A presentation of the Blue Earth Area Schools Comprehensive Facilities Assessment, updates on the Convention & Visitor’s Bureau 2026 budget, and a discussion on adjusting the lunch prices at the Blue Earth Community and Senior Center were all on the agenda at the Blue Earth City Council meeting on Monday, Feb. 2.

Blue Earth Area Schools superintendent Mandy Fletcher presented the council with the findings of the Comprehensive Facilities Assessment (CFA) during the work session prior to the meeting.

“This assessment was done for both the elementary and the high school, and we have identified $69.6 million dollars in maintenance needs over the next 10 years,” Fletcher shared. “The elementary school has over $55 million in required maintenance, while the high school has over $14 million.”

Both school buildings were ranked on a scale known as the Facility Condition Index (FCI), which is a number from 0 to 1 calculated by taking the deferred maintenance totals divided by the building replacement costs. The closer that number is to 1, the worse a given building’s condition is.

“Currently, Blue Earth Area Elementary is scored at 0.5205, which places it at critical condition on the FCI,” Fletcher explained. “That’s the worst condition a building can be in. By comparison, the high school building is scored at 0.1950, which would be fair condition.”

Among the maintenance issues found during the CFA for the elementary school were plumbing, HVAC, non-ADA compliant elevators, and widespread asbestos contamination. In the high school, HVAC and air quality were the primary issues, along with a need for increased security measures throughout the building.

“For the elementary school, $42,079,385 of the required maintenance repairs fell into Priority One, which are the highest priority to be dealt with and need to be addressed within 10 years or less,” Fletcher reported. “For the high school, there is approximately $6,000,000 in Priority One maintenance needs. This cost represents a “do nothing” plan, which means that if the school does nothing to fix these issues, this will be the expected maintenance cost on the school facilities.”

Council member Jaque Drew raised a question about whether the school board had any estimates on the cost to build an entirely new elementary school building, and how that cost would compare to the maintenance costs detailed in the CFA.

“At the current time, no, we do not have any concrete estimates as to what it would cost to construct an entirely new building,” Fletcher admitted. “However, we are in the process of exploring our options for a new building, along with discussion regarding ways to reduce that cost while still providing an adequate educational space for our students. As soon as we have more information, we will be sharing it with the public.”

Blue Earth Area Chamber director Sarah Ferguson presented the council with the Convention & Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) budget for 2026.

“For the most part our budget is pretty stable, but our lodging tax amount continues to decline along with the grant amounts we are receiving from Explore Minnesota,” Ferguson shared. “The Chamber and CVB will be taking on the property taxes and insurance for the Giant Welcome Center in 2026, and we’ll be decreasing the amount of advertising we do in an effort to reduce expenses while researching other grant opportunities.”

“Why are the lodging tax numbers decreasing?” Drew asked. “Are there fewer people staying at the hotels in Blue Earth?”

Ferguson replied that private lodging offerings through services like AirBNB and VRBO had become more popular for visitor housing in Blue Earth, and with the rising costs of maintenance coupled with fewer guests at the local hotels, the expected revenue for those businesses was down considerably from previous years.

“There are seven different AirBNB locations listed in last year’s Visitor’s Guide, so there are definitely other housing options besides the hotels in Blue Earth,” Ferguson explained. “This will likely be a continual problem as prices continue to rise for our hotels, which ultimately harms everyone as it becomes harder for them to stay open, and fewer people will want to stay at them the worse their conditions get. Hopefully we can stay ahead of the curve and find a way to support our local businesses.”

City administrator Dawn Collins presented the council with a memo from the Senior Center board regarding the current prices of lunches, and some suggested changes to the program.

“The main discussion point is that regular lunch attendees who have a prepaid punch card must spend an additional $2.50 for takeout lunches when they aren’t able to attend in person,” Collins shared. “Currently, a lunch at the Senior Center costs $4, while takeout lunches cost $6.50 to reflect the extra cost of taking the meal to go.”

“To my understanding, what the Senior Center board wants is a way to streamline the process of getting lunch to go for people with a punch card,” mayor Rick Scholtes commented. “If the lunch prices were kept the same for punch card users, regardless of whether you were eating at the Senior Center or taking it to go, that would save the hassle of having to get the card punched as well as paying the extra $2.50.”

Several council members mentioned that this topic had been discussed previously, leading to the current lunch prices and stipulations for takeout meals. It was also brought up that the extra charge for takeout had been implemented to help cover the cost of the boxes needed for takeout.

“I don’t think it would be a bad idea to set a flat price for all lunches at the Senior Center to $5, both for takeout and eat-in meals, regardless of whether you have a punch card or not,” Collins suggested. “That way we could hopefully break even financially if people want to continue getting takeout meals, while still providing an affordable lunch option for everyone.”

“I think that’s a very good idea,” council member Ann Hanna commented. “I remember back when we first set the prices for a Senior Center lunch, we did a study to figure out how much a typical lunch cost at our local restaurants, and the average cost was anywhere from $10-15. Even if we do raise the price to $5, that’s still much cheaper than any other option in town, and the meals at the Senior Center are very good quality.”

While no motions were made at this time, a decision was reached to present this idea at the Senior Center board’s next meeting for further discussion.

Other business discussed at the City Council meeting included:

• A public hearing was held for Ordinance 2026-02 amending Subsection 210.02 of the city code to comply with Section 210.02 of the Blue Earth City Charter. Hearing no discussion or public comment, the hearing was closed. A motion was then made and seconded to pass Ordinance 2026-02. The motion was passed unanimously.

• A Memorandum of Understanding for New Chances Humane Society allowing them to offer free licensing with the adoption of a cat or dog was unanimously approved.

•Resolution 26-05 memorializing the agreement between the EDA and the Chamber of Commerce regarding the lease agreement for the Giant Welcome Center was unanimously approved.

• Daryl Murray was unanimously appointed to fill the vacant seat on the Senior Center board.