Not all progress on the new downtown jail and construction center is being made with bolts and nails these days.

On Monday night during a work session, the city council decided to move forward with two land issues related to the development.

The first issue that came up was a city proposal to pay the county $100,000 in lieu of developing a lot for them.

Originally, the city had agreed to purchase and develop three of four VFW lots and turn all of the space into 50 parking stalls. The fourth lot in the area is already owned by the city.

However, the city offered to instead pay the county and not develop the property, meaning local officials wouldn’t have to go through any trouble acquiring the land like they did with the Robbins block.

The Mower County board agreed to this proposal last Tuesday, noting that parking should be adequate for the new building, which is slated to open in fall 2010.

The city also is going forward in a deal to sell a small strip of land to the Clasen-Jordan Mortuary along Second Avenue Northwest, near the old library parking lot.

The county will be taking over and using the old parking lot, but this particular 2,900 square-foot strip was not going to be used, so the city decided to make some money on it.

Overall, the deal is worth $12,900.

Both issues are part of a 27-point developer’s agreement between the city and county that city engineer Jon Erichson said is close to being all squared away.