Fergus Falls posts March 2 work session video on 2025 priorities, projects

The City of Fergus Falls streamed and posted a recorded City Council work session on March 2, 2026 in which City Administrator Andrew Bremseth presented the 2025 Annual Report to council and the public. The special meeting began at 4:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers; the recorded session was published to the City of Fergus Falls’ official YouTube channel and the Annual Report was made available on the City website.

The Annual Report tallied the city’s 2025 governance activity: 24 regular council meetings, 20 Committee of the Whole meetings, 12 Port Authority meetings, 11 closed sessions and six work sessions. The report notes a council-staff retreat after the November 2024 election that “welcomed a new mayor and three new council members,” and it lists staffing and organizational changes implemented in 2025.

Organizational shifts included an engineering department restructure and elimination of the communications manager position. Hires in 2025 included a new human resources manager, a new police chief, and Dr. James Leiman, identified as the city’s economic development director associated with Green House South.

Economic development figures in the Annual Report show the city engaged with 30 businesses, supported five active expansion projects, worked with 10 banks and financial institutions, and reported helping create 60 potential jobs while securing $7 million in federal and state incentives. Those outcomes are attributed to Bremseth’s 2025 Annual Report and summarized during the March 2 work session.

The report also recorded a critical infrastructure finding: city officials determined the City Hall bell tower was at risk of collapse in 2025 and said staff and community partners addressed the hazard to ensure public safety. That item was listed alongside 2026 priorities emphasized in the work session, which included continued economic development efforts and major street improvement projects, as well as planning for an Aug. 11 primary and Nov. 3 general election in 2026.

Background material from a Sept. 2, 2025 capital improvement plan work session provided cost context for the street program: Moore Engineering updated estimates for seven projects planned in 2026 at $12,216,440, with roughly 35 percent of funding expected from outside the community. The city’s Municipal State Aid Street allocation is $977,000 annually; the CIP notes the city may request up to five times that amount early for MSAS-designated projects. Sept. 2 minutes recorded a fiscal warning that proceeding with 2026 projects would require ten-year fund projections and could increase the tax levy in 2027; Councilmember Leighton said, “Fergus Falls is dying and it is too expensive to take on any projects,” and Mayor Hicks responded that “the city needs to start street projects as many roadways have moved beyond maintenance and now need reconstruction.”

A 4tcreative AI-generated meeting summary from Growth Forge Studio listed next steps tied to the March 2 materials: return the street sweeper purchase resolution with cost comparisons, hold neighborhood open houses for Kabort/Douglas Avenue (Feb. 4, 2026) and Cleveland Avenue (Feb. 5, 2026), conduct a public hearing on feasibility reports for Kabort, Cleveland and Douglas Avenue (Feb. 17, 2026 at 5:30 p.m.), finalize resolutions accepting three grant awards and associated budget adjustments, advance engineering for 2026 seal-coat/mill & overlay locations and the 2027 Channing/Spring project, and upload the recorded meeting to the city website after PEG access processing.

The city’s Nov. 3, 2025 regular meeting records show ongoing governance actions that parallel the Annual Report: Mayor Hicks presided; council members Fish, Job, Kvamme, Leighton, Kremeier, Mortenson, Rachels and Kilde were present; resolutions #198-2025 through #204-2025 addressed items ranging from extending the Pebble Lake Golf Course lease to approving a $25,000 Economic Development Loan to Shine Therapies for Kids LLC with a 4 percent interest rate, 60-month term, 1 percent origination fee and a personal guarantee from Kara Johnson. Open Forum on Nov. 3 recorded citizen comments from DuWayne Cookman about a trail on the former dairy property and Timothy Eklund noting a government class attending meetings.

Members of the public can review the 2025 Annual Report prepared by Andrew Bremseth on the City website and watch the March 2 work session on the City of Fergus Falls’ YouTube channel; city staff are scheduled to refine the CIP, return refined costs to council, and proceed with the listed public hearings and engineering steps toward potential 2026-2027 projects.