A loan from the sewer fund to Fort Dodge Fiber will be considered by the City Council when it meets this evening.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. in the Municipal Building, 819 First Ave. S.

The measure before the council calls for loaning a maximum of $3.5 million to Fort Dodge Fiber, which is the municipal broadband utility.

The loan will have a 5.25 percent interest rate. It must be fully repaid by June 1, 2029.

The loan will be paid off with revenue generated by the municipal broadband utility.

“The loan is needed because building the network ended up costing more than originally expected,” City Manager David Fierke wrote in a report to the council. “The initial budget was based on mid-level designs, but the final plans added more footage and expanded the project’s scope.”

“On top of that, a delay in building the fiber ring pushed back when customers could start getting connected by almost a year,” he added.

The repayment schedule for the initial loan used to finance construction of the system was set up before the delays. According to Fierke, “the utility is scheduled to start making principal payments starting in June 2025 even though the full customer base isn’t up and running yet.”

Construction of a water main to link Fort Dodge and Manson is also on the council agenda.

The plan to connect the two water systems emerged in 2021 after Manson experienced several unsuccessful attempts to drill a new well. Design of the project started in 2022.

The council will consider awarding a contract to build the water main. Gehrke Inc., of Eldora, submitted the apparent low of about $1.3 million.

The city of Manson will pay $700,000 for the water main. The rest of the money will come from water connection fees and a state revolving loan fund.