City Council - Regular Meeting

It is 430 p.m. On Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. We'll call the City Council meeting of the City of New Ulm to order. First item of business is the consent agenda. Councillors, what are your wishes?

So moved. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion does carry. Item 2.1, raffles gambling permit for New Ulm Girls Fast Pitch Association.

I'll motion to approve the issuance of a lawful gambling permit for the New Ulm Girls Fast Pitch Softball Association to conduct raffles gambling at the Jefferson Elementary School, 318 South Payne Street on Saturday, June 20, 2026. Second.

We do have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion carries. Item 2.2 is a raffles gambling permit for State Street Theater.

We'll make a motion to approve the issuance of a lawful gambling permit for State Street Theater to conduct gambling, raffles gambling at the State Street Theater 1 North State Street on Sunday, December 13th, 2026. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion carries. Item 2.3 is a raffles gambling permit for Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.

I'll offer a motion to approve the issuance of lawful gambling permit for Cathedral of Holly Trinity to conduct bingo pull tabs and raffle gambling at Brum County Fairgrounds slash Civic Center 1201 North State Street on Sunday, August 30th, 2026. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. That motion does carry. Item 2.4 is a temporary on-sale intoxicating liquor license for Bavarian Blast.

Madam President and Councilors, I'd like to make a motion to approve the issuance of a temporary on-sale intoxicating liquor license for Bavarian Blast to sell alcohol during their event at the Brown County Fairgrounds for the period beginning Thursday, July 16, 2026 through Sunday, July 19, 2026. subject to compliance with all city and state requirements. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor signal by saying aye.

Aye.

That motion does carry. Item 2.5 is a transfer of liquor licenses.

I'll motion to approve the transfer of an on-sale wine license, 3.2% malt liquor license, and on-sale intoxicating malt liquor permit from Lakes on First Limited Liability Company doing business Lakes on First to Reuger's Eatery Limited Liability Company doing business as Lakes on First, 108 Center Street for the period beginning May 19, 2026 and ending June 30, 2026, subject to compliance with all city and state requirements. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?

Is the Center Street correct for the address because they're on First?

Lakes on First, 108 Center Street.

Yeah, it should be 108 First Street.

Can we just kind of make an amendment to the motion?

I'll amend the motion stating the correct address. Second.

Thank you. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Thank you, Councillor Mack. Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. That motion does carry. Item 2.6, liquor license renewals for 2026 and 2027.

I'll make a motion to approve the issuance of the following annual liquor licenses and permits for the period beginning July 1st, 2026, ending June 30th, 2027, subject to compliance with all city and state requirements. On-sale intoxicating liquor license, Sunday liquor license. Off-sale intoxicating liquor license. On-sale wine license. Intoxicating malt liquor permit. Brewer's taproom license. Brewer off-sale malt liquor license for growlers. On-sale micro distiller cocktail room license.

micro distillery off sale license on sale 3.2 percent malt liquor license off sale 3.2 percent malt liquor license second thank you we do have a motion and a second any further discussion i will just disclose that i serve also as the executive director for noel turner hall and rath skeller incorporated which does have a liquor license on this list any additional discussion those in favor signal by saying aye aye Opposed? That motion does carry. Item 2.7, general license renewals for 2026 and 2027.

I'll offer the motion to approve the issuance of the following renewals for general licenses for the period beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027. Subject to compliance with all city and state requirements. Tobacco, fireworks, retail sellers, non-primary, kennel, sheep, solid waste handler, taxi cab, and tree service. Second.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor signal by saying aye.

Aye.

That motion does carry. Item 2.8 is regarding Benny's Liquor License Extension for 2026 Downtown Events.

