The Blue Earth City Council met for exactly two minutes on Monday evening, Jan. 22.

The special meeting was scheduled to approve an ordinance amending the city’s snow plowing and snow emergency policy.

The council decided to approve the ordinance at a special meeting to ensure that, if possible, an official ordinance governing snow plowing and snow emergencies was in place before the next bout of inclement weather.

Otherwise, the council would have needed to wait to conduct a second reading of the ordinance until the next regular City Council meeting on Feb. 5.

Among other things, the amended policy addressed by the ordinance states that the public works director has the ultimate authority to declare a snow emergency. However, the recommended criteria for making that decision include snow accumulation of two inches or more, drifting snow and icy conditions which affect travel , and the time of snowfall in relation to heavy use of streets.

The policy also states that snow emergencies will be in effect from 12 a.m. to 6 p.m., unless residents are otherwise notified.

When an emergency is declared, the city will cooperate with KBEW radio station to give notice to the community and post notifications on the city’s social media platforms.

According to the policy, “During an emergency, it is unlawful for any person…to park, stop or leave standing,…any such vehicle upon any city street until the street is plowed curb to curb.”

During a snow emergency, residents are also restricted from depositing snow onto public streets or creating temporary obstructions in the right-of-way with items such as garbage cans, basketball hoops or landscaping objects.

The policy states that the penalty for a first violation of on-street snow emergency parking regulations is a written warning.

The penalty for a second violation is a $50 ticket, and the penalty for a third and each subsequent violation is a $50 ticket and towing of the vehicle at the owner’s cost.

Although the city approved the ordinance amending its snow plowing and emergency policy on Jan. 22, the policy itself was adopted in November of 2023.

“This is the policy you’ve already adopted put into ordinance format. If you approve this tonight, we can get it updated in all the code books and it can be enforced by the police department,” city administrator Mary Kennedy explained at the special meeting. “We’ve been doing as much public education and notices (about the policy) as we can.”