BLUE EARTH — The Blue Earth City Council voted to ‘swipe right’ on a new administrative app at their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday evening, June 21.

The app, called GoGov, facilitates two-way communication between city administrators and citizens. It allows the city to distribute important announcements to citizens through a variety of mediums. It also enables citizens to register requests with the city at the touch of a few buttons.

“I think GoGov will streamline a lot of things,” said Mayor Rick Scholtes.

The council participated in a training session with GoGov employee Kevin Strauss during a work session prior to the meeting.

Strauss explained, “GoGov has modules designed to do different things.”

One module sends announcements from the city to its citizens. Another module allows citizens to file requests and complaints with the city so they may be addressed.

Strauss also demonstrated other uses for GoGov, such as code enforcement, facilitating internal requests from staff, and data organization.

The council discussed a few concerns about GoGov. For example, they were worried that there may be citizens who file excessive complaints.

However, the council ultimately voted to implement GoGov in their administrative system.

The council also discussed the following at Monday night’s meeting:

— Whether they should allocate funds to Kato Roofing to make recommended fixes to public buildings, or hire someone internally to perform routine maintenance to the roofs. The council voted to increase the maintenance budget to hire someone to perform necessary roof maintenance.

— Updates from city engineer Wes Brown, of Bolton and Menk, regarding the Safe Routes to Schools project. Brown received a low bid from Ulland Brothers, Inc., and recommended them as the contractor for the project. After some discussion, the council voted to accept Brown’s recommendation.

— The purchase of the Greenfield Property, where the council hopes a memorial for veterans can be built. City attorney David Frundt shared concerns about possible soil contamination. He was not comfortable recommending the council take possession of the property, as they could be liable for any contamination that is discovered.

The council discussed testing for contamination and the potential costs if contamination is found. Mayor Rick Scholtes decided to have research done to see whether state funds could cover the disposal of contaminated soil so the council can be more informed when they revisit the issue at a later date.