I can offer the resolution to authorize Benny's to extend their liquor license for the following Chamber Sponsor 2026 summary events to allow alcohol to be consumed, served, subject to conditions. Crazy Days, Minnesota Street from First North to Center Street from... Friday, July 24th at 2 p.m. till Sunday, July 26th at 12 p.m. Minnesota streets from 3rd North to 1st North from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, July 26th and 1st North from Minnesota street to Alley from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Car and bike and roll in Minnesota street from 3rd North to 1st South Street from 3.30 p.m. to 8 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 a.m. till Sunday, August 2nd at 3 p.m. with the intersection of 1st North and Minnesota open till 4 p.m. Friday, August 1st. First North closed from Minnesota to Alley from 11 p.m. Friday the 31st till 3 p.m. Sunday, August. Second, Parade of Lights, Minnesota Street from First South to Fourth North from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, November 27th. Second.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Director Jorgensen, please call the roll.

Councilor Christian? Yes. Councilor Wormka? Yes. Councilor Schmitz? Yes. Councilor Mack? Yes. President Becker?

Yes. That motion carries. Item 2.9 is Rodney's Tavern Liquor License Extension for 2026 Downtown Events.

And then, Council President, Councilor, before you make a motion on this one, this one is gonna be unique as we will be closing Center Street intersection for this event as a pilot to potentially for 2027. so that Rodney's and the Legion would be able to extend their liquor license to these events. And then if there's no issues, no problems with traffic flows and things like that, we would potentially include that in the event policy moving forward.

Very good. Thank you. I'll take this one then. I'll offer the resolution and authorize the extension of Rodney's Tavern Liquor License into Minnesota Street for the following events to allow alcohol to be consumed slash served subject to conditions. Crazy days. Minnesota Street closed from first north to center from Friday, July 24th at 2 p.m. till Sunday, July 26th at 12 p.m. Minnesota closed from 3rd North to 1st North from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, July 26th. And 1st North closed from Minnesota to Alley from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Relevant to B&L Bar. You don't have to read that. Okay. Car and bike roll-ins, Minnesota Street closed from 3rd North to 1st South from 3.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, June 13th, July 11th, August 8th, September 12th. Spiking in the streets, Minnesota Street closed from 2nd North to center from Friday, July 31st at 8 a.m. till Sunday, August 2nd at 3 p.m. with the intersection of 1st North and Minnesota open till 4 p.m. Friday the 1st. First North closed from Minnesota to Alley from 11 p.m. Friday the 31st until 3 p.m. Sunday, August 2nd. Oktoberfest. Minnesota Street closed from First North to Center Street from Friday, October 2nd at 8 a.m. until Sunday, October 4th at 12 p.m. Closed Center Street from Broadway to Minnesota from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, October 3rd, including Center and Minnesota intersection. Parade of Lights, Minnesota Street closed from 1st South to 4th North from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. November 27th. Thank you and a second.

We do have a motion and a second. Any additional discussion? Director Jorgensen, please call the roll.

Counselor Christian? Yes. Counselor Warmka? Yes. Counselor Schmitz? Yes. Counselor Mack? Yes. President Becker?

Yes, that motion does carry. Item 3, reports from Counselors 3.1, summary of business conducted during board and commission meetings.

Park and Rec, there wasn't enough on the agenda, so we did not meet. I was unable to attend the EDA meeting. I'll defer that to President Betker for that report. City Charter did meet last week. Just a few minor details. We're going to meet again in June or July. And just opening up for out there, we are looking at three. We have to recruit three new members. We do have a quorum when we meet, but we're looking for three people. And again, we only meet max two, three times a year. I mean, that's it. That's it for me.

I wasn't able to make it to the Safe Routes to School meeting, but nothing else is relevant.

Thank you. I've got nothing.

Madam President, Councilors, I have nothing to add. Cable communications and heritage preservation yesterday did not meet due to a lack of agenda items.

Thank you very much. Mayor, would you like to go? I can have you kind of bundle in the EDA meeting because it was pretty short and sweet.

