BEMIDJI 鈥� The Bemidji City Council will play a waiting game as it approved a Memorandum of Understanding requirement for the State Highway 197 project during its Monday meeting.
Following a Sept. 16 public hearing, the council was tasked with a resolution approving the final layout of the project which includes adding roundabouts at the Menards entrance, Middle 歪歪漫画 Drive and Hannah Avenue while keeping current traffic signals at other intersections.
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The project aims to improve safety and traffic flow along the Highway 197 corridor, a common thread throughout Monday鈥檚 discussion.
According to the MnDOT must obtain municipal consent for any highway project within a city that results in altered access, increased or reduced traffic capacity, or required acquisition of permanent right of way.
鈥淭here are exceptions to the municipal consent statute for roundabouts,鈥� MnDOT Project Manager Matt Upgren said. 鈥淭here are safety improvement exceptions, but that鈥檚 not something that we鈥檙e exploring at this time.鈥�
Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince questioned the council鈥檚 say in the matter given that roundabouts are typically associated with being safer than a traditional intersection.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 written in the material that we were given states that roundabouts are used for traffic regulation as a safety measure and thus are exceptions that do not require municipal consent even if they require acquisition of permanent right of way,鈥� Prince said. 鈥淧art of me goes, 鈥榃hat are we even being asked for?鈥� 鈥� I kind of feel like it gives us a false illusion that we have much of a decision as a council because I鈥檓 not so sure that we do.鈥�
Without a need for municipal consent, Prince expressed concern about other intersections in town that could be altered for safety reasons.
鈥淭his worries me greatly for the rest of the corridor,鈥� he added. 鈥淚f a roundabout is a safety enhancement, could you make that argument for every intersection? Potentially, and if you don鈥檛 need our consent for municipal consent, what鈥檚 to say that (MnDOT) couldn鈥檛 take any of those intersections, do them on their own and not even talk to us?鈥�
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A study in the Traffic Safety Evaluation at Roundabouts in Minnesota report from October 2023 showed that roundabouts in Minnesota reduce severe injury crashes by 40% overall, fatal and serious injury crashes for bikes and pedestrians by 70% and total bike and pedestrian crashes by 15%.
Memorandum of Understanding
Ward 3 Councilor Ron Johnson initially proposed drafting a Memorandum of Understanding that could prevent further roundabout construction beyond the State Highway 197 project.
Ward 1 Councilor Gwenia Fiskevold Gould expressed hesitancy about an MOU given MnDOT鈥檚 working relationship with the city. She referenced a 2019 council decision that rejected the construction of five roundabouts along the corridor, after which MnDOT worked alongside the Headwaters Regional Development Commission to come up with new designs.
鈥淲hen this was voted down in 2019, (MnDOT) could鈥檝e moved forward with it. So, the fact that you came back to us and continued to work on this shows me that really good faith effort,鈥� Fiskevold Gould said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure an MOU is necessary when we have it on public record that MnDOT has said 鈥榃e will honor the plans that we have put together with your community.鈥欌��
Prince emphasized his view of the importance of MOUs given prior collaborations between the city and other government agencies 鈥� namely Northern Township during its MOU negotiation process to connect to Bemidji鈥檚 water and sewer infrastructure without annexation.
鈥淭rust is fine, but as mayor, I鈥檝e inherited a number of situations that didn鈥檛 have MOUs,鈥� Prince added. 鈥淚n business, I learned a long time ago that what you put in writing, the more gray you eliminate, the better it is for everyone involved.鈥�
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Following further discussion, At-Large Councilor Audrey Thayer moved to require an MOU from MnDOT, which passed 6-1 with Ward 2 Councilor Josh Peterson voting against.
"Because this lies in my ward, I've had a handful of business owners and constituents reach out to me 鈥� and even had constituents literally stop by my house 鈥� all asking me not to support this project," Peterson said. "As an elected official, I've had no one reach out to me in favor of this project. For that reason, I will be voting no."
If MnDOT doesn't approve an MOU, the matter may be returned to the council in a future meeting.
Other business
The council conducted a public hearing regarding the 2024 street reconstruction project, which included paving on Third Street Southeast, from Central Avenue Southeast to Scott Avenue Southeast; and from Grant Avenue Southeast to Lake Avenue Southeast, in the Nymore neighborhood.
The city's amount for assessment is $45 per foot for road work. For connecting either sanitary sewer service lines or water service lines, the amount for a household is $1,070. In total, the project costs $1.1 million while the assessments came to $132,609.82, or about 12%.
The assessment will be spread over a 15-year period for residents with a 4.5% interest rate.
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The council also discussed projects to which it could allocate American Rescue Plan Act dollars including various uses for the fire station, rail corridor, Sanford Center, city committees and infrastructure. The council is expected to revisit the topic at a future meeting.
The full meeting can be seen on
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