May 26—- As
continues to seek a location on which to construct new facilities, the Municipal Utilities Commission reviewed the project timeline leading to this point and the reason it is moving forward plans to build.
Earlier this year,
for land adjacent to, but just outside, city limits for its new facilities. However, the
forcing a new search for a location.
The council cited the cost of the land and of extending city utility services as the reason for the override. Some councilors thought the new facilities should be located in the
“We’ve had some additional conversations with city staff, talking about, you know, how to move the project forward and getting on the same page,” said Willmar Municipal Utilities Facilities and Maintenance Supervisor Kevin Marti during a recent Utilities Commission meeting. “We actually feel pretty good about those initial conversations that we have had.”
Willmar Municipal Utilities has been planning for this project for 15 years, according to Marti, identifying the need for a new building in 2010 and setting the goal to have a new building constructed by 2020.
A consultant developed multiple building scenarios and conceptual renderings, and the initial project budget was in the $8 million to $10 million range.
Current buildings are 75 to 80 years old and have structural issues, water damage and mold-contaminated systems, plus they lack fire alarm systems and sprinklers and do not comply with standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“I will note that we don’t just let the walls crack and the ceilings fall down and just not do anything about them,” Marti said. “We do maintain the buildings the best that we can and take care of issues as they arise. We plan maintenance and try to take care of what we have the best way that we can.”
Willmar Municipal Utilities currently operates from four different locations throughout the city. Facility studies showed that a minimum of eight to 10 acres is needed to consolidate all its operations into one location. Typically, the search has centered around finding 12 to 15 acres to allow for future expansion.
Service trucks currently need to be special-ordered to fit under the overhead garage doors and ceilings.
Sharing photos of the trucks in the storage garages, Marti said, “You can see … how tight that ceiling is to the line trucks that we order in. They have 3, 4 inches max in certain spots in that building.”
He noted that if something needs to be worked on inside the shop, other trucks have to be moved outside due to the tight space.
Materials needed for maintenance or expansion are stored in multiple locations, causing inefficiencies and inventory control issues.
“We’ve had issues in the past where things are disappearing on some of these sites that we don’t have the best control over,” Marti said.
New facilities would provide opportunities for Willmar Municipal Utilities to become more energy-efficient and technology-friendly, as well as allowing for operational efficiency.
“Obviously, anytime you’re building something new or buying a new car, or whatever you’re doing, you’re advancing the technology that you’re using and making life easier,” Marti said, noting that the original facility study suggested that operational efficiency can be improved by as much as 17% to 34%.
In 2015, Willmar Municipal Utilities formed a building committee that met seven times that year to evaluate buildings and site needs and then toured multiple sites throughout the state in 2016. Travel efficiency and space programming were also updated from the 2010 study by the original consultant.
In 2017, Willmar Municipal Utilities increased the budget for new facilities, now estimating it would cost $12 million to $16 million, according to Marti. It was also determined that the current location at U.S. Highway 12 and Seventh Street Southwest was not a viable option for new facilities.
Willmar Municipal Utilities planned to move forward with the project in 2019, but it was delayed due to higher priorities and funding limitations, according to Marti.
The project again moved to the top of the list in 2021, when a site criteria list was developed and potential sites were identified and prioritized according to that list. In 2023, the cost estimates rose to $18 million and Willmar Municipal Utilities had $10 million procured, according to Marti.
Representatives from Willmar Municipal Utilities toured several other utilities facilities throughout the region and in 2025 explored five properties along the Civic Center Drive area in northeast Willmar, but were unable to negotiate purchase agreements for any of those properties.
Throughout the planning process for new facilities, the city of Willmar has also been exploring a new city hall, and the possibility of building a municipal campus for Willmar Municipal Utilities and the city hall has been explored, Marti explained.
Discussions along those lines first took place in 2016 and were set aside. However, with multiple changes in city administration throughout the years, the possibility of a joint municipal campus was again explored in the years 2018, 2019 and 2023, according to Marti.
“As a person who’s been part of this since it started as a liaison to the City Council, I’ve been part of this project for a very long time, and I can tell you, you did a good summary here,” Municipal Utilities Commission Chair Shawn Mueske told Marti.
“The Utilities’ plan has never changed,” he continued, adding that he is struck by the fact that a project that started out between $8 million and $10 million is now $18 million. “And every year that goes by, that money goes less and less farther down the road. … Hopefully we can get off of this and get a good, acceptable site, and get these dollars into the building they were supposed to be intended for from the beginning.”