Blue Earth EDA specialist Amy Schaefer addresses the Blue Earth Council about some tax abatement proposals during last Monday’s meeting.

Sewer extension updates, a discussion on city code violation policy, and a request for formal Tax Increment Financing and tax abatement policies were all on the agenda at the Blue Earth City Council meeting on Monday, May 5.

City engineer Ben Rosol presented the council with updates for the sanitary sewer extension east of Highway 169, a cost estimate concept for the East 14th Street project, and Resolutions 25-14 and 21-15 for MPFA lead service line replacement project funding applications.

“The sanitary sewer extension project is small enough to be a stand-alone project, but I’d like to ask the council whether we’d like to try and get it done this year in 2025, or wait a year and add it to the 2026 schedule,” Rosol remarked.

“If we decide to schedule this project for 2026, it gives us time to apply for a bond,” mayor Rick Scholtes replied. “However, all of our other projects are waiting on the bonding bill to be passed by the state legislature, and if that gets delayed, that means all of the projects in 2026 are going to be impacted.”

Council member Ann Hanna raised a question pertaining to the East 14th Street portion of the project.

“There’s a strip of land for sale on the northeast side of South Grove Street, and according to the map, it’s not connected to the planned sewer extension,” Hanna commented. “Are there plans to connect that area during this project?”

“No, that area is not currently connected to the project, but it wouldn’t be difficult to connect it if we wanted to,” Public Works director and interim city administrator Jamie Holland replied. “It wouldn’t be super expensive to do, either, so it’s definitely an option we can keep open.”

Hearing no further discussion, a motion was made and seconded to continue looking into the East 14th Street cost concept. The motion was passed unanimously.

Following this, motions were made and seconded to approve both Resolution 25-14 and 25-15 for MPFA lead service line replacement project funding applications. Both resolutions were passed unanimously.

Mayor Scholtes presented the council with a document from Tammy Davis, detailing the current city policy for reporting City Code violations.

“Tammy reached out to me and wanted to remind everyone of the procedure for reporting City Code violations,” Scholtes explained. “She prefers to have complaints sent in via the Go Gov app, as it helps create a paper trail and also allows her to communicate with the person submitting the complaint.”

Scholtes also mentioned that Davis had expressed some frustration with the current system of mailing out repeat notices to the community, and was seeking ways to manage repeat offenders in the future.

“I think we should provide Tammy with a “next step” of sorts, when a property doesn’t respond to a certain amount of repeat letters,” council member John Huisman remarked. “Is there someone she can go to when a certain property doesn’t respond to repeated letters from the city?”

“In the case of repeat offenses without any intention to fix the problem, I would suggest that Tammy go to either Jamie or Chief Fletcher, depending on the nature of the violation,” Scholtes replied.

“Is there any way for us to fine these people for repeat infractions, as well as taking corrective action?” Hanna asked.

“Fining people for infractions is an option, yes,” city attorney David Frundt replied. “We are capable of both fining someone for an infraction as well as serving them with a court order, but those are two separate avenues of action.”

Council member Mike McNerney raised a question about how letters are mailed to people who commit a city code violation.

“Do we use any sort of priority mail to mail out these letters, or is it just sent via standard mail?” McNerney asked.

“Currently, we just use standard mail,” mayor Scholtes replied. “It’s the cheapest option.”

McNerney then proposed the idea that, after a certain amount of offenses, letters might be sent via certified mail rather than standard, to ensure that they don’t get lost in the mail. Mayor Scholtes agreed, but countered that sending letters via certified was considerably more expensive, and that the goal was to reduce the amount of letters having to be mailed out in general.

Following some further discussion on other potential solutions, an agreement was reached to table the issue until the next City Council meeting, where it will be discussed further.

Blue Earth EDA specialist Amy Schaefer presented the City Council with a request for permission to actively communicate the city’s willingness to consider Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and tax abatement as development incentives for prospective businesses, as well as authorization to draft a formal TIF Program Policy and Business Tax Abatement Policy for future council consideration.

“I have had several businesses and developers approach me recently asking if our city offers development incentives, and given that our city does not currently have any established TIF districts or a standing tax abatement program, it’s difficult to give them a satisfactory answer,” Schaefer explained. “Therefore, I’m seeking the council’s approval to publicly promote the city’s openness to explore the use of these options, as well as to develop drafts for TIF Program Policy and Business Tax Abatement Policy for council review.”

After giving the council time to look over the list of pros and cons she provided, a motion was made to allow Schaefer to go forward with drafting the TIF and tax abatement policies, as well as allowing her to offer it as an option to interested parties. The motion was passed unanimously by the council.

Other business discussed at the City Council meeting included:

• Holland presented the council with an update concerning the ongoing search for options for a new police garage. A City-owned lot adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant has been identified as a potential spot to construct a garage which could be shared between the police and public works departments, with preliminary estimated costs between $80,000 and $100,000. Following some discussion, a motion was made and seconded to allow Holland to proceed with a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the construction of this garage. The motion was approved unanimously.

• Mayor Scholtes gave an update on the ongoing search for a city administrator from Mike Humpal of South Central Service Cooperative (SCSC). The application is now closed, and a total of nine applicants applied for the position. Six applicants have passed the preliminary check, and will now proceed through the next series of assessments, which will be conducted by SCSC.

• A temporary beer license for the Blue Earth Pirates and a solicitor permit for Clear Cut Xteriors were both unanimously approved.

• A travel request for Wesley Bell of the Blue Earth wastewater treatment plant to attend a Type 4 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency training session on May 19-20 was unanimously approved.

• City attorney David Frundt provided an update on the properties at 525 East Fifth St. and 1006 East Fifth St. Frundt shared that family members with rights to the 525 property have been in touch, and are willing to turn the property over to the city. For the 1006 property, no word has been received from the family, and the city is ready to proceed with a petition for a hearing to take over ownership of the property.