NICOLLET — The Nicollet City Council continued continued to discussed a proposed trail as part of the Old Highway 14’s reconstruction project.

In August the council first discussed constructing a bituminous trail on the north side of Old Highway 14 from Main Street (TH 111) to Birch Street.

The council still had questions they wanted to answer before going ahead on the project. The preliminary cost estimates are high, and the council was not sure about the crosswalk across Highway 111.

Mayor Froehlich said, “We need all the pieces before we can make a decision.”

Council members Kevin Ostermann will talk to MnDOT and Froehlich to County Commissioner Kurt Zins.

A future meeting with the county and MnDOT may need to be scheduled with the full council present. Council members Matt Anthony and Mary Wels were absent at this council meeting.

In other news:

•Counciler Ostermann and Phil Radel provided information regarding their discussions with Southwest Regional Development Commission (SRDC).

Ostermann and Radel are on the committee to work with SRDC to come up with a plan for development for the city and to get citizens involved in the process.

Radel said there is a fee and grants are available; however, the city may need to match the funds. Radel and Ostermann both felt that SRDC provided a lot of information and will need to have more conversations about what is possible for Nicollet.

Mayor Fred Froehlich encouraged them to keep going to see what they can come up with for the city.

•Bill Blashack, a member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, attended the meeting to reduced rate for watering at the church.

He explained that about 3-4 years ago, the church cut down seven trees, took care of the brush and stumps, but did not put dirt down and the lawn went to weeds. They have now sprayed the weeds, seeded grass, and have been watering since the middle of August.

He asked the council to figure out the church’s average water charge, and the extra water that they have used watering could be charged at a lower irrigation rate.

The council made no formal motion, but unanimously agreed that the Catholic church should put in a meter for irrigation as the city needs to be consistent and treat everyone as a whole and not give exceptions.

•A new pumper tanker truck order by the city has arrived dealer, Fire Safety USA in Rochester, after being built by E-ONE, a fire truck manufacturer in Ocala, Florida.

The cost of the truck was $375,000, and the dealer is working on an upgrade and some graphics. The Nicollet Fire Department expects to receive the truck in about a month. The city of Nicollet pays approximately 27% of the cost of the truck.

•Due to a blind spot, there will be three to four “No Parking” signs installed along the south side of the alley on Elm Street through the east side of the Greenspace Park.

The blind spot has been a safety issue in the past. Recently it was reported a resident almost hit two children who were coming out of the park due to a semi parked in the location.

The council wanted to establish a No Parking zone before an accident occurs.

•A resolution was approved establishing regulations for counting of write-in votes. The new resolution reads: “Write-in candidates will only have their individual votes tallied if the number of write-in votes for the contest is greater than or equal to the fewest number of votes cast for a non-write-in candidate.”