“I have in front of me the signed commercial purchase agreement and development agreement that were delivered here over the weekend,” said Blue Earth’s city attorney David Frundt during the Blue Earth City Council meeting on Monday, March 18. “The Three Sisters group signed them as presented whereby they took the recommendations of the EDA with regard to the timeline of the HVAC system and the painting of the south wall, so I’m asking for official approval of the official commercial approval and purchase of sale agreement whereby the city will be selling three buildings plus the alleyway behind it, for a total of four tracts, a total purchase price of three dollars.”

A roll call vote was called for the approval of the purchase agreement. The entire Blue Earth City Council unanimously passed the motion.

The next phase of the Three Sisters project will be to set a closing date, which will be as soon as all schedules with the involved parties align. Potentially, the closing could be as soon as next week.

Project Three Sisters, LLC will have approximately 18 months to satisfy their agreement with the city in regard to the HVAC system and painting of the south wall. The Blue Earth EDA, who worked with the city on the agreement, originally had other stipulations, but those were removed.

In other portions of the Blue Earth City Council meeting, members of the council were informed that Blue Earth’s Safe Routes to School project was selected for funds appropriated by the legislature in 2017, with an estimated $91,000 of Safe Routes to School funds available for the project, on top of another allocated $270,000.

According to a letter from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Faribault County will need to act on the city’s behalf as the project sponsor and will assist the city with the State Aid project approval process and act as the fiscal agent for the funding on the project. The city will submit construction plans for approval along with an engineer’s estimate before the final funding determination is approved.

When the federal aid project plan is approved by MnDOT, the city will receive their final funding approval letter and instructions for execution of the grant agreement.

Currently, the council heard consideration from the street committee on changing the route from using concrete on the path to a 10-foot trail made of bituminous material in order to allow the new route to be used as a biking and hiking trail.

The street committee expects to take bids on the north Sailor Street project soon.

Ibisch said he spoke with members of MnDOT with regards to the change from concrete to bituminous material, and informed the council it should not be a problem.

The council also approved a “complete streets” policy for the city of Blue Earth. Ibisch spoke of the fluidity of Blue Earth’s Main Street project when it came to accessibility for the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, motorists and commercial and emergency vehicles.

“This draft was referred to the street committee for review. They discussed it and their recommendation is to approve the complete streets policy and make one of our new policies for the city,” said Ibisch. “What it does is formalizes the approach towards transportation that the city takes. It helps to guide decision makers in planning, designing and constructing transportation networks to anticipate the needs of all of its users.”

The council unanimously approved the policy, while also approving Resolution 19-04, requesting comprehensive road and bridge funding.

In the city administrator’s report to the council, he spoke of additional stop signs within the city of Blue Earth.

“The Street Committee discussed the potential additional stop signs on the corner of 10th and Moore streets,” said Ibisch. “They asked Jamie Holland to review this location and inquire if the hospital had any opinion on this addition before they act. Jamie will speak with Mr. Ash (CEO of United Hospital District) and get feedback. Then this summer action can be taken.”

“We need to take action now,” said councilman Glenn Gaylord. “That intersection is an extreme hazard.”

Gaylord was so adamant about the hazards of the intersection that he made an immediate motion to place a four-way stop at the intersection of 10th and Moore. The motion was seconded by Russ Erichsrud, and then passed unanimously by the council. The stop signs have already been placed at the intersection.