The Windom City Council, on a 2-3 vote, rejected a proposal presented by MNDOT for replacing the HWY 60/71 and 10th Street stoplight.
The proposal would have had the state pay a higher portion of the total, bringing City costs down to about $226,000. MNDOT officials will go back to plans to see if they can find other reductions.
The issue came to light during the spring of 2024 when MNDOT approached the city about replacing the stoplight. In June 2024, the city was told that their portion of the expense would be $177,000, a cost agreed to by the City Council. The following month MNDOT came back with an increase in the estimate to the total of $420,000.
At the City Council meeting on Wednesday, MNDOT officials Mary Loeffler and Zak Tess gave a brief presentation discussing the timeline of the stoplight as well as MNDOT reworking of costs to bringing down the total charged to the city to $226,000. Council expressed concern over the amount, noting that though the price was lower, it was still out of reach for Windom city budgeting.
After a lot of discussion, Council Member Jenny Quade, moved to approve the MNDOT proposal, telling the council that she was making the motion because something needs to be done about the intersection and also as a way of gauging Council sentiments toward the proposal. Jayesun Sherman seconded the measure. After brief discussion the vote was taken and the motion failed 2-3, with Quade and Sherman in favor, and Scott Benson, Dennis Esplan and Jim Nelson opposed.
MNDOT reps will take this information back to Mankato to determine any remaining course of action that might be taken. Regardless of any negotiations, the signal system is deemed well past its service life, could be at strong risk of system failure. As stated in a memo to the city, as a matter of safety it needs to be removed this summer.
More detailed information will be found in the January 14 edition of the Cottonwood County Citizen.