Well, what I'm going to do is I've got things that are not necessarily commission related, but let's start out with two proclamations. One was for... Willibald Bianchi events, which was a very touching and emotional experience. And then last night, the Service to Mankind Award to Ruth Klossner by the Sertrumwa Club. And so we did proclamations on behalf of the city for both of those. We had a ribbon cutting for the Plaza Garibaldi new food truck, if we're looking for new food truck options. I attended or provided programming for the third graders in our community at the public school and at St. Anthony's in the last couple of weeks. And it was interesting to work with these third grade students and have them ask the mayor questions. One of the questions that they had was, are you rich? And the explanation was not with money, but with people like them. And so that was a great experience to be able to participate as your mayor. Thank you.

Thank you. And just a quick EDA, nothing much, just some changes and updates to annual figures for housing and things like that. So thank you very much, unless there's anything else.

Perfect.

Item 4.1 is new park and recreation comprehensive master plan. Mr. Shugle, good afternoon.

Thank you, Council President Becker and City Council. Joey Shugle, Park and Recreation Director. Here tonight looking for a resolution to approve the new Park and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan. This was born from the adoption of our comprehensive plan in 2024. One of the things that that plan recommended is just to do a deep dive into our park and recreation system with our last adopted plan in 1989. So this plan should establish a 15-year vision for the city's parks, open spaces, and ensure a position to meet the current and future needs of our community and align with our comprehensive and strategic plans. So this process did start in April of 2025, so just a little over a year now. And some of the highlights and things that I'm most proud of throughout this year-long process is our significant community engagement from not only our population and community members, but from our stakeholders, our many different user groups who really enhance our park and recreation system. And And also a system that was established that is very diverse and unique and taking a deep dive into how we can further enhance that over the next 15 years. So today we do have our project managers from ISG here to give you a short presentation with a little more detail of this year-long process. And I'd be happy to answer any questions either now or after their presentation as well.

Wonderful. Thank you, Mr. Shugle. Hi, welcome.

