City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Uh well, good afternoon. It's 4:30 on Tuesday, April 21st, 2026. Uh we will call the city council meeting of the city of Newm to order. At this time the first item of business is the consent agenda. Councilors, what are your wishes? So move. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any additional discussion. Those in favor signal by saying I. I.

That motion does carry. Moving on to 2.1. That is a public hearing for the noise variance for 209 Pub and Grill. I've not seen anybody come up to the mic. I'm going to conduct the public hearing here and pass all upon all objections whether presented orally or in writing relating to the request for a noise variance and subjects to the public hearing offer the resolution. close the public hearing and authorizing the request from the 209 pub and grill for a noise variance to permit amplified sound on Minnesota Street between second and third North Streets on Saturday, August 22nd, 2026 from 7:00 p.m. to 10 p.m. during the fundraising event.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any additional discussion? Uh, Director Jorgensson, please call the role. Councelor Christian, yes. Councelor Schmidz, yes. Councelor Mack, yes. And councelor Wka? Yes, that motion does carry. Uh, moving on to 3.1. That would be raffles gambling permit Newm Youth Wrestling Association. Call up for a motion to approve the issuance of lawful gambling permit for New M Youth Wrestling Association to conduct raffles gambling at the Newm Country Club, one golf drive, New Minnesota on Monday, July 20th, 2026. Second. Uh, we do have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor? Signal by saying I.

I. That motion does carry. Moving on to 3.2. Temporary on sale liquor permit for Cipher Biane American Legion Post 132. Uh, vice president and uh, councilors, I'd like to uh, I'm very proud to make this motion to approve the issuance of a temporary on sale liquor permit for Ciphert Bianci American Legion Post number 132 to sell alcohol at Riverside Park on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 from 3 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for a music in the park event subject to compliance with all city and state requirements. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor? signal by saying I I.

That motion does carry.

Moving to 3.3. That is a lengthy one. Uh Mau's Bar liquor license extension for the 2026 downtown events. I'll for resolution authorize Mounds Bar to extend their liquor license for the following chamber sponsored 2026 summer events to allow alcohol to be consumed, served subject to conditions. Crazy days. Minnesota Street from 1 North to Center Street from Friday, July 24th at 2:00 p.m. till Sunday, July 26 at 12:00 p.m. Minnesota Street from Third North to First North from 7:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. Saturday, July 26th and First North from Minnesota Street to Alley from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Car and bike rollins Minnesota Street from 3rd North to 1st South Street from 3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, June 13th, July 11th, August 8th, September 12th. spiking in the street Minnesota Street from 2nd North to Center Street from Friday, July 31st at 8:00 a.m. till Sunday, August 2nd at 3:00 p.m. with inter with with the intersection of First North and Minnesota Street open till 400 p.m. Friday, August 1st. First North closed from Minnesota Street to Alley from 11 p.m. Friday the 31st till 3 p.m. Sunday, August 2nd. October Fest, Minnesota Street from 1st North to Center Street from Friday, October 2nd at 8:00 am till Sunday, October 4th at 12:00 p.m. and Center

Street from Broadway to Minnesota from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Saturday, October 3rd, including the Center Minnesota Street intersection. Cradle Lights, Minnesota Street from First South to 4th North from 400 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. November 27th. Second. Thank you, Larry. Uh, we do have a motion and a second. Uh, any further discussion? Director Jorgensson, please call the role. Councelor Christensen, yes. Councelor Schmidtz, yes. Councelor Mack, yes. And councelor Wa, yes. That motion does carry. Uh, moving on to 4.1, summary of business conducted during board meetings. Commission meetings. Councelor Christian.

All right. I attended the park and wreck meeting. Uh, one of the major items was a 90% completion on our master plan that will be in front of us for adoption coming in May. Uh, we do have three other items that have to be dealt with with the park and wreck further down the agenda. EDA meeting I attended uh with normal business. We also did do a work session. Every other month we do a work session on redoing policies coming in line with the strategic plan. Uh the one item being grants for small businesses. That's what was discussed. Uh my first time ever I attended the coalition of greater Minnesota cities meeting. I normally go to the league meetings. Uh very informational. I now see why President Pecker, the mayor and staff attend those meetings. It was very informational. Also attended the network youth no at the country club. Mr. Schmidz and I were there the other day. Uh the group was fantastic. They solved our Herman Monument issue.

Did they? They came up with we take the statue down into a museum and a hologram in 20 years is up there. That's it. So, they saw that one for us. Again, very entertaining and I really enjoyed it. Uh that's it for me. Uh councelor Mac, I've got nothing.

