The front side of the Three Sisters buildings is shown at left. Demolition is expected to start soon, with the county helping with the cost.

The Faribault County Board of Commissioners agreed to help the city of Blue Earth pay for the demolition of the Three Sisters buildings on Main Street, but not until next year.

Blue Earth mayor Rick Scholtes and city administrator Mary Kennedy came to the County Board meeting on Aug. 6, requesting the county to consider providing $64,800 from the Commercial Demolition fund for the purpose of the demolition of three commercial properties on Blue Earth’s Main Street.

“We have a low bid of $164,800 from G&S Drainage and Excavating for the demolition of the buildings,” Scholtes said. “The city will fund the remaining $100,000 of the demolition costs not covered by the county. Demolition is necessary to promote public safety and for future site redevelopment. The city recently acquired the site from the Project 3 Sisters and paid the unpaid property taxes.”

A motion to grant the funding request was made by commissioner John Roper and seconded by commissioner Greg Young which put the matter on the table for discussion.

“The city has demoed many properties on our own,” Scholtes stated. “We wish we could fix and restore these buildings but they are beyond repair.”

“We plan to have the site redeveloped but do not have plans yet,” Kennedy added. “A community survey showed that the people would like to see the site redeveloped. With the existing housing shortage, it would be nice if whatever was constructed on the site could have some second story apartments.”

Young pointed out that the city had received a very reasonable bid for the demolition of the buildings, but commissioner Tom Loveall still had some reservations.

“My thought is that our policy for helping with demolitions is for tax-forfeited properties,” Loveall commented. “My concern is that this does not meet the parameters of our policy.”

Commissioner Bruce Anderson also voiced his thoughts.

“I am concerned that if we wait until the time it becomes a tax-forfeited property, it might cost a lot more to take the building down,” Anderson said.

Scholtes pointed out that technically the property was originally tax-forfeited back to the city when the group from South Dakota turned the property over to the city back in 2014.

“If the city would not have just recently purchased the buildings, they would have gone back to the county in another two years,” Kennedy said.

Chairman Bill Gros-kreutz shared that the availability of funds is the real issue.

“We do not have the dollars in our budget to make this payment this year,” Groskreutz explained. “What I would propose is we pass this for the 2025 budget year so we can include it in next year’s budget and also so we can rework and clarify our policy. If we do this, the money will not be available until after Jan. 1, 2025.”

After clarifying that the money would indeed be available after the first of the year, Scholtes commented that the city could make that work.

The board passed an amendment to the motion on a 4-1 vote. Then the complete amended motion to make the funds available next year passed on a 4-1 vote with Loveall voting no both times.

County engineer April Wellman attended the meeting to provide the board with a brief update on the road and bridge projects in the county.

“The work is progressing on the County Road 2 bridge west of Kiester,” Wellman said. “The road is now passable but it will not be paved until the bridge located on County Road 1 is completed and ready to be paved. Work on the County Road 1 bridge is scheduled to begin at the end of August.”

Wellman told the commissioners that the city of Kiester had decided to just do the work on the city streets this year and will delay the work on County Road 58/64 within the city until next year.

“They were concerned that construction on the county roads could interfere with harvest since those roads lead to the elevator in town,” Wellman told the council.

Wellman also reported that the seal coating projects were completed at the end of July and that striping would begin early to mid-August.

“The striping you may have seen on County Road 16 is actually part of the Interstate 90 project since the county road is part of the detour during road construction,” Wellman commented.

Wellman concluded by telling the commissioners the 2023 Annual Report was complete and that she would plan on reviewing the report with the board at their next meeting.

During the board’s committee reports, Anderson updated the other commissioners on the county’s two parks.

“The nightly rates at Woods Lake Park will increase from $20 to $25,” Anderson said. “The seasonal rates at Pihls Lake Park will increase from $2,000 per year to $2,250 per year.”

Anderson noted there has been a problem with some people not paying their fees.

“We are updating the payment terms so that seasonal campers will be required to pay their cost up front,” Anderson shared. “Half of the total fee will be due by Feb. 1 and the other half will be due by April 1. If the first downpayment is not received by Feb. 1, then that spot will be forfeited and go live for weekender reservations.”

The seasonal rate for Woods Lake Park is $1,500 and the winter storage rate for both parks is $100.

“The winter storage money must be paid in full by Oct. 15,” Anderson commented. “If no payment is received by Nov. 15, the camper will be towed.”

Cleanliness requirements were also addressed by the Park Board committee. Campers are to keep their site clean and clear of junk. Those in violation will receive two verbal notices followed by one written notice which will give the campers 30 days to clean up their sites.

“If the site is not clean to the park manager’s satisfaction within 30 days of the written notice, the violators will be asked to leave and their seasonal payment will be forfeited and they may be banned from future seasonal bookings.”

Pihls Park has 46 sites, including 23 new seasonals while Woods Lake has 29 sites.

The board also:

• Reviewed the quarterly report for the Sentence to Serve program.

• Approved signing a contract with Vanguard Appraisals Inc. for software and setup fees which will automate some tasks in the county assessor’s office. The one-time setup fee is $950 and the annual fee is $250.

• Passed a motion to hire Delaine Netzel-Shaffer as the part time clerk/typist in the recorder’s office.

• Approved a motion appointing commissioners Young and Loveall to the 2024 Election Canvassing Board and set 10 a.m. on Aug. 16, in the courthouse boardroom as the time and place to convene for the Aug. 13 Primary Election.

• Approved a motion to set 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in the courthouse boardroom as the time and place to convene for the Nov. 5 General Election Canvassing Board.

• Approved the training requests of Vincent Do of the Sheriff’s Department to attend both the Constitutional Policing and Crimes Motivated by Bias and the M2M American Change seminars.

• Approved the training request of Sheriff’s Department employee Todd Hanevik to attend the Jail Administrators Conference and Jacob Peterson, also of the Sheriff’s Department, to attend the 2024 Law Enforcement Labor Services Annual Training.

• Approved the requests of Merissa Lore, Dustin Anderson and Luke Schonborn of the Faribault County Drainage Department to attend the Minnesota Association of Drainage Inspectors Conference.