I just want to make one comment before ISG gets up there. You guys were excellent to work with. I said on the Parker Rec Commission, this 225 page is an excellent document. I'm glad that you listened to staff, admin, the general public. It's a good document. I hope you all read it. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. We are so excited to be here tonight with the final park and recreation master plan to bring forward to your consideration. My name is Claire Roth. I'm a planner with ISG. I've had the pleasure of serving as the project manager on this project. And also joining me tonight is my colleague, Jay Lothammer. who will finish up the second half of the presentation. So I'll let him introduce himself once we hand that off. So we're gonna get into it. The purpose of tonight's presentation is just to give a brief overview of some of the key findings and process that we went through for this document. As we've alluded to, it's a very large document. And so we don't want to assume you all have read it, although that would be exciting. But just wanted to give a little overview of the process that we've gone through So as Joey mentioned the purpose of this has been to establish that 15-year vision focused on the city's parks recreation Open and public spaces and this is really to ensure that we're meeting not only current but future needs and as he mentioned We're continuing to build off of those previous efforts the city's comp plan and strategic plans which were both updated or created in 2024 and Some of those goals, again, that Joey touched on a little bit, but we will just revisit, has been to establish that vision. We've worked to evaluate the existing system throughout this process. And then, as he mentioned, we've engaged the community thoroughly. We really want this to be a document that is informed and community driven. Other objectives have included to establish an action plan to then complete the goals of the plan, which also includes development of a prioritization strategy to help us prioritize implementation of these improvements. And then also just identification of best practices to make sure that we're managing the park system in a sustainable manner going forward. Just a quick give a highlight of the schedule of the process. As Joey mentioned, we kicked over a little over a year ago in April of 2025. The project was broken into three phases. The first phase was the assess phase in which we went through and inventoried ALL OF THE PARKS, WE LOOKED OVER ALL OF THE PROGRAMS AND SERVICES OFFERED. WE THEN MOVED FORWARD AND APPLIED THE FINDINGS OF THE INVENTORY TO THE PHASE TWO, WHICH WAS THE ENVISION PHASE. SO STARTED TO WORK WITH STAFF AND THE COMMUNITY TO DEVELOP THAT VISION GOING FORWARD. And then towards the beginning of 2026, we entered the third phase, which is the implement phase, which focused on implementing then the visions and recommendations of that. And you can see here also just the process that we've gone through with engagement. We really wanted to make sure we were engaging the community in a variety of touch points throughout the project. And we'll dig in a little bit more shortly here on what those specific tactics looked like and what some of the findings were. This is just an overview of the document itself. We have the cover page there on the left hand side and just an overview of each of the chapters of the document to show how it is set up and what it includes. Chapters one and two have some of the front end introductory content and context where we looked at things like demographic and recreational trends. We then summarized our engagement findings and process in chapter three. And then chapter four really focused on What does New Elm have today for parks and programming and partnerships? Chapters five and six then get more into some of the recommendations we prescribe across the system, but also specific recommendations for each of the parks. And then chapter seven buttons it all together with a strategy then to implement those recommendations. So how did we arrive at these findings? This is just a summary of some of the things we took into consideration throughout that process. As Joey mentioned, we had really robust engagement. We heard a lot from the community and that gave us great momentum to build off of and recommendations to integrate. For the inventory, we assess things such as looking at current and projected demographics, recreational trends, and then current parks programming and partnership offerings. We also built off of past planning efforts, which included the comp plan and strategic plan, but it also included specific parks plans for specific parks like Pollinator Park. We continue to build on efforts there. And then finally, professional recommendations. We're lucky to work with a lot of communities on similar projects and had some great process to carry through there. This is just a little snapshot of what the engagement process looked like, what were some of those tactics and numbers that we saw. We had a variety of public events and meetings. So we had an open house at the rec center back in January, which was well attended. We had a booth at the National Night Out in August. to really get people as they were enjoying that event with their family, capture some feedback there. And then we also had a series of meetings with the different community groups, the organizations. And throughout that, we were able to engage with about 17 of those groups, which was a great number. We've met with the city a lot. We've had a lot of opportunities to work with staff, you know, from our kickoff meeting in April all the way through twice monthly meetings with Joey and through a staff workshop and two touch bases with the Parks Commission. And then finally, hitting on the project website and digital outreach, we had nearly 500 responses to our online survey, which we were really impressed with. It's very rare for us to see responses that high for a community of a similar size to New Ulm. There was an interactive map, which people could also drop points if they had suggestions for specific items throughout the park system. Just gonna highlight a few of the survey responses. All of them are in the document if you're curious, but we could see here just a few trends that emerged for, also did wanna acknowledge that most of the people that completed the survey were residents, but not all of them. for which local park people visited the most. We found that German Park rose to the top, shortly followed by Harmon Heights, Harmon, Lincoln, and then Nels. When asked about people's top priorities for this plan, we saw that people prioritized updates to existing facilities, along with growing the trail system, increasing access to Flandro, Continuing to grow rec programming and then promoting physical activity and wellness Similarly when asked what amenities people would like to see we saw that community gathering areas permanent restrooms Improved trail connections unique player play areas and aquatics rose to the top And then the survey, as you know, was not our only touch base with the community. All of those findings are summarized detailed in this report, but wanted to share some of those broad themes that we were able to capture from all of those elements. and we really carried throughout the recommendations of this plan. First was maintenance and safety. Overall, we heard great things. The parks are regarded as well-maintained and people feel safe using them. Regarding expanded amenities, we heard a few repeated requests for amenities such as permanent restrooms, expanded aquatics and unique play features. Generally, we saw a desire for increased communications. People, sometimes they don't know what they know and knowing what options are out there for services and programming is definitely a desire. We saw increased interest in inclusive and adaptive programming options and a strong interest in environmental stewardship initiatives, including access to more natural features such as the rivers. Finally, arts and culture. We saw strong interest in increased programming in these areas, including partnerships with local organizations for more public art throughout the parks. And then for community partnerships, wanted to just echo what we heard from the community groups. They have a great relationship with the city. The city is well regarded, and they really want to continue partnering with the city for their initiatives. I'm going to pass it over to Jay to finish us out.