Uh thank you. Um yesterday was our uh monthly heritage preservation commission meeting right here and uh we had um kind of two items on the agenda. The first one was uh we approved Golden Home Care's request at 6 North Minnesota to paint their front facade from the green to uh gray um and felt that that was appropriate Winchester gray. And then we discussed uh the upcoming convention um Minnesota Heritage Preservation Organization has an annual Minnesota convention. Um, and then of course there's a national convention which rarely comes to Minnesota, but this year the national heritage preservation convention is coming to the Twin Cities. And so we talked about that. Um, other than that, last week we had a uh cable communications advisory um committee meeting and uh got updated on what Newkat's doing and we're uh very excited about their programming and uh look forward to it continuing and potentially expanding um including um youth. There's a uh middle school uh program that's going on with uh media and television production. And then as as councelor Christian mentioned um I got to attend the network new alm youth um program with him this past week.

Thank you Mayor Becker.

Uh kind of a busy time. Uh attended the Rotary Scholar Banquet. It's always interesting to see the youth and what they their plans are. uh attended the uh greater Minnesota uh coalition legislative action day and the things that floated to the top at least that I paid most attention to were the zoning issue uh that was being considered at the state level and regarding local zoning versus state uh paid leave and some of the challenges of implementing that for small and large businesses and then lead pipe abatement and looking for more funding uh for the house projects. I also met with the new PUC director just to get to know him and what his thoughts are and ideas and welcome him to the city of New. Uh we did have a sister cities commission meeting. We finalized plans for the incoming and outgoing Hansios uh exchange interns and also took a look at the first draft of a marketing plan. And I thought it rather interesting that an individual commission was looking at how they can promote what it is that they do and how they can engage the community in their activities and making them more aware of the commissions. Uh provided a welcome at the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Very interesting. Uh I love the people. I can identify with some of them. Uh little quirky, dressed a little different. Oh wow. Did I say too much? Um and then uh met with the CTE development committee looking at ways to fund a full-time coordinator position and also uh heard some information and feedback about a possible expansion of programs to include opportunities for healthcare programming. That concludes my

You did have a busy month. Yes. And I don't have anything remarkable to share. So I'll just move on to 5.1. uh the 2026 budget calendar for requests for funds application. Councilor, just to point out, there are two work sessions scheduled on here. One in July on the 21st and one August 18th. Just to be aware of those motion to approve the 2027 budget calendar and set dates for budget work sessions on July 21, 2026, and August 18th, 2026 following the regular city council meeting in the city hall council chambers. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Uh those in favor signal by saying I. I.

That motion does carry. Moving on to 5.2. That is task order number 2025-03 for airport engineering services. City engineer.

Uh Mr. Vice President, city councilors. Um this task order is for the construction administration services for mean hunts perform at the construction of turf runway 927 at the airport. Uh this task order would um encompass the pre-construction activities. So the pre-construction conferences, submittal review, construction management, uh resident project representative on site during construction and then post construction services including project closeout, platting of the airport property uh with the land that has been acquired and close out um of all necessary grants and agreements uh for this project as well as commissioning new runway 927 after it is constructed and deemed acceptable. Um, this scope of work exceeds the FAA 10 or $100,000 threshold for a fee evaluation review. We performed a fee evaluation review with Kirkham Incorporated and the meet and hunt fee was within 1% of the fee provided by Kirkham which is within the 10% threshold as required by the FAA. Funding for these services will be absorbed in the airport consultant engineers budget. Uh future FAA CDS grant, so that's congestionally directed spending. Uh that grant will cover 95% of the of these consultant fees. Uh 2.5% will be covered by the state of Minnesota and the remaining 2.5% or about $6,100 is covered by the city of New. The task order is included within your packet for review. Um, but it's SAS's recommendation that we execute this and have Meet and Hunt on site for the construction of runway 927.

Happy to answer any questions. Vice President and uh counselors, I'd like to make a motion to approve task order number 2025-03, construction administrative services for construction of turf runway 9/27 adding to the adding the task to the Me and Hunt Incorporated professional services contract in the amount of $245,448 contingent on the city receiving the Federal Aviation Administration CDS grant for the engineering services. Second motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?

Those in favor signal by saying I. I. That motion does carry. Moving on to 5.3 Herman Monument Use Assessment.

Thank you, Council Vice President Warpa, City Council. Uh I am here before you to uh ask you to receive an order to file the Herman monument use assessment report that would restrict public access to the monument. Uh so each year uh we do have uh prior to Herman Monument opening for the season to the public, we do have uh site inspection and that's been conducted the last seven or eight years by Mr. Cone who's a structural engineer. So this year on March 30th, uh Mr. Mr. Cone was accompanied by building official Zabel and myself for the site inspection and uh with that seven years of experience, Mr. Cron's been very familiar with the monument and the conditions over over the years coming out of the winter cycle. Um this is the first year though that Mr. Cone has recommended that we now restrict public access to the monument which would be scheduled to be open the first weekend of May. Uh there could be private access to the monument uh to individuals and entities as deemed appropriate by the city for the as long as they meet the following conditions. A competent individual inspects the monument for any further spal material or or visible damage deterioration to the structure immediately prior to the entry. A competent individual leads and supervises anyone who is approved to enter the gates of Herman Monument. And then a liability waiver uh approved by the city attorney would need to be signed prior to the entry. Um you know this this would be a big um big change from years past. So, uh, we would anticipate adding temporary signage to the site to, uh, there are a lot of visitors that enter the park to not only enter the gates, but to view the monument. And that temporary signage then would, um, lead them to the city website for more information on what's going on with Herman Monument and the reconstruction potential.

