CARES Act Funding Helps Renovate Sartell Council Chambers

SARTELL -- The Sartell City Council chambers will look a little different to residents attending a meeting.

The city spent the last few months renovating the space through the CARES Act funding they received.

City Administrator Anna Gruber says they really needed to upgrade their technology to help better reach the residents of Sartell.

We were having issues with sound and our technology was very outdated, so it was a great opportunity for us to completely update our AV and media. It's a great opportunity for us to reach our residents better.

Besides the technology upgrades, the city also added new carpeting and paint, updated windows, new TV monitors, furniture and completely redesigned the council seating setup.

We knew we wanted to have better seating and seats we could clean and spread people apart. By shifting the council seats to the other wall, it will actually allow for us to have room for about 65 people.

Gruber says the total cost of the renovations was about $250,000.

In addition to the council chamber renovations, they were also able to install a window barrier at the front counter, touch screen monitors in the main entry and cubicles for office staff.

She says they were fortunate to make the upgrades they needed with some of the CARES funding but were even more thankful to use a majority of that money to help local businesses.

The newly elected council will hold their first meeting in the renovated council chambers on Monday.