MANKATO — From Armstrong Hall construction to a local Bureau of Criminal Apprehension facility, leaders of these projects and others expressed disappointment Monday after lawmakers were seconds shy of passing a capital investment bill in time.
The result means that lawmakers failed to pass such a bill for the second even year regular bonding cycle in a row. The Legislature did pass a major bonding bill last year.
Minnesota State University President Edward Inch said the timeline is now up in the air for the construction of Armstrong Hall’s replacement building, which the university was hoping to get $83 million for this year.
It would’ve been the second phase of the project; lawmakers allocated $8.4 million in an off-cycle bonding bill last year for phase one’s design work.
Inch said Armstrong Hall is the one building that every student with few exceptions uses as part of their program.
“This is disappointing. We had a good number of legislators on our campus over the last really 12 months as part of bonding visits. I think they all recognize the need for this building to be replaced,” Inch said.
“It is dated in terms of how we can use it for instructional purposes. It doesn’t reflect modern best practices. It is a building that is severely limited in terms of having a cutting edge curriculum.”
Inch added that the building is past its prime and that repair costs are significant.
The bonding project’s costs could go up $12 million to $15 million in the next two years, he said.
“If we’re not able to get it bonded soon, we’ll need to start making repairs to the building that we have.”
Local reactions to the end of session come after the House voted to pass a $71 million cash-only capital investment bill late in the evening Sunday.
The proposal was then brought to the Senate, but the vote wasn’t completed before their midnight deadline.
According to DFL Rep. Luke Frederick, of Mankato, there was no locally directed money in that bill.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension also expressed disappointment now that it appears there will be no local facility in Mankato for the time being.
BCA Supt. Drew Evans said the facility would have provided the necessary space and resources the department needs and would’ve provided quicker response time in the southern region.
“We were poised with the passage of the bill to be able to move forward,” he said.
“The reason it’s so disappointing to us is this is part of our overall plan to support law enforcement in our communities across Minnesota. Regionalization is an important component of that.”
Evans said the BCA was reliant on money in the bonding bill and does not currently have another way to fund the space but said they will continue to pursue the project.
Mankato City Manager Susan Arntz said the city will continue to look for other potential funding strategies, likely in the form of grants, for the city’s Riverfront Park project.
That project aimed to make upgrades to the outdoor stage and fix the boat landing.
“It likely will break the improvement into pieces, and instead of getting it done as one project that has some connectivity to it, it will likely be done in segments and pieces,” said Arntz.
South Central College had also asked lawmakers for $6.1 million in upgrades to health and agriculture spaces.
In a statement emailed to The Free Press, SCC President Annette Parker said it is unfortunate the Legislature was not able to come to an agreement on a bonding bill this session.
“Addressing the infrastructure and maintenance needs at our college is essential, and supporting our North Mankato campus-specific instructional lab renovation project, which meets the education needs of our students and workforce needs of our region, is critical,” the statement said in part.
The statement further said that the college plans to continue to share the project with legislators in hopes that they will consider future funding.
Frederick also supported Eagle Lake’s water treatment project to address manganese levels in its water.
“I would have loved to have seen Eagle Lake get the money for their water investment. It was my number one priority for bonding this year, and I’ve never made that a secret. It just means that we have priorities to immediately start working on after the election for next year. That will continue to be one of my top priorities,” he said.
Despite not passing a bonding bill, local lawmakers had some of their priorities cross the finish line.
DFL Sen. Nick Frentz, of North Mankato, who chairs the energy committee, passed legislation that would make permitting more efficient for energy projects.
“It’s landmark improvements to the speed and quality of our permitting, whether it’s wind generation, solar, transmission, connectivity, which means how we hook up all of our energy generation to the grid, it improves reliability,” he said.
“It’s a sign to Minnesotans that government can do better, can improve and it will make things not only quicker but more efficient.”
DFL Rep. Jeff Brand, of St. Peter, helped pass $11 million that will fill a gap in small town transportation funding for cities with a population of less than 5,000.
The money will mean small cities can start important roadwork sooner while they wait for the recently created Small Cities Assistant Account to start generating regular money for that purpose.
“There’s a lot of small cities across the state of Minnesota. I happen to have a few in my district, but there’s just an awful lot of cities that could use that money,” he said.
Cities will start to see the first rounds of that funding by the end of the year.
Frederick also said he was able to help pass provisions aimed at more transparency and protection for patients of recovery community organizations.
“I know that it is going to be impacting Minnesotans from now and into the future in a very positive way. It reinforces the work that our community members are already doing, too, so it’s exciting,” he said.
Republican Sen. Rich Draheim, of Madison Lake, did not respond to The Free Press’s request for comment.
