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Council approves Wilmar Connect contracts after hours-long debate over costs and pro forma
Summary
The Willmar City Council approved two professional-services contracts for the Wilmar Connect broadband project — a $520,393 construction-management amendment with Bolton & Mink and a not-to-exceed $400,000 agreement with Hometown Fiber — after an extended discussion about pro forma assumptions, prior expenditures and whether costs were accounted for in the bond package.
The Willmar City Council voted to approve two professional-services items tied to the Wilmar Connect phase 1 broadband project after extended debate over project costs and pro forma assumptions.
Operations Director Kyle Fox asked the council to authorize an amendment with Bolton & Mink for construction management and oversight at a cost of $520,393 and a separate, not-to-exceed $400,000 professional-services contract with Hometown Fiber to provide technical telecommunications oversight, network operations center (NOC) planning and testing and documentation services. Fox said both items would be paid from the project construction bond fund rather than the city’s industrial-park operating fund.
The Bolton & Mink amendment passed on a roll-call vote, 5–2. During discussion a council member sharply questioned why roughly $1.25 million already spent on the project would not be reimbursed from bond proceeds and expressed…
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