The Detroit Lakes City Council has made a tentative commitment to contribute $500,000 toward the project to build a new Becker County Museum.
Though no official action was taken at the council's late afternoon work session on Tuesday, the council members were generally in favor of the proposal from the museum's director, Becky Mitchell.
Mitchell came to Tuesday's board session to renew the museum's request from the city, as she would like to have at least a tentative commitment from them before she goes to the State Capitol next week to lobby for the project to receive state legislative funding.
State Rep. Paul Marquart and Sen. Kent Eken have each authored bills in the House and Senate, respectively, seeking a $3 million state appropriation for the new museum facility, which would be built as an addition to the existing Historic Holmes Theatre/Detroit Lakes Community & Cultural Center complex on Summit Avenue.
"It would be helpful to have that (a tentative commitment from the city) when we go before the bonding chairs next week," Mitchell told the council.
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Though Marquart and Eken had both told her it was unlikely that the bill would be passed during this session, "we're very hopeful for 2020," she added. "We're ready to launch (the building capital campaign), and we want to launch strong."
Mitchell also noted that she had already received a commitment from the Becker County board, as well as the other cities in the county, to contribute toward the building project.
"This will really be a regional center - not just for Detroit Lakes," she said, adding that the museum board's decision back in 2016 to expand its curriculum to include science and children's programming had been "a game changer" when it came to regional participation in its programs and exhibit offerings.
The council members who spoke at Tuesday's meeting all seemed to be very favorable toward the project.
"To me, the museum is very, very important for this city," said Alderman Bruce Imholte. "I would like for us to come up with as big a number as we can (for the city's contribution)."
Aldermen Ron Zeman, Madalyn Sukke, Jay Schurman and Dan Josephson also indicated their support for the project, though the actual amount of the proposed contribution fluctuated between $300,000-$500,000 during the discussion.
City Administrator Kelcey Klemm said that there was already $175,000 in food and beverage tax revenue that had been "programmed in" for museum parking lot improvements in 2020.
In addition, he said, a portion of the $390,000 in food and beverage tax revenue that had originally been allotted toward parking for the new city police facility might be redirected toward the museum project, as the police department project will most likely now be funded in its entirety through the new local option sales tax that was approved by a special referendum vote in November - provided the State Legislature approves the special legislation needed to actually implement the tax starting in 2020.
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Also at Tuesday's work session, the council discussed a tentative timeline for three upcoming city facility improvement projects. Currently, the new police department building is slated to begin construction in 2020, at a cost of $6.7 million, while the city's new public works building is slated to break ground in 2021, at a cost of $7.5 million. Also in 2021, the city is eyeing the possibility of renovating the existing city administration building, and the old municipal liquor store space immediately adjacent to it, into a new city hall. That project, with a preliminary estimate of between $2 million and $2.5 million, could also begin construction as early as 2021.
During the official business portion of the council's special meeting on Tuesday, they also approved a variety of resolutions, including:
• The second reading and adoption of an amendment to the city's existing zoning ordinance, to replace the section regulating shoreland management;
• The second reading and adoption of an ordinance rezoning the area at 921 8th St. SE from light industrial to a general business district, which will allow The Refuge to establish and operate a state licensed substance use disorder treatment facility for women on the site;
• Acceptance of a bid from Pathfinder Trail Building in the amount of $279,717 for the Detroit Mountain Bike Trail Project;
• Approval of a cooperative agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation for construction of the Randolph Road, State Aid Highway 54 and Kris Street project, slated to get underway this summer;
• Resolutions approving two separate loan applications to the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority for this summer's West Avenue/Willow Street reconstruction project, for a total of between $4.8-$4.9 million: If approved, one loan would come from the Clean Water Revolving Fund, and the other would come from the Drinking Water Revolving Fund;
• Approval of an amendment to the city's right-of-way use policy, to establish new design guidelines for small wireless facility projects.
