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A special meeting of the North Branch City Council Thursday, January 22, produced answers to two questions. The first; what company would be selected as the design engineering consultant for the I-35/Highway 95 bridge project. Secondly, who would be appointed to the vacant seat on the council.

Two companies were asked to present their credentials and design for the interchange. The first, SEH, worked on 10 projects recently that are very similar, one being the County Road 17 interchange in Lent Township. Brett Johnson, who would be the project manager on this project, stressed they would find ways to reduce the overall cost of construction. SEH worked closely with MnDOT and has a Financial Advisory Team that is experienced in funding issues that may arise. They are a local team located 30 minutes from North Branch and have nine employees that actually live in town, according to the presentation.

The second company, WSB & Associates, has worked with the city for years. Bret Weis, President, explained there's 150 skilled staff members who focus on value, customer service and expertise. They have the most certified bridge inspectors in the state and always work to get the project done on time (substantially completed by the end of 2010) and at or below budget. The team would be responsible to secure any additional funding needed and control construction costs.

After both presentations were complete Council member Larry Erickson made a motion to hire WSB because of past relationship. Any established connections would allow the project to begin faster. WSB was approved by a 3-1 vote, with, Theresa Furman voting nay.

Because of the promptness of the presenters and the short amount of time taken by deliberations the next item of business, considering the prospective council members, began early. Each candidate gave a brief talk stating the three things they felt important to work on during the next year and how they could help the city. The ESSBY Project and bringing new business to the community to lower the property tax burden on homeowners were mentioned. The tight budget and the bridge project were also top priorities. All had a passion to help make the community a better place to live and work.

Council member Furman was impressed that several of the candidates had been there for the consulting firm presentations. She nominated Peter Holmes who was approved by a 3-1 vote with Council member Kathy Blomquist voting nay. The candidates; Peter Holmes, Debra Nagle, Kevin Orf, Cindy Erickson and John von Lange were all called back into the council chamber after the vote was taken. Mayor Amy Oehlers thanked them and told them it was a difficult decision. She thought all of the council members would have been comfortable with any of them, but Holmes was the new member. He was congratulated by all the others and will be sworn in at the next regular council meeting.

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