Blue Earth police officer Tharen Haugh explains the new LUCAS CPR machine to the City Council.

Several new opportunities for tree replacements and a Request For Proposal for a new city kennel were all on the agenda at the Blue Earth City Council meeting on Monday, Sept. 15.

So was a resolution to set the preliminary property tax levy for the city.

Resolution 25-13 setting the 2026 preliminary tax levy at a total of $3,500,000 was unanimously approved. This is a proposed $1,192,000 increase from the 2025 final tax levy of $2,308,000, or a 51.6 percent increase.

The $3,500,000 proposed levy is made up of two items. The general/operating levy is $1,265,000 and the debt levy is $2,235,000.

“The preliminary tax levy was set a little higher than usual this year, in part because this is city administrator Dawn Collins’ first year working with us during our budgeting process, and she’s still learning our way of doing things,” mayor Rick Scholtes explained. “Now that the preliminary tax levy has been set, it can’t go any higher, and we should have plenty of room to start cutting it down to a more reasonable number.”

City engineer Ben Rosol presented the council with a proposed amendment to the Street Project Tree Replacement Reimbursement Program.

“I have received a request from a city resident to add a conifer tree to our list of trees eligible for reimbursement, specifically for non-boulevard tree replacements,” Rosol explained. “The city does not want conifers being planted on boulevards, but I see no reason not to allow conifers for replanting on private property.”

Council member Ann Hanna raised a question about how soon this change would go into effect.

“Would the resident requesting this need to wait until after we officially change the language on the list of approved trees, or will they be able to go ahead with their replacement right away?” Hanna asked.

“I’ll inform the resident that we’re making this change tonight, and then they should be able to submit a reimbursement form,” Rosol answered.

Hearing no further discussion on the issue, a motion was made and seconded to add a conifer to the list of approved trees for reimbursement. The motion was passed unanimously.

Rosol presented the council with information about the 2025 Community Tree Planting Grants, a DNR-funded grant that would aid the city in removing and replanting trees lost to pests, storms, or disease.

“This grant is of interest to us because it has locations designated as Grant Priority Areas (GPA), and according to their map, a portion of southern Blue Earth is designated as a GPA,” Rosol shared. “I think it would be beneficial to the city to pursue an application for this grant, seeing as we would have priority in receiving it.”

Following discussion, a decision was reached to allow Rosol to submit an application for the grant.

Mayor Scholtes presented the council with a Request For Proposal (RFP) for animal kenneling services.

“This RFP is for a new kenneling service for the city of Blue Earth, and has some updated requirements included,” Scholtes explained. “If everything looks good, we can approve this tonight.”

“I don’t currently see this included, so I’d like to request that we add a section requesting that the kennel has two designated secure spaces – one for cats, one for dogs – for animals to be kept where they cannot escape into the rest of the kennel,” council member John Huisman commented. “I’d also like to suggest that all police departments, as well as the sheriff’s department, have some means of accessing the kennel at all hours, in case the kennel staff are not present to deal with a nuisance animal.”

While Scholtes agreed with the initial recommendation, he offered some pushback against the second idea, citing that this RFP was specifically intended for Blue Earth.

“This contract is specifically intended for the city of Blue Earth, so it’s up to other police departments to sign their own contracts with the kennel if they want that kind of access,” Scholtes replied. “However, we can definitely add language specifying that we want there to be designated secure spaces in the kennel.”

While no formal action was taken at the meeting, a decision was made to re-draft the RFP with this inclusion and review it at the next City Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 6.

Other business discussed at the City Council meeting included:

• During the work session held prior to the City Council meeting, Tim Stoner of Blue Earth Light & Water presented the council with the 2026-27 Capital Improvement Plan for BE Light & Water.

• Police officer Tharen Haugh presented the council with a demonstration of a Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System (LUCAS) device awarded to the Blue Earth Police Department from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, used to administer CPR in first-aid scenarios. Blue Earth is one of 50 rural communities to be awarded a LUCAS device through the Helmsley Charitable Trust.

• An event permit for BEAM to host their third annual Fall Festival on Saturday, Oct. 4 was unanimously approved.

• A training request for Dawn Collins and Echo Roggenkamp to digitally attend ICMA’s A Budgeting Guide for Local Government series on Oct. 9, 16, and 23 was unanimously approved.

• A public hearing was held for the consideration of lot sales for the properties at 116 West Sixth Street and 926 South Galbraith Street.

• Rosol presented the council with a drafted ordinance to amend subsection 510.01 regulating shade trees. The ordinance was unanimously approved.

• Resolution 25-21 to dissolve the elected board of the United Hospital District was unanimously approved.

• Resolution 25-22 approving an Airport Maintenance and Operation Grant agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation was unanimously approved.

• The 2026 contract with CEDA in the amount of $93,295 was unanimously approved.