The Blue Earth City Council voted 4-3 to proceed with a $6.2 million airport runway extension project.

The council held a special meeting on Monday night, Oct. 26 for the sole purpose of discussing the project and voting on it.

Councilmen Dick Maher, Glenn Gaylord and Rick Scholtes, along with Mayor Rob Hammond, voted yes. Councilmen Dan Brod, John Huisman and Les Wiborg voted no.

The question was whether to proceed with just resurfacing the current 3,400 foot long runway or proceed with extending it 1,200 feet and adding a taxiway and apron area.

The cost is expected to be $6.2 million for the full project, with the federal government paying 95 percent of most of the project. Blue Earth’s local share is expeced to be $307,000. Just doing the resurfacing of the current runway would have been about $4.1 million with BE’s share at $206,000.

Read the full story in the coming week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.