Lancaster Council approves costly, but necessary engineering task orders

By Jack Waters
The Lancaster City Council approved a pricey, but necessary plan to address long-standing underground vulnerabilities during its Wednesday, July 8 meeting.
At the June meeting, Bollig Engineering introduced a multi-year engineering plan. Although it will require an upfront $45,000 lump-sum cost, the city will be able to recoup the vast majority of the cost through specialized state grants.
The first task order approved, Task Order No. 2, is an infrastructure planning report. It is an upfront $45,000 lump-sum contract. This tasks Bollig with preparing an extensive Infrastructure Planning Report, Capital Improvement Plan, and a funding strategy application to the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority (MPFA). This positions Lancaster to seek a newly structured 80% grant program by MPFA explicitly tailored for cities with populations under 1,000. This grant program began last November, and an accepted application before the March 2027 deadline would open up funds in 2028.
The city could retroactively seek to cover up to 80% of the upfront fees paid. The council mentioned they have the funds for the upfront fees, and these projects are necessary. As the auditor warned, if done through other avenues it could be more costly.

To read the whole story, see the July 15, 2026, edition of the Kittson County Enterprise