The Garretson City Council met in monthly session on November 6, 2017. All council members except Dave Bonte were in attendance. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance and consent calendar approval, followed by a presentation by representatives of Sayre Associates, the engineering company that is spearheading the three road, water, and sewer construction projects in Garretson in 2018.
The projects will be occurring spring through fall of 2018 on 3rd Street, Main Avenue, and Railroad/Depot Avenues. All projects are very extensive, and require careful schedule planning to ensure as little disruption to residents and businesses as possible. Residents and downtown business owners should plan to attend at least one of the public information meetings that will be held early 2018. More information about those meetings will be publicized as the details become available. The representatives from Sayre Associates, Thad Roberts and Tyson Hasz wanted the Council to understand that due to the schedule, the entire project will likely take a full 6 months. Main Avenue will begin after Jesse James Day. A discussion regarding sidewalk width followed. Currently, 4-foot wide sidewalks along both sides of 3rd Street are planned, but Americans with Disability Act recommendations are likely to eventually phase out to 5-feet widths, and Council members wondered if perhaps it would be in the city's best interest to do 5 feet to get ahead of the recommendation. Due to the use of federal funds for the Dows Street sidewalk project, the sidewalks there will be 5 feet wide, as all federal regulations already use the recommendation. Grow Garretson member Chad Hanisch spoke with the representatives about some recommendations that Grow Garretson had regarding corner bumpouts to increase pedestrian safety. It would increase the difficulty of snow removal, but City Maintenance officer Craig Nussbaum said some snow removal processes will need to be changed after the project regardless. Fellow Grow Garretson member Carrie Moritz mentioned that studies showed how bumpouts also help to slow traffic, which further increases pedestrian safety. The representatives said they would take those recommendations into account and keep in contact.
Garretson resident Leah Konechne asked how the 3rd Street project was going to affect old growth trees along that route, and who was paying for the sidewalks if everyone is receiving one. Roberts responded that several trees will be affected, and the specifics will be at the public meetings that will be held. They also said they've used other ways to keep residents informed about the projects, such as weekly email updates, and the council encouraged them to make use of those information releases. Council member Gloria Sanders suggested having more than one public meeting, and Mayor Tim Mullin said, "Information will also go into City bills because it will affect a lot of people for a long time." (Continued on Page 2 of our online edition)
