Last night I saw a community that came together and put their voices to work and showed a history, a passion, and a lot of common sense. There were approximately 100 people in attendance at the Windom City Council Meeting. MnDOT representative Mary Loeffler kicked the meeting off with a Recap of the 2025 project and stated they needed Municipal Consent and asked the Council to please consider voting separately on the Permanent Easement and Change in Capacity. Representative Marj Fogelman and former Representative Rod Hamilton were present at the Council Meeting. Mayor Dominick Jones stated that Senator Bill Weber was present at the MnDOT Open House and stated Stick to your Guns Council and JUST SAY NO. Representative Marj Fogelman stated that she has listened and heard a lot of concerns and this project does not seem to be good for Windom and she will continue to be our voice. Rod Hamilton who was a part of the crew that got the 4-lane accomplished stated “it is IRONIC that we fought like heck back in 2008 and worked hard and had so many people sign letters that a four lane was safer and more beneficial”. Hamilton went onto say we stood together at a Ribbon Cutting stating “WE DID IT”! And now it makes no sense when MNDOT says they have limited resources, what they are really saying is that we are not a priority. Mayor Jones read many correspondences from the community that highlighted words like, utter failure, Fiasco, Bottlenecking, Safety Hazards, don’t make Windom, MnDOT’s guinea pigs. Windom citizens stood patiently to voice their concerns and talk about other options such as turnabouts at each end. Police Chief Scott Peterson spoke on behalf of himself, Fire Chief Ben Derickson, and Ambulance Director Kristin Porath. They would like to see permanent Public Radar Signs to be put in place to slow down traffic coming into town and see roundabouts put in place. Peterson stated statistics from last year show there were 1,866 Traffic Stops, 388 of those being moving violations and 1,408 receiving warnings. “Speed coming into town is the issue, not having the four lanes”. Peterson stated these are Exceptional Numbers for Windom. Cory Maricle of Staples talked about issues already with semi’s make left turns and if it was one lane there would be a lot bigger problems. Jess Fossing spoke on behalf of pedestrians crossing one lane traffic and its impossibilities. She at one point stated that what MnDOT is proposing is creating mass chaos and Extortion. Fossing asked the Council to not allow MnDOT to play on their emotional side and use their thinking side. The Consensus is that people do NOT want to take their children for a bike ride or a walk on Highway 60 as MnDOT is proposing. That is what residential areas are for and if this proposal goes through there will be even more traffic in residential areas from drivers trying to avoid the one lane bottlenecked traffic. Chuck Wooley stated it takes a minimum average of 5-minutes to turn onto Highway 60 with one lane this is going to be impossible to actually turn onto. Farmers equipment will not fare well with one lane traffic. There were approximately 22 people that stood in front of the council and spoke on behalf of their neighborhoods, businesses, families, farms and community. There was not one person that came forward in favor of this proposal. At the end of the meeting Mayor Jones explained that a vote would not be taken at this council meeting, but he wanted the public to know that one of the powers of being Mayor is he has the right to veto a resolution and promised the crowd that if for some reason the City Council changed their tune and decided to go with the proposal he would Veto it. There was discussion amongst the City Council and the consensus at this time is that this will not be a hard decision to vote NO. MnDOT asked the mayor to ask the council if they would consider a workshop to talk over the reaction of the public. The Council undeniably declined and stated that they have heard the voices of those they represent and will be ready to vote at the June 18th meeting, and they are done talking about this. As I was leaving last night, I was just in awe how well the crowd, the council and just the whole process went. I did learn that back in 1981 prior to the 4-lane expansion, there was a bumper sticker that read, “Pray for me, I drive Highway 60.” If everything goes as to what the people want… I don’t think we will have to consider bringing back this bumper sticker AND hopefully the mess out on the South end of town will at some point return to a four lane as well. I just have to say well done people of Windom!!!
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Today is the monthly test of the Emergency Warning Siren System. The City of Windom has an outdoor warning system and it is tested the first Wednesday of each month. If you would like to learn more about this go to www.windommn.com
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