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State lawmaker tells Good Thunder council she will push for $10.9M bonding for water project
Summary
A state representative told the council she will prioritize the city’s $10,892,000 bonding request and asked the council to provide a negotiable ‘low’ figure for committee negotiations; she cited past successful city bond wins and pledged to keep Good Thunder in the bonding bill.
A state lawmaker, speaking to the council virtually, said she will push the city’s public-works bonding request — listed in the council packet as $10,892,000 — and urged council members to provide an authorized lower figure that she can use in negotiations.
“I’m your state representative,” she said, offering to be the city’s advocate in St. Paul and describing past successes securing multi‑million dollar water and infrastructure awards for nearby towns. She said a clear negotiating number helps committee chairs assess and place projects into bonding bills and asked the council to confirm the proposal and a scope the legislature can rely on.
The representative described the typical timeline: drafting bills in November–December, introducing them in January, and then negotiating through the session with the goal of placing requests into the year-end bonding package. She said she would put the Good Thunder water project “on the very tip top of our legislation” and pledged to share draft bill language with the city before introduction.
Why it matters: State bonding is the primary mechanism by which Minnesota funds local water‑infrastructure projects that are too large for small cities to finance alone. Council members and staff said the existing water treatment plant dates to the early 1900s and is nearing failure, increasing the urgency for funding support.
The council did not take a formal vote on the bonding request at the meeting. The representative asked the city to provide a negotiable minimum figure to aid her committee negotiations and to confirm the $10,892,000 figure and project scope so she can draft bill language in November–December.
