A portion of Leaf River Recreational Trail will be widened utilizing grant money from the Department of Natural Resources.
The city of Wadena had applied for grant funding previously but wasn't chosen to receive funds. Later, City Administrator Brad Swenson received a call recently from someone with the DNR Parks and Trails Legacy Grant program who said another city had turned down funding and Wadena was next in line.
The total project was to reconstruct the existing eight-foot wide trail to 10 feet and replace a structurally deficient timber bridge on the Leaf River Recreational Trail north of Wadena. The initial grant request was for $382,580 with $134,420 coming from city funds. Since the city wasn't initially granted the funds, it wasn't included in this year's budget.
The DNR is offering $113,000, which would cover only a portion of the project. Money would need to come out of reserves, Swenson said.
The city received a new estimate of the cost to widen the trail and it would be approximately $150,350. This would leave about $35,500 that would need to be covered by the city.
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In other business, the council:
• Approved purchasing a sound system for the council chambers. The low quote was $3,107 and would include both wired and wireless microphones and a recording system. The city had budgeted $5,000.
• Set a public hearing date for a Tax Increment Financing district request from SDF, Inc. for an aquaponics project.
The company will produce organic vegetables using a technique called aquaponics, which involves growing the vegetables in water that has been fertilized naturally by fish waste.
Akash and Jami Haider have plans to build a large production facility in the Sylvan Township area, just east of Sunnybrook Park. It will be 126,000 square feet and be able to produce a large quantity of organic vegetables to be sold on the wholesale market. Vegetables and produce grow in record time using this method, they wrote in their project proposal. They expect to bring 37 full time jobs and 70 jobs total to Wadena.
• The public hearing will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 14 at City Hall.
Approved massage parlor licenses for Avery Kelderman and Brenda Finch.
• Adopted a Police Emergency Operations Plan compiled by Police Chief Naomi Plautz.
Heard an update on the Wadena County Historical Society from director Lina Belar.
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• Approved blocking off the Depot parking lot for the Wadena Ministerial Association to use the band stand stage Sunday, Aug. 2.
