Photo by Kirsten Zoellner
At the November 19 meeting, the Rushford Village Council welcomed Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Senior Engineer Mitchell Kiecker. Attending virtually, he provided a final Safe Routes to School report. Community Economic Development Associates (CEDA) Community and Business Development Specialist Rebecca Charles applied for the grant on behalf of the village.
Kiecker previously met virtually with the council and city engineer Derek Olinger of Bolton & Menk to discuss the grant for pathways from the city of Rushford extending to residential areas to the north and south in Rushford Village. Eventually, the group decided to focus on the south project, from the Root River Bridge to the residential area of south Rushford. The prioritized project was further refined to the west side of Highway 43 from the bridge to Highway 43 South and 16 East intersection, crossing over at the intersection to continue on the east side of Highway 43.
Design concepts include two alternatives: a raised path with a curb and grass buffer between the road and path or enhancing the existing shoulder. Other ideas to increase the separation between the path and roadway include a concrete barrier, guardrails, or high-tension wire cables. There is space in the right-of-way to accommodate plans, and additional easement acquisition from adjacent property owners is unneeded.
Kiecker noted two possibilities regarding the floodplain bridges. The village could use the existing sidewalks on the bridges, but they would need to reduce from 8-10 feet to just five feet and then widen back up between the bridges, or the village could increase the width of the path on the bridges if the path is flattened flush with the roadway. Both options require additional work with MnDOT District 6 staff.
Kiecker pointed out that applying for the grant does not commit the village to the project. It’s also not a promise that MnDOT will award funding. The intention was to dig in and determine options and potential costs. The construction cost estimate for a raised path option is $725,000, while the shoulder enhancement option is $870,000.
“That is a lot of money and we are not going into this expecting anyone to say, ‘Alright, great. We’ve got just shy of a million dollars burning a hole in our coffers right now,” said Kiecker. “The big intention is to blend this very quickly with our infrastructure program at MnDOT.”
The MnDOT Infrastructure Grant opportunity at the State Aid office is up to $1 million in construction funding. However, it does not cover any engineering for the project. The exact figure is unknown, which causes concern.
“The expensive piece is the coordination and there are more plan reviews associated with it,” said Olinger. “It’s more advanced than just your local project.”
“We can still step away from it down the road, correct?” asked Councilor Mike Ebner. “Even if we move forward with it, we’re not guaranteed to get this.”
“It’s not a guarantee,” responded Kiecker. “It’s competitive funding. There are people across the state that will be competing for it.” He added that there are different “buckets” for the funding based on the size of the area, so funding is spread among all districts. The Safe Routes to School Program and the MnDOT Active Transportation Program also have funds. Additional funds may come open in May of next year. “There are two buckets of money right now that’s available,” he added.
“You don’t know the city’s cost. You have to know that before you apply. The cost isn’t zero,” said Olinger. “We don’t have a full picture here. Realistically, this is a problem that requires a lot of engineering design. Quite frankly, I think it’s not smart to not have an engineer looking at that. I’d be uncomfortable with just CEDA looking into that.”
He also expressed other concerns. “If you’re applying for the grant, you should be seriously considering and wanting the project. If that’s really not the case, think about it and apply next year.”
“There’s some steps missing,” he added. “What are we doing here? It just seems like there’s some fairly easy coordination that you can get done, but it’s not. I’m nervous that it’s missing right now. I don’t want you to walk in and commit to something you don’t fully understand.”
The current CEDA contract covers the cost to apply for the grant should the village move forward. Charles, also attending virtually, cautioned the village.
“We don’t have to pay a dime to apply,” she said, adding that Kiecker had told her engineering isn’t typically more than 5-7%. “This is $870,000 free dollars to put towards a project that we did identify through a lot of community outreach is something they’d like to see. We’d be losing an opportunity. We certainly would still be able to decline it, if we were awarded, if we haven’t been able to figure out how to cover the rest of the cost. But, if we decide not to move forward with it, we’d have to wait two years to apply again.”
The council tabled the item until the December 3 meeting.
In other news, the council approved the results of the November general election. There were 583 people registered to vote. Another 31 registered on election day. There were 57 absentee/mail-in ballots. The total number of voting was 527.
“Overall, it was really good,” said Clerk Mary Miner. “It was a really good day.”
Mayor Dennis Overland will serve another term as mayor, running unchallenged. He garnered 98.55% of the vote, 477 votes. Similarly, Councilors Rick Ruberg and Mike Ebner will retain their seats with 419 votes (49.7%) and 420 votes (49.82%), respectively. There were seven write-in votes for the mayor and four for the council.
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