Blue Earth City Council member Ann Hanna, above left, gives her support for redrafting an ordinance, as city employee Rayne Hanevick listens and takes the minutes at the City Council meeting last Monday.

Bids for the 2025 Lead Service Line Replacement project, the first draft of an updated Business Subsidy Policy, and a discussion about updating the nuisance ordinance for dead and diseased trees were all on the agenda at the Blue Earth City Council meeting on Monday, July 21.

City engineer Ben Rosol presented the council with the bids for the 2025 Lead Service Line Replacement project.

“We received four bids for this project, with the low bid coming from Northern Pipeline Construction at the total amount of $1,656,738,” Rosol explained. “This project will be removing and replacing lead water services in over 140 locations around Blue Earth, and the estimated starting date is in fall 2025.”

Hearing no further discussion, a motion was made and seconded to accept the low bid from Northern Pipeline Construction in the amount of $1,656,738. The motion was passed unanimously.

EDA specialist Amy Schaefer presented the council with a draft for an updated Business Subsidy Policy.

“The last update that the city made to our Business Subsidy Policy was back in 1999, so we’re due for an update,” Schaefer commented. “I’ve created this updated draft with some assistance from Baker Tilly, and I’m open to suggestions from the council for additions and changes.”

Mayor Rick Scholtes raised a question about how to proceed with approving the updated policy once it was finalized.

“Will we need to hold a public meeting in order to approve this policy once the draft is finalized?” Scholtes asked. “I don’t think we do, but I’m just asking to make sure.”

“We probably don’t, but I don’t think it would be a bad idea to hold one anyway,” city attorney David Frundt responded. “That way, our bases would be covered in the event that we did need to hold one.”

No action was taken on the policy draft at the meeting, but an agreement was reached to add the finalized draft to the agenda at the next City Council meeting on Monday, Aug. 4.

Public Works director and interim city administrator Jamie Holland presented the council with a revised draft of the tree nuisance ordinance.

“Under our current ordinance, there isn’t much we can do to remove standing dead trees that otherwise do not constitute a hazard,” Holland explained. “There are several such trees around town that have not been removed, and I think it would be a good idea to update our ordinance to be able to remove these trees.”

Holland also indicated that additions had been made to account for the removal of diseased oak and elm trees, as well as any other trees suffering from an endemic disease.

“There may be some upcoming statewide ordinance for tree nuisance cases, which we might be able to reference when redrafting our own ordinance,” Frundt commented. “Given the council’s permission, I can research the issue and re-draft our current ordinances to fall in line with these statewide changes.”

Council member Ann Hanna voiced her support for redrafting the current ordinance, and mentioned that there were other changes she would like to see.

“Removing dead trees should be a priority for home owners – in my opinion, it’s part of taking pride in your property’s upkeep,” Hanna shared. “However, I know that removing trees can be expensive, and outside of our current boulevard tree replacement program, we don’t really have a way to help cover the costs of tree replacement.”

“I think it would be a good idea to expand our current ordinance to include tree replacements outside of the current boulevard restriction,” council member Dan Ristau replied. “Perhaps we can set up a repayment plan or some other method of financial assistance to help cover those costs as well.”

While no action was taken on the issue at the meeting, an agreement was reached to give Frundt the go-ahead to research the issue further and draft an updated tree nuisance ordinance based on the results.

Other business discussed at the City Council meeting included:

• Rosol presented the council with the bids for the 2025 Bituminous Seal Coat project. Following some discussion, a motion was made and seconded to accept the low bid from Asphalt Service Technology Corp. in the amount of $95,558.70. The motion was passed unanimously.

• The hiring of Jonathan Auringer as a full-time police officer for the Blue Earth Police Department was unanimously approved. His starting date will be Aug. 17.

• Ordinance 25-01 to amend City Code Section 1030.03 was unanimously approved.

• The first reading of Ordinance 25-02 to authorize charges for Emergency Services was held. The second reading will take place at the next City Council meeting on Aug. 4, where the ordinance will be up for approval.

• A travel request from the Blue Earth Fire Department for four of their firefighters to attend the Minnesota State Fire Department Association’s Annual Conference & Fire School was unanimously approved.

• Second quarter 2025 donations to the General Fund in the total amount of $13,259.86 were unanimously approved.