BLUE EARTH– The Blue Earth City Council had a special guest at their meeting on Monday. Faribault County District Court Judge Troy Timmerman spoke during the public comment part of the meeting.

“I am not here as the judge,” he told the council. “I am here as a citizen of the city of Blue Earth.”

Timmerman had questions about the removal of the disc golf course from Putnam Park and the manner in which it was done.

“It seemed that it was summarily removed without any notice,” Timmerman said. “My family and I used it several times a week.”

Councilman Dan Ristau, chairman of the Parks and Rec Committee, responded to Timmerman’s questions and said several of the cages were damaged, and that the course was not part of the Putnam Park master plan.

“We did a survey last fall and the disc golf was not seen as a high priority by the public,” Ristau said. “That does not mean it might not go back into the plan, but hopefully in a better location.”

Timmerman questioned that a skate park had a higher priority than the disc golf, as there are quite a few who use the disc golf course.

“We used the disc golf a lot,” he concluded. “I missed seeing any survey, and that is on me. I hope it can be brought back.”

In other business at the meeting, the council approved several more bids for work to be done on the former Wells Fargo building to turn it into the new Blue Earth City Hall.

There were six bids for the general contracting work and the council awarded the bid to Ankeny Builders who had the low bid of $488,777.

There were also six bids for the electrical work and the low bid of $136,253 from Elite Electrical was approved.

There were three bids for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) work and the council approved the low bid of $45,356 from Ron’s Plumbing. They also approved a bid for the plumbing work from Ron’s Plumbing, which was the third lowest of four bids at $59,589. The council said they felt it was important to have one contractor do all the plumbing and HVAC work.

In other action at Monday’s meeting, the council:

— Approved the resignations of two part time employees at the Blue Earth Wine and Spirits Municipal Liquor store, and approved the hiring of Stacy Hander as the new liquor store manager.

— Approved advertising for an additional waste water treatment plant operator.

— Approved a change order for the Safe Routes to Schools project which started four years ago.

Completion was delayed mainly due to getting railroad permits. The delays caused an increase in cost of $6,306, city engineer Ben Rosol explained.

Rosol also gave an update on several current construction projects going on around the city, including the new tennis courts at Putnam Park, a Highland Drive lift station, the 2024 street and utility project and the future Riverside Heights sewer/street project set to be done in 2026.