Sen. Andrew Mathews attended the Clear Lake City Council meeting Monday night to discuss the possibility of a Northstar commuter rail station in Clear Lake.

 

Rep. Jim Knoblach recently authored a bill to extend the Northstar corridor to St. Cloud. If the bill passes the council would like Clear Lake to be considered for a station.  

 

Sen. Mathews recapped the transportation bill that was passed in the last legislative session, informing the council SW light rail was discussed a great deal more than extending Northstar to St. Cloud.

 

He explained there isn’t currently a lot of interest for expansion and the cost per rider is being looked at. They’re also investigating what else the money could be used for, such as more bus routes or highway lanes. 

 

Council Member Dale Powers said in the past the council had vetoed the idea but the city had changed dramatically since that time. He explained why they felt riders would come to Clear Lake to ride the train, and offered the possibility of starting with a bus stop in order to demonstrate the ridership potential of the area.

Mathews said he was there to listen and share the conversation, and stated he would relay the information on to Rep. Jim Newberger, who was unable to attend the meeting.

 

The council approved Powers’ request to go to the Northstar Development Authority to discuss what would be needed to get a bus stop in the city.

 

City Engineer Keith Yapp informed the council they would be moving forward with the new test well now that they’d gotten approval from the land owner.

 

He indicated it would be done sometime in October, and if good results were received they would need to start looking at grants for the actual production well in 2018.

 

A motion passed approving the purchase of a new plow truck for $49,000.

 

The council passed Resolution 2017-11, water and sewer certifications.

 

Public Works Supervisor Dustin Luhning told the council the floor for the new addition to the public works building had been installed.

 

Clerk Kari Mechtel informed the council the fire department would be ordering a new grass truck chassis in the next few weeks.

 

The fire department is holding their annual open house Oct. 7 from 1 to 3 p.m.

 

The sheriff reported 45 points of contact for September, including 11 traffic, 13 security checks and one DUI. 

 

The next Clear Lake City Council meeting will be Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.