Sewer and water updates  planned for the city

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The State Highway 87 project includes reconstructing the road as well as adding a path from the school to just beyond the city beach.

By Barbie Porter

Editor 

The Frazee City Council held a special meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 9 to discuss costs of the upcoming State Highway 87 project. 

The project includes the Minnesota Department of Transportation reconstructing the state highway. The cost of the roadwork will be paid by MnDOT.

In addition to the street work, the city approved installing a multi-use trail and sidewalk. The cost for that portion of the project was stated to be $784,000. The city was awarded a Transportation Alternatives grant for $475,000. 

The city engineer, Kris  Carlson, said the preliminary numbers for the trail piece of the construction work was about $235,000.  He added other items, such as some street lighting, may be eligible for grant dollars as well.

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The Minnesota Department of Transportation has held several meetings regarding the upcoming State Highway 87 project in the past few years. The work is slated to begin this year.

The city also received a grant to help pay for the city services being installed along Lake Street. Carlson said one grant provided 80 percent coverage to work on the water mains, but the amount the city may receive for work on the sewer systems was still to be determined.

A representative from David Drown Associates, the city’s financial advisors, spoke about the bond needed to pay for the projects.  The documentation provided in the city council packet stated the recommended size of temporary general obligation bonds for water system improvements to be about $1.08 million with an interest rate of 2.3 These funds are to replace water and sewer lines.

If the loan came to maturity the interest would make the total cost $1.15 million. 

The council learned this bond was a temporary bond, which allows the city time to see if grant funding can be obtained for the sewer portion for the project. The council was also informed they can pay the bond off at any period during its 3-year term.

The council was also directed by its financial advisor to accept a second bond for $792,000, also called a MIDI Loan through Minnesota Rural Water. 

The financial advisor said this will be more to do with trail ammenitites. The $792,000 bond came with an interest rate of 2.55 percent bringing the total payoff amount in Feb. 2038 to $981,771. These funds are for the the sidewalk and trail related improvements associated. 

The council approved the bonds.