Thank you. My name is Jay Lothammer with ISG. And as Claire mentioned, we work together on many different planning projects, helping cities hopefully be able to continue to stay as good or improve. And my background, I actually, for the first 30 plus years of my career, I worked for cities in the park and recreation departments. Last 17 of my years as my career in city government as a parks and recreation director prior to joining ISG. So I'd like to think that I've paid a lot of attention as I've gone to other communities park systems and what I will tell you and what I'm going to tell you tonight is that this is a system that's really second to none and valued by all it didn't take more than a few visits of Going to some of your parks to your community center meeting with your staff meeting with some of your community members to understand that This is really appreciated here in New Ulm, unlike hardly anywhere else. And so I think that's important to know that where you sit today is good. But there is an opportunity to evolve as things change, as we think back to five or 10 years ago, what was different then. Some of those things are gonna be different in five to 10 years from now. So this is a really good framework to be able to work from. And as Claire had mentioned, a really good guide that your community has been highly involved in putting together too. So I'm going to take you from about page 140 to page 228. Not a deep dive, but kind of the overview. And you'll see in each of these sections, if you do do that deeper dive and look at the document, there's multiple pages behind each one of those sections that go into a lot greater detail. So when you look at the level of service, it is what you would expect with a park map. and the map of the city and some of those circles that tell you how far away are you from a park, from a walking distance. But you'll also see one that talks about where your pickleball courts might be located, where your play structures are located, where your ball fields are located. So it can give you that appreciation for how close parks are and how accessible they are. to the people of New Ulm. And they're good. I mean, you can look at that map and clearly see that people have access. But as we know, the city is going to continue to develop. And so you'll also see a map looking at where might you develop next and what might be some of those trigger points to develop and what are some of those barriers and things you want to think about as you're moving forward with future development over the next 5, 10, and 15 years. We looked at your park classifications, made sure that neighborhood parks were truly acting as neighborhood parks, community parks, special use areas like your dog park or your community gardens or your shooting facility, classified those and also indicated what was going to be Needed going forward for those types of facilities to continue to serve your community again looking at some of those triggers You'll see more looking at the trail system and then also looking at how do we you know? Go forward with what is that vision? It only took me one slide to Thank you So here you see again that level of service and showing where the parks are located. You also see that parks classification and the importance of that as you move forward and what might be some of the level of offerings that community park activities are in community parks and neighborhood park kinds of activities are in neighborhood parks. Again, that park search area, another opportunity to look at where might parks go in the future. Great access now, but one of the things that has really stood out to me is the topography also comes into play in New Ulm, too, as a barrier that isn't always present in other communities. So something fairly significant to think about. If you're biking up the hill, that's a tough ride. And so how do people access where their neighborhood park is? In some cases, you don't have to travel very far. In some cases, it could be a tougher travel to get there. Again, we want this to be actionable, to be able to be a roadmap and a framework, but it's not 100% prescriptive. We know that things are going to change and we know that community engagement is still going to be an important part of making those decisions as they come to you on a year or annual basis. So on that implementation plan, You'll see sections on methods for implementing. What are some of those ways that we prioritize? How do you fund this? What are those capital improvements? What do they cost? How can you pay for those? What are some things that are short-term needed? What are some of those mid-term and what are those long-term? Again, this looks out 15 years from now. And then, you know, New Ulm has a uniqueness in that You have a state park right here and you have a context of more of connectedness to other communities as well. And there's some opportunities that you'll have moving forward to even enhance some of those implementation strategies and those connections to other communities. And then we get into those recommendations on how you do it. So when we're thinking about prioritizing, we want to make sure that people understand what that is and why you would choose one thing over another. If you look into the document in greater detail, it will show you some of that criteria of what's important and what takes precedent over other things. Obviously, an example like safety is going to be something that we looked at. You know, are there things out there that might need to be enhanced, made safer, or also some of those federal regulations of accessibility. If there's things that need to be enhanced to meet that, those get a real high priority too. And then that quality and function is another topic area to look at. But really, what is that level of maintenance and the level of quality and how do the Community really spot respond to your facilities and your parks that connectivity that