After months and years of discussion, the city of Austin will proceed with extending sewer and water to the Cook Farm project as phase one of the area's development.

Phase one includes extending sanitary sewer along Highway 218 from 21st Avenue to the lift station for $600,000. Austin Utilities also would complete water main installation along Fourth Avenue NW as part of phase one of development.

City engineer Jon Erichson said that for the time being, "we do not have a plan of how the property should be platted" so it is reasonable to only proceed with the first phase of development.

He said the state legislature has discussed "funding for outstate Minnesota for industrial park development, but I have no idea where that is at right now."

Council member At-Large Dick Chaffee said regardless of whether or not the state will grant funding to the city for business park purposes, "we have to move forward to allow for the opportunity to expand our tax base. It's a very important task for the city of Austin."

Council member Mickey Jorgenson agreed, but also said that though she has been pushing for the city to approve not only phase one, but also phase two of the project (which includes extending sanitary sewer from the lift station to 27th Avenue NW, construction of 27th Avenue and development of future ponding areas for a total cost of $750,000), "the possibility of funding from the state causes me to be a little more conservative."

Council member Wayne Goodnature disagreed, telling council members, "we all believe in this, let's do both phase one and phase two."

In the end, council members agreed to proceed with phase one and also voted to begin planning phase two by ordering improvements but not advertising for or accepting any bids on the second phase.

In other council news:

n The Finance and Personnel committee met Monday and approved recommending to the city the allocation of up to $5,000 for this year's Barrow Show.

Austin Mayor Bonnie Rietz explained to the committee members that the funding is necessary because Hormel Foods Corp. is not the key sponsor of the show. "It's a change in the times. There are seven other shows in the country and none of them has a corporate sponsor, they're just sponsored by the National Swine Association. We're becoming more like those," she said.

However, the lack of corporate sponsorship has caused organizers to look for funding elsewhere. Chamber of Commerce executive director Sandy Forstner said the $5,000 requested from the city would be used for setting up and cleaning up after the event. "I hope this will help the Barrow Show stay for many years to come," Forstner said.