Fergus Falls council appoints acting mayor, backs pedestrian-crossing grants, approves change orders and land‑sale LOI

The Fergus Falls City Council on Jan. 5 approved a series of routine but consequential administrative and capital items, including the appointment of Mark Leighton as the 2026 acting mayor and a set of grant and construction actions that will affect future budgets and projects.

Appointments and administrative business: The council voted to appoint Mark Leighton as acting mayor for 2026 and approved mayoral council appointments and reorganized several boards and commissions. Several standing and ad hoc appointments were read and approved by voice or roll call.

Transportation grants and maintenance commitment: City staff presented applications for the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) and the Carbon Reduction Program to fund pedestrian and railroad-crossing improvements (South Union, Sheridan and two dairy-related crossings). Staff member Clara said both programs have similar goals and that the city would be required to provide a 20% local match for construction costs; she estimated the local share for the four crossings would be about $330,000. Staff and council discussed timing—applications would target construction in 2029–2030—and potential impacts such as loss of on-street parking in some locations. The council approved a sponsoring-agency resolution to submit the grant applications and a separate resolution committing the city to maintain the crossings if they are built.

Construction change orders: City engineering staff (Kyle) described two change orders related to ongoing utility and reservoir projects that arose from discrepancies between design as-builts and actual field conditions. For the trunk highway 210 utility project, staff said inaccurate underground utility records required adding approximately 80 feet of sanitary sewer and rerouting a water main; staff asked for a change order of about $58,435.60 and said the cost would be split between water and sewer funds and is within contingency. For the ground storage reservoir decommissioning, staff reported additional water-main work and requested a change order of about $51,175.30. Council approved both change orders after asking whether the labor and materials were appropriate.

Land sale, TIF and feasibility reports: The council introduced a letter of intent to sell a Tower Road parcel to Northwoods Residential Services LLC and clarified the intended purchase price in the meeting packet as $78,000; the LOI was approved and the purchase agreement will be drafted and return for formal action in 10 days. Council also authorized staff to solicit pricing and engage a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) consultant contingent on receipt of application fees from the developer, and it voted to order engineering feasibility reports for three street projects (PI5966 Cavore Avenue, PI5964 Cleveland Avenue and PI5967 Douglas Avenue) as the first step toward possible special assessments.

Claims and next steps: Council approved payment of claims presented that evening (amount read aloud in the packet but formatting in the transcript was unclear). The council ended the public portion of the meeting and adjourned to a closed session to discuss threatened litigation under Minnesota Statute 13D.05 subd. 3(b).

Why this matters: The transportation grant commitment and the land-sale/TIF steps may carry multi-year budget and development implications; the change orders highlight continuing challenges with as-built utility records and the trade-offs between upfront investigation and change-order risk.