comes up a lot I don't know of a trail system in a community around that can't be enhanced by Additional connectivity or also some strategies of safer crossing or of more way finding that indicates better routes for people. So that's something that we really did look closely at and you'll see a map with some connections in there that you know will help guide. future decisions on where to make those and then that whole environmental stewardship to not just keeping what you have but enhancing what you have and maybe in some cases taking bluegrass that isn't used and maybe adding prairie instead that might have a lower level of maintenance and a higher value to the ecosystem that's out there too. And so that's identified, you know, very specifically. And then last but not least is how do you plan for this financially and how might you stagger that over time? And some of that goes back to the prioritization, but this document also identifies for you where can some of those unique funding sources come from so that it isn't just all shouldered on the taxpayers and on the residents of New Ulm too. There's some suggestions and opportunities that are listed in there too. Park-specific recommendations, I wanna touch on that. You're gonna see that in alphabetical order. This just gives you an example here of what those pages look like and how it lists some things in priority level. red being more immediate and green being a little more down the road. And on the right side, it does show you what some of those are based on each individual park. And even behind that, you'll see there's some spreadsheets too that look at each individual park, but then also group it by neighborhood parks, Community parks talks about that, you know first five years next five years and then the longer term and how to stagger Some of that funding or what you can expect to be able to to plan from a dollar figure and then Last but not least I guess we want to hit on these are more general Recommendations and reactions that we had but we had an opportunity to look at your org charts meet with some of your staff talk about your program areas, so This isn't only about parks. This is about the entire system, and part of that system are the people that schedule the parks, program the parks, facilitate some of those volunteer organizations. And so we had an opportunity to look at that and what that staffing level is at and where it might need to go in the future as the community grows. We don't have any specific guidance at this time of the growth other than to say that as opportunities arise, it's a chance to look at some of those positions on should they have maybe a little bit different emphasis on the programs that they offer, you know, as the community has aged or as some of the trends in softball maybe have changed for adults, as growth in new neighborhoods and people wanting to have full day summer programs, how do you react to some of those things and it may mean a little bit different opportunity for some of your program staff and those opportunities might come along when you look to hire due to people leaving for whatever reason that might be or doing some internal adjustments as you move forward. On the maintenance side of things, you know, really continuing to look at what are some of those efficiencies. When you remodel a park, when you add a park, are you choosing materials? Are you designing it in a way that could be at its most efficient when it comes to maintenance and time that it takes and also the cost that it might take to keep that park up. And so those are all important things to stay aware of, to watch the trends as they move forward. You know, whether it might be an autonomous mower in some cases, that can be helpful and accomplish even more. Those are things that you might want to continue to look at. The partnership piece of this I think is really important. Claire and I had the opportunity to meet on two different nights with separating your organizations of community groups so athletic associations garden clubs the biking club and what we walked away from is some people that are really passionate really well organized and really do a lot for this community outside of what the city already does which is really important and i think it will be important going forward i think it's important to recognize that Most of them are supported in some way by your Parks and Recreation staff facilities or buildings and so recognizing that relationship and continuing to build on that is a way to continue to enhance what you're serving your community with without necessarily adding more or adding budget dollars to it but recognizing those that important partnership that those groups play and And then looking at, again, that more design and thoughtfulness of how you design a park or put a building together. But what are some of those lasting and enduring products that might be there? How can you, going forward, think about... without being cookie cutter, how can there be some standardization? You know, as things have evolved over time, if you think of the concept of eventually standardizing your park signage as you do the entrances, concepts like that that help with your branding help with people's awareness that they're here in New Ulm. I think those are good things to think about, and doing it in a really long-term, sustainable material, those are things that I know Director Shugle has been thinking about and has plans to be able to do going forward, and I think you'll see more of that coming forward. Before I pause for any questions, just again to say thank you. We enjoyed this opportunity to spend this almost year's time to come and visit New Ulm to try several different restaurants when we've ended our meetings. And so we've appreciated getting to know your staff and also your community even better too. So thank you for that. And we'll certainly answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you.

