BLUE EARTH– The Blue Earth City Council had the first reading of four different proposed changes to the City Charter during their meeting on Tuesday night.

Two of the ordinances would change the way the city sells real estate and two would change the way recall petitions would be handled.

The two changes dealing with the city selling property would change the charter from requiring real estate to be sold by passage of a city ordinance, to being able to sell the property by a simple resolution of the council.

City attorney David Frundt explained the current sale process requires two readings of the property sale ordinance at two council meetings, and a 30 day waiting period after that.

“It could take 60 days and even up to 90 days for the sale to be completed,” Frundt said. “Whereas a resolution requires just passage at one council meeting.”

The other two proposed changes to the charter would change the way the council would handle citizen petitions for possible recall elections of council members.

“A recent recall petition that was presented was properly done according to the city’s charter,” Frundt explained. “But it was not OK according to the state constitution. So this change would put the charter in line with the requirements of the state constitution.”

The council voted 6-0 for all the proposals to proceed to a second reading which would include a public hearing, during the next council meeting on March 7.

In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council:

— Approved the request for splitting a lot in the West Industrial Park into two lots, and a necessary variance because the split would create a shorter frontage distance than required by ordinance.

The change was necessitated by the sale of part of the lot by owner Steven and Gennie Gesche to the Faribault County Humane Society for an animal shelter.

— Started the procedure of transferring official ownership of four parcels of property from the city itself, to the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA).

— Started the procedure to officially transfer the title to the Three Sisters buildings to the Project 3 Sisters group, now that all requirements have been removed.

— Approved a new policy for body-worn cameras by the Blue Earth Police Department, and a new personnel policy.

— Accepted seven new safety manuals as suggested by the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA).

— Heard an annual report from the city’s Economic Development Authority during the work session held before the regular council meeting.