Minnesota House District 22A representative Bjorn Olson visited the Blue Earth City Council during its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 2, to hear their comments and concerns.

The Blue Earth City Council’s first meeting of the year included discussion about skate parks and non-compliant trailers.

Per council member Ann Hanna’s request, the council added a conversation about constructing a skate park to its agenda for Tuesday, Jan. 2.

“Having a skate park has always been near and dear to me,” Hanna began. “What I’m looking for is direction from the council to the parks department to put this in a medium priority, instead of absolutely not considering it. If we could do it in five years, I would be very happy about it.”

Hanna also referred to the city’s recently-completed Park System Master Plan – a roadmap envisioning the future of Blue Earth’s park system.

The master plan, in fact, does identify adding a skate park to a neighborhood park in Blue Earth as a medium priority.

“While not garnering overwhelming public interest, skate parks and similar facilities have seen a resurgence in popularity,” the plan reads. “These facilities often cater to multiple types of wheeled sports and can often reach teen and pre-teen aged children.”

The master plan concludes, “While considering other mid- to long-range improvements, the city should explore adding a skate park facility at one of the parks to amplify the recreation resources in existing parks, but also diversif(y) recreation opportunities for the community.”

Hanna said she has identified several possible sources of funding for the project, including the Let’s Skate organization in Sioux Falls and a foundation established by famous skateboarder Tony Hawk.

Council member Dan Ristau, who is chairman of the Parks and Recreation Subcommittee, agreed that constructing a skate park is a medium priority item, but he also observed that the established procedure for initiating action on parks-related projects is to funnel ideas through the subcommittee.

“Parks and Recreation should be approached first, then that committee should come to the council,” Ristau said, adding that the committee currently has two other high-priority projects on the docket. “I’m not against skate parks, but we have a master plan that we need to follow to do what the community wants.”

Mayor Rick Scholtes agreed, adding, “We’re probably not going to get it built this year, but in the next five years it would be nice to have it done. We just need to have the committee come up with a plan and bring it forward.”

The council also held a public hearing for a property on E. 14th Street. The hearing was scheduled to address two trailers parked on the property. The trailers are in violation of City Code because they are not parked on an improved surface.

City attorney David Frundt reported that the city already has an order for abatement to rectify the code violations, so no further action was needed by the council on Jan. 2. To address the matter, the city intends to relocate the trailers to a secure area on city property.

Although the owner is not currently residing at the property, the council learned that people are living in one of the trailers. They were concerned about what will happen to the people once the trailer is relocated.

The council also observed that it was the property owner who received the notices of violation in May, June and July of last year, and it is likely that the occupants of the trailer are unaware of the violations.

Frundt explained that, legally, it is the owner’s responsibility to notify the occupants of the trailer, not the city’s.

Nonetheless, the council requested that the Blue Earth Police Department notify the trailer’s occupants of the trailers impending relocation.

Council member John Huisman added, “We don’t want people living like that. It’s not a healthy environment for them, and it’s not a precedent we want to set that you can put a trailer on a property and just live there.”

In other business, the Blue Earth City Council:

• Received a visit from Minnesota House District 22A representative Bjorn Olson.

“I have absolutely no other reason to come here today other than to say that I’m here for you,” he informed the council.

Olson also said he is aware that Blue Earth’s proposed water treatment facility improvement project still needs funding, and he will continue to advocate for the project at the state level.

“I can’t guarantee that there will be a bonding bill this year, but if there is I will fight for Blue Earth,” Olson said.

• Learned from city engineer Ben Rosol that recent digging on Galbraith Street between Second and Third Streets was conducted to connect a service line to a property at that location. The service line was mistakenly identified as inactive during last summer’s construction work.

“This is a common situation that we run into,” Rosol said. “The city won’t be paying any of those extra costs outside of what they would have paid for that connection in the summer.”

• Approved Task Order No. 1 for the Riverside Heights Utility Extension project’s design and bidding phase.

Rosol explained that Bolton & Menk wants to submit the plans for the project to the Public Facilities Authority at the end of March to stay in line for grant funding to begin construction in 2025.

• Approved Change Order No. 1 for the Putnam Park Tennis Courts project, in the amount of $6,240.56.

Rosol explained the additional costs arose from extending the project’s timeline in an effort to receive more favorable bids from contractors.

• Learned from Rosol that the pre-construction date for the Highland Drive lift station project has been set for Jan. 24.

• Learned that an extensive letter of violation has been sent to the attorney for the owner of the vacant Three Sisters Buildings. The letter details several code violations at the buildings which need to be addressed.

Frundt said that if the violations are not addressed, the council can then consider issuing an abatement order to the property’s owner.

“Probably in February,” Frundt added.

• Requested that Frundt investigate who owns two parcels of land which are located west of the Jolly Green Giant.

Scholtes explained that the Legion is interested in constructing a veterans memorial at that location.

• Discussed complaints the city has received regarding the increased price for to-go meals at the Senior Center.

“The idea is for people to go to the Senior Center to eat and socialize,” Scholtes explained, suggesting that perhaps the Senior Center should discontinue the to-go meals if they continue to be problematic.

• Approved Josh Anderson and Cora Haas’s request to combine two lots on the northeast corner of the Prairie View Subdivision.

• Approved the appointed boards, commissions and standing committees for 2024.

• Appointed the Faribault County Register as the city’s official newspaper for publication, First Bank Blue Earth as the official depository and CarlsonSV as the city’s auditor.

• Appointed Steve Brown as the Blue Earth Fire Department chief and appointed Ryan Vereide as captain.