Being nobody has any questions, again, long time waiting for it. You did an excellent job on it. I have read the document in its entirety, and Mr. Shugle gave me my paper copy today. So I'm going to offer a resolution approving a new park and recreation comprehensive master plan dated May 2026 for the city of New Ulm, Minnesota. Second.

Thank you. We do have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Thank you again. Yeah, I just also want to thank you. You know, over the past couple of years, we've been doing a lot of updating to, you know, plans. And it was nice to see this one done because 89, that's, yeah, that's a long time ago. And we're really, I think, take a lot of pride in our park system and really take care of it. And that comes from the leadership. And, you know, it's something that... and expand, and I look forward to going through it a little bit deeper. Thank you.

Any additional comments? I just want to comment. One thing that I think Claire highlighted was the participation of the community and the way in which you went about gleaning that information and comments and input from the community. I applaud you. You tried and did it many different ways, and to see the one response where you thought it was unusual uh for a community of our size to have that almost 500 or 450 to 500 responses i think that speaks volumes of our community people want to be involved in the process and do show up so i want to thank you for the work that you put into this final document thank you thank you any additional discussion all right those in favor of uh director jorgensen please call the roll

Councillor Christian? Yes. Councillor Warmka? Yes. Councillor Schmitz? Yes. Councillor Mack? Yes. President Becker?

Yes, that motion does carry. Under old business, item 5.1 is a new trap range building. And once again, we have Mr. Shugle. Hello.

Thank you, Council President Becker, City Council. Looking for a resolution rejecting all bids received by the city pursuant of the new trap range building project advertisement for bids in which were opened on April 28th, 2026, and then allow staff to work with the Sioux Valley Gun Club on alternative options for a new trap building. So city staff opened bids on, as I mentioned, Tuesday, April 28th. And with R.W. Karlstrom, who provided professional services, project management, bids were separated into seven different trade categories. And based on those bids submitted, those two project scenarios came about. Scenario A, which you see in your packet, for a little over $382,000. And scenario B with a little over 413,000 came in. Now as leading up to this project, we were expecting to be in the ballpark of more 235,000. So once those did come in, we met with the Sioux Valley Gun Club and talked about options moving forward as they are providing significant funds for this project. And both sides are recommending that we reject all bids pursuant original, as we outlined, have the opportunity at bid opening to reject all qualified bids. And then again, be able to work with the Sioux Valley Gun Club for options moving forward for a new trap building on the trap range site. So any questions any of you have?

Thank you.

Do we have any prospective builders, contractors that are a little more in line or...

So, Council Oronka, one of the things we found out after bids is some of the contractors stayed away from the project due to some of the requirements with the DNR grant funds that were part of this. So, we are working with the DNR on options as well and potentially not moving forward with those funds and looking at other options for that. There are indications that a lot of the trades who are also participants and members with the Sioux Valley Gun Club are very interested in helping out with this project, but stayed away due to that. Gotcha. And another option is to reduce kind of options. So the building was looking at clubhouse and storage. One of the options talked about with the gun club is clubhouse first, use some of the storage already on site for the time being and look at expansion in the future. Perfect.

I'll go ahead and offer the resolution rejecting all bids received by the city pursuant to the new trap range building project advertisement for bids in which bids were opened April 28, 2026 and allow staff to work with the Sioux Valley Gun Club on alternative options for a new trap range building. Second.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Director Jorgensen, please call the roll.

