 Bemidji's railroad corridor project was nearly derailed Monday night during the City Council meeting when the conversation turned to funding. Our Josh Peterson explains the possible options. For years Bemidji's railroad corridor has been a topic of conversation and now the project has come to a point where time is running out if they wish to meet an upcoming deadline. We're at a stage right now where we need to make some decisions on how we want to proceed ahead with this project. While the City has contracted with the St. Paul Port Authority to help redevelop the land, time is of the essence as there is a looming deadline for necessary grants. This seems to be an opportunity for us with some state assistance to actually get this location cleaned up and you know do some redevelopment down there with some state assistance. The phases would include a needed review of the land which would cost over $320,000. The conversation turned to funding and how to pay for the next steps when there's a citywide infrastructure need on the horizon. I don't support this because if the 320,000 were the end of it and it gave us an answer and there were no more dollars going to be committed but that's we're just opening the door. We're looking at numbers here that I can't support for the purpose of all the mayor Albright said there is a lot of support for the project and that there's interest in a partnership with Greater Bemidji to make it happen. Meanwhile other council members wish to wait. Maybe we need to think about what number out there would be easier for some of us to swallow. So right now I have absolutely pulled my horns in a hundred percent on this. It's not going to go away and fade but it certainly should be on a delay. In Bemidji, Josh Peterson, Lakeland News. The topic was tabled to provide further review of the project and to allow council members Roger Helquist and Ron Johnson who were not in attendance to be a part of the conversation. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.