Per council member Jacque Drew’s request, the Blue Earth City Council added a discussion about the Blue Earth Community Library and Fossil Discovery Center to its agenda on Monday, March 20.

Drew, who is a member of the Library Board’s Fossil Discovery Center Subcommittee, moved for the city to hire a moderator to work and communicate with Fossil Discovery Center donor Jim Pollard and the City Council.

Pollard, who has many valuable items on display at the Fossil Discovery Center, has requested more creative control over the exhibit, but some members of the Library Board and Fossil Discovery Center Subcommittee have felt uncomfortable meeting his terms.

“The subcommittee has failed to find common ground and can’t move forward in any meaningful way to be able to accommodate the donor,” Drew summarized.

The three-member Fossil Discovery Center Subcommittee was formed a few months ago because the Library Board felt discussion about the Fossil Discovery Center was dominating its meetings, Drew said.

Apart from struggling to reach an agreement among its three members, Drew said the subcommittee is also struggling to identify a common interpretation of an agreement which was approved between Pollard and the city last June.

The Fossil Discovery Center Permanent Loan/Display Agreement functions primarily to dictate the terms of the display of fossils and artifacts in the Blue Earth Community Library and Fossil Discovery Center.

It clarifies when Pollard has access to the fossil collection at the library. It also states that the city will provide insurance for the collection, and will provide no more than 20 percent of the library’s square footage for the collection’s display space.

Finally, Pollard is required to notify the city and library when updates to the collection are made, and the city is required to notify Pollard if it decides to close the Fossil Discovery Center at any given time, or remove any items from its collection.

“There’s a very cyclical conversation that keeps happening about what this agreement means and what it’s supposed to do,” city administrator Mary Kennedy explained. “We can’t seem to get the donor, the Library Board and the council liaison all on the same page.”

Some council members initially suggested it would be beneficial to clearly define the agreement’s parameters. They observed that the agreement dictates how the collection itself will be handled, but does not do much to address updates to the Fossil Discovery Center exhibit itself, such as rearranging furniture or repainting walls.

Other council members advocated for moving the Fossil Discovery Center to its own building.

“I think it’s worth saving, but I think we need to find a different Fossil Center,” council member John Huisman suggested.

Eventually, however, the council decided that the most pressing issue was the subcommittee’s inability to agree on a proposal to draft in response to recent requests made by Pollard.

“We need our committee to agree. If they don’t agree, a mediator isn’t going to make a difference,” Mayor Rick Scholtes said. “My biggest concern is that we’re spending money on a moderator to fix a committee problem.” 

The council first voted on Drew’s motion to hire a moderator to go between the City Council and Pollard. While Drew and Huisman voted in favor, the remaining council members and Scholtes voted down the motion.

Council member Ann Hanna then moved to direct city attorney David Frundt to meet with the Fossil Discovery Center Subcommittee to clarify the requests Pollard has submitted to the subcommittee, and help the subcommittee draft a proposal to submit to Pollard. The motion carried unanimously.

In other business, the Blue Earth City Council: 

• Reviewed a proposed City Housing Tax Abatement Program which would provide incentives for new construction of owner-occupied and residential rental units for single-family and multi-family housing units.

The program would provide qualifying residents five years of 100 percent tax abatement for the city portion of property taxes on qualifying housing units.

Kennedy shared Winnebago recently approved an identical program, and the Wells City Council will soon review the program as well. Administrators from all three cities are hoping to pitch a county-wide tax abatement program to the County Board shortly.

The council directed Kennedy to draft a resolution for the program to present at the next City Council meeting.

• Approved Ordinance 23-02 for the sale of city-owned property at the Prairie View Addition to Joshua Anderson and Cora Haas for $21,500.

• Heard an update from Frundt regarding the Three Sisters buildings on Main Street.

He said he had informed Project 3 Sisters’ attorney the city would be interested in purchasing the buildings, but would first like to see a list of improvements which Project 3 Sisters wants considered as a gift to the city.

“We’re still moving forward as far as getting the deed done,” Frundt said. “The question of which equipment will be included (as gifts) is the issue.” 

• Heard an update from city engineer Wes Brown, who shared the city was not successful in receiving an Emerald Ash Borer Grant from the Department of Natural Resources.

The funds would have been used to conduct an inventory of Blue Earth’s existing tree population.

• Approved a recommendation from the Personnel Committee to reallocate the duties of office specialists Tammy Davis and Rayne Hanevik.

• Approved the hire of part-time Blue Earth Wine & Spirits employee Kathy Johnson, contingent on her successful completion of a background check.

• Approved the hire of Andrew Thorson as a full-time police officer.

• Approved a police department travel request from Joshua Crofton, who will be attending an AR15/M16 Armorer Class in November.

• Approved a travel request from Kennedy, who will be attending the League of Minnesota Cities Annual Conference in June.