×
×
homepage logo

City Hall open house is Monday, Feb. 3

By Chuck Hunt - Editor | Feb 2, 2025

Rayne Hanevik is shown at her desk inside of the new Blue Earth City Hall. The public will have the opportunity to view the facility during an open house held on Feb. 3.

The Blue Earth city offices have moved from their old City Hall and are now operating out of their new City Hall and are ready to invite the public to come take a look.

The new City Hall is located in the former Wells Fargo Bank building on Seventh Street.

The city will be holding an open house event there on Monday, Feb. 3, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., with a special brief program set for 3:30 p.m.

The event is open to the public and light refreshments will be served.

Guests will have a chance to tour the facility and meet city staff and council members.

It has been over a year of work to transform the former bank building into the new City Hall.

The city purchased the former Wells Fargo Bank building, which had closed in March of 2021, in an online auction back in early November of 2023. Purchase price was $225,000.

It was in January of 2024 that the city received 14 responses from architects to a Request For Qualifications. The city hired Brunton Architects and Engineers to do the plans and oversee the remodeling.

In July of 2024, the city had received six bids for the general contracting work, six for the electrical work, three for the HVAC work and four for the plumbing.

The plan was to have all the work completed by the end of the year, but it took just a bit longer and was completed earlier this month.

The Public Works Department crews took care of moving everything to the new location in late January, and the City Hall was closed for two days for the move.

The former City Hall building, on Sixth Street, has a purchase offer on it and is expected to be sold to the county later this month.

It was announced at the last City Council meeting that the County Board wants to buy it to use it as a transit bus garage.

As far as the move to the new City Hall out of the old one, it went pretty smoothly, city staff say. They have been busy getting everything out of boxes and into its proper place.

City Public Works Department workers have been assisting with projects such as installing equipment and hanging pictures on the walls, etc.

“We want to be all ready for the open house on Monday,” city administrator Mary Athey said. “We hope people show up and take a look.”