New council member Tim Lawrence was welcomed and sworn in at the Monday, Aug. 7 Hastings City Council meeting. Soon after, Mayor Fasbender announced the council had three items to consider. Community Development Director John Hinzman discussed three resolutions to award contract for City Hall Annex roof, to award contract for City Hall masonry and to award contract for City Hall plaster repair and vapor barrier.  

“A lot of thanks to the work that City Planner Justin Fortney has done in preparing all the information for tonight, working with the contractors and also helping in securing the $2 million in bonding from state general obligation bonds to help pay for some of these projects,” Hinzman began. “So, we're happy to bring forward three of these items tonight that pertain to City Hall. The first of them deals with annex roof replacement. This is for the flat section of the city hall area, not the dome portion of it. There is an (rubber) roof that needs to be replaced on that.  It went out for bids. We only had one bid that did come in. However, this is a well-respected organization that does this and that bid did come back in within our budget estimate. We estimated about 195 to 262 for that bid. The bid that came in from Central Roofing was $199,950, on the lower end of that range, which is great.” Hinzman recommended approving the bid for $199,950. 

The next item for approval was the masonry work within the dome area. Two bids on that project were both very close, one for $57,500 and one for $58,800. Hinzman recommended Restoration and Construction Services as the low bid. The contract would take a few weeks to complete and then get started over the wintertime. The other bid for the interior and the plaster going into the dome area as well as a vapor barrier within the crawlspace area itself. Two bids came in, one much smaller than the other. He recommended the bid of $84,750 from Norse Valley who did some work for the city previously. The council approved all recommendations. Millard Dunwoody Architecture is employed as the general contractor. 

Marijuana usage in Parks and Public spaces was discussed. City Administrator Dan Wietecha referenced the recent recreational marijuana legislation. The law does not allow adult use of cannabis in public spaces, but there is no penalty attached and cities can decide the extent of public use. The City of Hastings currently prohibits tobacco use in parks. This policy could be reviewed and expanded into an ordinance. It was recommended that this be referred to the Parks & Recreation Commission for further deliberation to make marijuana usage unified with the tobacco-free policy in parks. Council discussion suggested prohibiting just the smoking of marijuana since beer and wine are allowed in parks presently, as well as supporting medical marijuana use.  

Hinzman provided an overview of the Special Use Permit (SUP) request for 315 Pine Street, a historic property which is being restored after fire damage. The permit would allow for the first floor of the building to be used for social gatherings, while the other floors remain residential. The Planning Commission reviewed and recommended the SUP and the council followed suit with approval. 

Maddie Swanson, Community Development Department intern, shared results of her Downtown Parking Study. Swanson provided the history of parking studies, provided visuals to create distinct areas for the study. Her results showed that approximately 33 percent of available parking spaces are used during the weekdays; highest usage areas are 2nd Street (between Hwy 61 and Sibley), City Hall parking lot, and the downtown parking lot. The council appreciated the work Swanson put into this study and hoped that she could have had more time to study weekend parking. The council complimented the work she did on the Maker’s Market vendor events as well. In general, this study revealed that city’s free parking is underutilized.  

Hinzman provided an update on the Micromobility permit and Spin and Bird Rides Scooters. As it turned out, Spin was the only vendor this year. It was reported that the manager is in the Twin Cities area and manages fleets in many cities. Hinzman shared some feedback regarding scooter use in the city. Some reported that there was lack of availability in some areas of the city, some riders did not follow rules, underage riders were noticed, and scooters were left at inconvenient locations. However, Hinzman did say he didn’t hear many complaints. Spin management said that there has been high usage of the scooters in Hastings.