I'm happy to answer any questions. The report is in your packet uh, from Mr. Cone. We knew this day was coming someday. always disappointing. But a motion to receive an order file the Herman Monument use assessment restricting public access to Herman Monument. Second. We do have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Those in favor signal by saying I. I. I. Motion does carry. Moving on to 5.4. Uh Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council Flexible Support Grant Acceptance. Shoo again,

council vice president Warpa, city council. Uh this is a request to accept $3,865 to be used towards the summer concert series from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council. Uh this funding would be used for the Thursday night concerts in the park for uh promotion of the event to compensate the the artists at the event and then also for some of the free uh programs that come with concerts in the park being the Papa Wagon and uh Wreck on the Go. Uh this would be the second straight year that uh we have been able to acquire funding from Prairie Lakes Regional Arts to support the the arts in New. I think it's wonderful that uh you're willing to to contribute. So I'm going to offer a resolution to accept the Prairie Lakes Arts Council flexible support grant in the amount of $3,865 for the summer concert series in German Park.

Second. We do have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Director Jorgensson, please call the role. Councelor Christian, yes. Councelor Schmidz, yes. Councelor Mack, yes. And Councelor Warmka, yes. That motion does carry. Uh, moving on to 5.5 601 fund equipment replacements.

Mr. Vice President, city council members, um in front of in your packet, you have the list of equipment that's due to be replaced in 2027 at the amount of 623 $218. The only exception is a tractor and more for the airport. That is supposed to be onethird of the city cost. The if we get a Mindot grant, that's where that based on. So, but otherwise, everything else is due for replacement in 2027, right? And I always ask a finance director. I do believe our 601 is in good shape. Correct. Yep. And we'll be re-evaluated when we do budget to make sure they're getting what they need from the other departments.

I'll authorize a city manager to prepare specs and secure bids or quotes or use state bid contracts to acquire equipment and vehicles for 2027 estimated cost of $623,218. Second. We do have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Those in favor signal by saying I. I. That motion does carry. Thank you, Mr. Offer. Thank you. Moving on to 5.6, library donations and memorials.

Vice President, counselors, I'd like to offer the resolution to accept donations and memorials to the New Elm Public Library for the period of January 1 to March 31st of 2026. Um, so to read those all into the record, um, there is an anonymous donation of $20 cash that is undesated. Um, the book club, um, including Judy McClean in memory of Mara Zeta, $15,9.40 cash for adult books. Nick and Helen Healey in memory of uh, Lois Tootsz Cults, $25 cash for adult books. Dale and Mickey Wit. Um, to honor Lois Hootz Cults, $25 cash adult books. Bonnie Bodie, uh, CO Jill Cults in honor of of Lois Tootsz Cults, $10 cash adult books. Jerry and Carol Pearson, um, CO Jill Cults again to honor Lois Tootsz Cults $10 cash adult books. Maryanne Cultz and Leo Guggisburg uh, through Jill Cults. Um, again to honor Lois Tootsz Cultz, $30 cash for adult books. Uh, and then Jill Colts herself. Um, to honor Lois Tootsz Cultz, $100 cash for adult books. Brian Matawitz, $50, um, for adult books. Uh, Prairie Peacemakers, $160 for adult books. Another anonymous anonymous donation of $30 undesated. Uh, the Friends of the New Public Library, $150 cash. um for other projects in including National Library Week staff. And finally, Si Sylvia Alter Heidi $1,000 cash undesated for a grand total of uh $1,769.40 um in value.

Second. Thank you very much. Uh we do have a motion and a second for any further discussion. Uh Director Jorgensson, please call the role. Councelor Christian, yes. Councelor Schmidz, yes. Councelor Mack, yes. Councelor warmut. Yes, that motion does carry. And the last item on the list here, 5.7 park and recck donations.

I'll offer the resolution to accept donations offered to the city of New through the park and recck department totaling $400 for the identified purposes. One, German park uh stone paper. Jan Janice Walner honoring Harold and Janette Schugal family $200. German Park paper stone. James Simpson honoring Mike and Kay Simpson $200 total $400. Second. We do have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Once again, Director Jorgensson, please call the role. Councelor Christian, yes. Councelor Schmidz, yes. Councelor Mack, yes. And councelor Wa,

yes. That motion does carry. And with no other business, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Excellent job.