Blue Earth hears of 2025 road work
BLUE EARTH– After having a long meeting just a week earlier, the Blue Earth City Council had a relatively short meeting on Monday.
Topping the agenda items was a resolution to accept an engineering report for the 2025 Linton Street and Utility Project, and setting a date for the public hearing on the project.
The projected cost of the project, according to the engineer’s estimate, is $3.39 million.
It will include nine blocks total, including Linton Street from 10th to Seventh Street, Eighth Street from west dead end to Nicollet Street and Ninth Street from Holland to Main Street.
The project will include improvements to sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water mains and street construction, as well as sidewalk, curb and gutter and boulevard improvements.
The engineers’ report included details on the reasons for the project to be done, total cost estimates, and a list of estimated assessments for each of the properties in the project area.
The public hearing on the proposed project is set for 5:05 p.m. on Dec. 2 at the City Hall, which will be followed by the City Council’s regular meeting.
In other business at the meeting, the Blue Earth City Council:
— Had a first look at nine pages of city fees for services, and proposed increases to many of the fees. The fees cover a wide range of things from animal license fees to building permits, liquor licenses, fitness center fees and many more.
— Voted to have $28,328 in unpaid charges put on various properties as special assessments.
— Voted to accept a letter of engagement for having the auditor conduct the 2024 audit, at a cost of $23,600, which is the same fee as last year.
— Had a special half hour work session before the regular meeting which was devoted to looking through a proposed model cannabis ordinance.
The council had spent time looking at the ordinance at previous work sessions and was continuing to study how they wanted the language to read.
Some of the concerns were about distances a cannabis business has to be from a schools or playgrounds, various license fees, application process, number of licenses per category and much more.
The council will continue to look at the ordinance at a work session before their next council meeting. They are expecting to have the ordinance in place by the end of the year.