EDA chair Lissia Laehn, left, and former chair Bill Rosenau listen to the discussion.

A new cleaning service and updates on the recent Ag Center demolition were on top of the agenda for the Blue Earth EDA meeting on April 10.

Economic development specialist Amy Schaefer presented the EDA members with the results of their Ag Center Request For Proposal (RFP).

“We received two responses for the proposal; one from CJ’s Cleaning Services LLC at a price of $600 per week, and the other from Legacy Cleaning at a price of $3,900 per month,” Schaefer explained. “I would recommend taking the lower bid, but I will open the floor for discussion first.”

EDA member and public works director Jamie Holland added on to the conversation, explaining that his current staff were only serving in the interim and that a new janitorial staff was needed.

“My staff are not being paid to clean the building, and now that it’s the busy season for us, we need to find a long-term solution,” Holland said. “We don’t have the security clearance to access the janitorial offices, so we can’t do the thorough cleaning that a building this big demands.”

EDA member Lissia Laehn voiced her support for accepting the bid from CJ’s Cleaning, citing a positive prior experience with them.

“CJ’s is local, and they did some good work for us during COVID,” Laehn offered. “They are also the low bid, so I don’t think it would be a terrible idea to go that direction.”

“I’ve worked with CJ’s before too, and I can’t say I had the same experience with them,” Holland responded. “If memory serves, we had to let them go because the quality of their service dropped significantly, and they weren’t working their full hours during the week.”

“Does anyone remember how much we were paying Devin to do janitorial work here?” mayor Rick Scholtes asked.

None of the members present could recall the wages paid to former Ag Center maintenance worker Devin Greenside, whose resignation letter was approved at the March 17 Blue Earth City Council meeting.

“I will also note that neither company offers floor stripping and waxing in their listed price, and that it will cost us extra to do that from either company,” Schaefer added. “That being said, how often do we need to have the floors waxed in here? Twice a year?”

“I believe Devin waxed the floors for us four times a year,” Scholtes replied. “It’s not something that needs to be done super frequently, but the floors do get dirty in here.”

After some final discussion, a motion was made and seconded to accept the bid from CJ’s Cleaning Services LLC for $600 per week. The motion was passed unanimously.

Schaefer brought forward a Commercial Business Improvement Forgivable Loan request from Twin Pines, LLC.

“The Edward Jones building which neighbors to the recently-demolished Three Sisters building is asking for a $5,000 grant to weatherproof the now-exposed north wall of their building,” Schaefer explained. “We offer matching grants for this sort of work, and they are eligible to receive it.”

A motion was made and seconded to approve the grant. The motion was passed unanimously.

Scholtes presented the LMC liability coverage waiver to the EDA, along with a correction from the City Council meeting on April 7.

“I didn’t catch this until after we had adjourned, but we voted on this incorrectly at the City Council meeting,” Scholtes said. “We were supposed to vote to NOT waive the statutory tort limits, but a word got missed when we made the motion. We’ll have to redo the vote at our next City Council meeting.”

A motion was made and seconded to not waive the statutory tort limits. The motion was passed unanimously.

Holland provided an update on the state of the Ag Center Suite after the recent demolition, the area of which was toured by the EDA members at their last meeting on March 13.

“That area is about as demolished as it’s going to get,” Holland shared. “However, we need to hire someone to rip out the rest of the carpeting, and I would suggest sealing off the plumbing in that area, too.”

A preliminary motion was made to list the space for potential occupants and proceed with the required work in the meantime, but during discussion, EDA member Bill Rosenau inquired after the police department’s plans for the space.

“Is the police department actually moving into that space?” Rosenau asked. “If I recall correctly, they wanted to modify the space when they moved in, and those modifications to that space would be permanent.”

“I’m waiting to hear back from Tom Fletcher about that,” Scholtes responded. “I need a quote from him before we can proceed any further with that arrangement.”

“I just wanted to state that I think the police department moving into that space is a bad idea,” Rosenau explained. “I think we should rent the space out instead, as it would be a better financial investment by the city.”

Following this discussion, a revised motion was made and seconded to proceed with the required renovation projects, but postpone listing the space until those projects were finished. The revised motion was passed unanimously.

Chamber director Sara Ferguson, who was also present at the meeting, shared that she had applied for and was accepted into the 2025 Executive Leadership Program, which is run by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Executives.

“I’ll be attending a series of six sessions with various chambers of commerce around the country as part of this program,” Ferguson shared. “My first session was on Monday, April 7 with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and I’m already looking forward to attending the next one.”