MANKATO — As renovations at the facility are finalized, more changes could soon be on the way for All Seasons Arena. This time, on the joint powers board.
At their work session Tuesday, Blue Earth County Board members shared their thoughts on leaving the All Season’s Arena Joint Powers Board.
“Earlier this summer as the board was evaluating the budget … we had talked about, ‘Well, we are cutting staff, cutting programs, looking at mandated versus nonmandated requirements.’ The conversation at that time was, ‘Is this an appropriate time to consider withdrawing from the All Seasons Arena Board,” Blue Earth County Administrator Bob Meyer said.
The conversation included a discussion on whether or not the County Board felt good about leaving the joint powers board after having just spent over $830,000 on improvements to the ice arena.
“The facility looks great, it’s in a good position for the future; does it make sense for the county to continue being a partner in that organization,” Meyer said. “I haven’t done an extensive review, but I don’t believe most counties are connected to ice arenas in their communities.”
Meyer informed the County Board there wouldn’t be too much disruption to how the joint powers board operates now, as only two of the three members, the other two of which are the cities of Mankato and North Mankato, are needed to make voting decisions.
Following his address, Meyer opened the floor to commissioners’ thoughts. Members all agreed that now “feels like a good time” to exit the joint board.
Next steps for the decision to go through include bringing a resolution to a future County Board meeting, the exact date of which is undetermined as of now but could be as soon as Nov. 4. If approved, the county would then need to provide a 12-month notice before officially withdrawing, meaning the county would still be on the board until the final months of 2026.