A light agenda produced a quick meeting Becker City Council meeting Tuesday night. Highway 25 Coalition City Administrator Greg Pruszinske brought forth a request to draft a letter to join the Mississippi River Crossing Coalition already formed.

 

Sherburne and Wright counties — along with the cities of Big Lake, Monticello and Big Lake Township formed a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) a while ago with the intent of collaborating on a Mississippi River crossing to be located somewhere in the Monticello area.

 

Even though the crossing location is yet to be determined, Pruszinske says he agrees with the position of the coalition that the crossing would benefit both sides of the river from a general traffic standpoint but also from an economic development standpoint.

 

In February, Wright County Highway Engineer Virgil Hawkins brought forward a proposed joint powers agreement to the Wright County Board of Commissioners. In the proposal, Sherburne County  proposed a pair of potential bridge locations and the one that appears being “on the front burner” is located at a sitet near the Monticello Nuclear Power Plant west of the City of Monticello.

 

Several other locations have been discussed over the years from Otsego to Clearwater, but for the purposes of the Hwy. 25 Corridor Coalition, the location near the nuclear plant is seen as the ideal location.

 

Pruszinske said the costs associated with belonging to the coalition are driven based on the projects being planned for the upcoming year. Under the JPA guidelines, funding of the coalition would have Wright and Sherburne County paying half of the funding with the two-to-three cities and the township comprising the other 50 percent.

 

In 2017, the plan is to conduct a traffic study and locate priority crossing points. The coalition uses a sliding scale to determine how much each jurisdiction owes. The financial impact to Becker for 2017 would be $18,750. 

 

However, Pruszinske said, that would be the “top end of the spectrum” as the coalition will be submitting a grant application and soliciting additional partners to join. If the coalition's grant gets funded, the cost would be reduced to around $15,625.

 

Pruszinske pointed out there likely will be ongoing costs to coalition members, based on upcoming work plans that will be determined at a future date.

 

Council voted and approved the formal request to join the coalition.

 

Mayor Lefty Kleis announced that DeWayne Sommerdorf of Pebble Creek Golf Course was named the August 2016 Safety Award recipient.

 

Sommerdorf is being recognized for his outstanding work while working on a sprinkler head at the golf course. He was able to cover the hole and put up cones while it was being worked on making it much safer for the employees and customers to get around the course. 

 

Mayor Kleis said Sommerdorf is always looking out not only for his own safety but that of others.

 

• Council voted to approve the consent agenda that included the hiring of Josie Berger as a part-time employee at the BCC.

 

The next Becker City Council meeting is Oct. 4 at 6 p.m.