BLUE EARTH — Blue Earth city administrator Tim Ibisch is ending his tenure with the city.

At the end of their meeting Monday, Blue Earth City Council members went into closed session to discuss a personnel issue. When the council re-opened the meeting to the public, it passed a motion to accept notice from Ibisch of his intent to end his employment with the city in 30 days, as per language in his contract.

Ibisch is the selection of the Kasson City Council to be the next city administrator there. He has been the administrator in Blue Earth for the past five years.

There was no discussion about what the council will do about filling the position.

In other business, the council:

o Held its annual Truth-in-Taxation public hearing and heard an explanation of two different possible budgets from Ibisch. The council also discussed lowering the property tax levy from the previously proposed 9.8 percent down to 8.8 percent. However, the council did not adopt a final 2020 budget nor did it set the exact amount of the levy increase. They decided to finalized the budget Dec. 16.

o Voted to proceed with a process that would have the city eventually leasing all of its vehicles, instead of owning them. The city would begin by leasing three vehicles next year from Enterprise Fleet Management, and three more in 2021, until all the city’s vehicles go under a lease. The city expects to save $74,000 over the next five years through this arrangement.

o Voted to proceed with an energy audit at all of the city’s buildings through a company called Energy Insight. Potential savings for the city could be $38,000 per year.

o Approved the agreement for the City Attorney’s annual contract with Frundt, Lundquist & Gustafson for 2020 with no changes from the current year. They also approved the city engineer’s 2020 contract with Bolton & Menk, with a 5 percent increase in the base amount.

o Looked at an ordinance that would sell six lots in the new housing development area to APX Construction of Mankato for $109,000, as well as a draft agreement for the construction of multi-family units on those lots.