BLUE EARTH– The Blue Earth City Council had no business –old or new– on its agenda for Monday evening, but a deluge of public comment and hearings stretched the meeting into a two-hour affair.

Many locals attended the meeting to protest an idea to relocate the Senior Center to St. Luke’ s Lutheran Care Center.

“We collected 147 signatures,” Janet Gaylord reported. “A majority of the Senior Center board signed an informal petition against moving the Senior Center. Six former council members also signed the petition.” 

Other members of the community argued that the Senior Center’s location in downtown Blue Earth is more convenient than St. Luke’s South Ramsey Street location. Additionally, they questioned the suggestion that the Blue Earth Community Library could use the vacated Senior Center space.

“I want to know what the library intends to do with this space when they can’t use the whole space right now, Randy Anderson said.

Meanwhile, two public hearings centered on an incident which occurred at the Faribault County Humane Society (FCHS) on Aug. 8, resulting in the death of an impounded dog.

The dog, Bear, came to be held at the FCHS after he was declared Potentially Dangerous on July 27. The declaration followed a July 26 incident where Bear bit a young child.

Bear’s owners appealed the designation on Aug. 7, and after reviewing the case, the council removed Bear’s designation as dangerous.

Bear was to be released to his owners the next day. However, that morning, the city learned Bear had been attacked and killed by two dogs in the FCHS’s custody.

The dogs, Shaggy and Cheyanne, were declared Dangerous Dogs after the incident per a State Statute which classifies a dog as dangerous if it kills a domestic dog without provocation while off the owner’s property.

The FCHS sought to appeal the Dangerous Dog designations at the Aug. 21 City Council meeting.

FCHS representatives argued that per State Statute, the owner of a Dangerous Dog has the right to a hearing by an impartial animal control authority. They suggested the council is not impartial to this case and that none of its members are animal control experts.

“I don’t know if you’re in the position to be making these declarations,” said FCHS president Debby Johnson.

FCHS representatives also argued that it is impossible to prove the incident–which had no eye witnesses –was unprovoked.

Mayor Rick Scholtes replied that, per State Statute, a little dog like Bear is considered incapable of provoking big dogs such as Shaggy and Cheyanne.

The council unanimously voted to designate both Shaggy and Cheyanne as Dangerous Dogs. The FCHS will need to meet the state’s requirements for keeping a Dangerous Dog before resuming custody of Shaggy and Cheyanne.

The FCHS will be able appeal the Dangerous Dog designations in six months.

In other business, the Blue Earth City Council:

— Approved Bolton & Menk’s preliminary engineering report for the Riverside Heights Utility Extension project. The project is estimated to cost $7.8 million, and construction is expected to start in the spring of 2025.

— Approved Nielsen Blacktopping & Concrete’s $1.2 million bid to construct concrete tennis courts at Putnam Park.

— Approved Ordinance 23-04 authorizing a study and imposing a moratorium on the operation of cannabis businesses within the city of Blue Earth.