paving

Donations

The Frazee Rescue Squad received two donations, $750 from Toad Lake Campground and Residents and $25 from Betty A. Bigger.

Wannigan Park

The monthly report from the park’s committee included projections for actual 2024 and budget 2025 and 2026.

Private fundraising to date has exceeded $370,000. $1.914 million in grants was requested. To date, three have been accepted, totaling $902,400 and the grant request of $912,450 to Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission (GMRPTC) is still pending.

Expenses and matching for the four grants total over $490,000, assuming the GMRPTC grant is awarded.

The committee has a couple major requests for the 2025 Bonding Bill: A request for the

North River Drive and infrastructure, as well as a connector for the Heartland Trail between Highway 87 and Wannigan Regional Park is $2.047 million.

In addition to the bonding bill, the grant requests for 2025 total $1.86 million. Many of the grants are for $50,000 or less.

Underground fiber was recently installed by Arvig. This was the main effort needed to get security cameras added. The cameras will tie into the city police system. Power is available and a streetlight is at the main entrance. Power is also available at the bridge.

Trail engineering is being proposed for the location of the paved trails, inside and outside the park. Plans should be ready soon for paved trails in the park in 2025.

Widseth is responsible for the trails in the park. Ulteig is responsible for the trails outside the park. Carr’s Tree Service is completing the tree inventory.

From Aug. 13 to Sept 13, over 7,400 people visited Wannigan Park.

Planning and Zoning

According to Sharp, discussions are continuing on any possible changes to the city’s dangerous dog ordinance.

East Main project

Paving is underway after the completion of curb and gutter work and is set to begin immediately, according to Thorson. Pavement is scheduled to be completed by Tuesday, Oct. 15, with concrete work on sidewalk areas to follow.

Curb and gutter work was also completed on the city alleyway behind the fire hall.

Town Lake Beach

Infrastructure is scheduled to go in this week after the dirt work was completed. A grinder pump for sewage will be installed. The rest of the construction remains on schedule, according to Poegel.