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BLUE EARTH-- While no action was taken at this time, the Blue Earth City Council continued their discussion on the 2027 draft budget and Capital Improvement Plan items at its meeting on Monday.
City Administrator Dawn Collins provided the members of the council with a revised draft of the budget, and requested guidance on how to proceed with making changes to the draft budget moving forward.
"I understand that it is the council's priority to reduce the tax levy, and to that end, I am looking at ways to decrease our spending and trying to find new opportunities to bring in revenue," Collins noted. "Specifically, I want to know which departments the council would like to see adjusted, so I can work with the directors to bring back a recommendation."
Mayor Rick Scholtes suggested that the next draft of the budget should be formatted with an additional column, showing what the draft budget would look like after certain items were removed or changed.
"My thought is that we should have the next budget draft put together in a format that shows where each department is at currently, a list of the things we want to change, and then what that department would look like with all of those changes made," Scholtes explained. "That way, we can see how those changes would impact the overall budget, and from there we can decide what to keep and what to remove."
Council member Ann Hanna brought up the council's discussion about the police department from their last meeting, and made a motion to keep all of the current police department officers as full-time employees. The motion received a second, but council member John Huisman argued that making such a sweeping decision would take options off of the table prematurely. The motion failed 4-3, with council members Hanna, Jacque Drew and Stephanie Walters in support, and Scholtes, Huisman, Mike McNerne, and Dan Ristau in dissent.
No further action was taken on the issue at this time.
Other business discussed at the city council meeting included:
-- At the work session prior to the meeting, the council listened to a presentation by Jean-Luc Cinq-Mars from Minnesota Cannabis Services about the new Ouidhaus cannabis dispensary coming to Blue Earth, which will be located at 315 South Grove Street. Also present at the meeting was Pamela Kapple, the owner of Ouidhaus.
-- The first reading of an ordinance which would exempt the Blue Earth City Campground from the city lodging tax was held. Following discussion, a motion was made and seconded to set the public hearing and second reading of the ordinance for 5:05 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 23. The motion passed unanimously.
-- Resolution 26-49 granting a variance application for Jay and Barb Ankeny for their property at 217 West Fourth Street was approved unanimously. This variance allows them to build a fence within the three-foot property line setback of their east side yard.
-- A motion to reschedule the next city council meeting to 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 23 was passed unanimously.