Councilor Christian? Yes. Councilor Warmka? Yes. Councilor Schmitz? Yes. Councilor Mann? Yes.

Yes, that motion carries. Under new business, item 6.1 is attendance at the 2026 NLC City Summit Conference.

Being I'm unable to go, I'll do this one again too. So I'll make a motion to approve the following to attend the annual 2026 National League of Cities City Summit Conference in Nashville, Tennessee from November 19th to the 21st, 2026. City Manager Chris Dalton, Mayor Kathleen Becker, Council President Andrea Becker, Councilor Tom Schmitz, and Councilor Dave Christian. Second.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?

Have a good time. Learn lots.

Yes. Those in favor, signal by saying aye.

Aye.

That motion does carry. Item 6.2 is Ordinance Number 2026-TBD, First Consideration Regarding Annexation of Property Adjoining the New Ulm Airport. Mr. Schnobrick, hello.

Hello. Madam President, members of the City Council, as you know, actually I haven't been actively involved in this project, but City Engineers Stoudheim has, and they have successfully completed the acquisition of six different parcels of property that will allow for the acquisition relocation and realignment of the grass crosswind runway at the airport. The runway will be 2478 feet in length and 120 feet in width. We are the owners of all of the property at the present time. ALL OF THAT PROPERTY IS CURRENTLY IN MILFORD TOWNSHIP, SO WE'RE TAKING THE NEXT STEP TO INNEX THE PROPERTY. WE HAVE A SITUATION IN WHICH FOUR OF THE PARCELS, THOUGH, ARE LOCATED IN OUR ORDERLY ANNEXATION AREA, AND WE CAN INNEX THAT PROPERTY BY RESOLUTION, AND THEN WE HAVE TWO PARCELS THAT ARE LOCATED OUTSIDE OF THAT AREA. and we would have to annex that property by ordinance. And following discussion with the city attorney, he recommended that we group all of the parcels together and that we do the annexation by ordinance. And so that's why you have first consideration at tonight's meeting. I would note that as you look at the documents for this particular item, you will see the property is labeled as track 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. So they each have a separate legal description, and that totals 25.049 acres. IF YOU LOOK AT THE EXHIBITS OR THE ATTACHMENTS, YOU'LL SEE IN EXHIBIT C SHOWS THE LOCATION OF THOSE PROPERTIES. SO ALL OF THE ACQUISITIONS THAT TOOK PLACE WERE AT THE END OF THE PROPOSED RUNWAY. THE ATTACHMENTS INCLUDE, AS I INDICATED, THE LEGAL DESCRIPTION OF EACH PROPERTY. EXHIBIT B IS THE BOUNDARY MAP, WHICH SHOWS THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY, AND THEN THE LOCATION OF THE AIRPORT AND THE LOCATION OF THE PROPERTY BEING ANNEXED, WHICH IS IN RED. That is a requirement of the state of Minnesota, so that's why you find that in the ordinance. And then we have other documents that show the airport and the location of the property that has been acquired. That would conclude the staff report.

Thank you, Mr. Schnoberg.

Coming back to us again, thank you staff for getting us all done with working all our negotiations with the acquisition of the property. Motion to conduct the first consideration of Ordinance Number 2026, approving the annexation of property identified in Exhibit B and adjoining the New Ulm Airport. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed? That motion does carry. Item 6.3 is to schedule a Joint City Council and Public Utilities Commission information meeting.

I'll offer a motion to schedule a joint City Council Public Utilities Commission information meeting at 3.30 p.m. Tuesday, June 16th, 2026 in the City Hall Council Chambers to discuss audited financial statements for the year ended December 31st, 2025. Second.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion does carry. Item 6.4, police department donation. Chief, hi. Welcome. Thank you.

Council President Betker, members of the Council, I'm Dave Borker, Chief of Police with the City of New Ulm. In front of you is a donation. I had been contacted by Jeff Manderfelt, and he had received a request for a donation from an outside law enforcement agency. In the process of doing that, he supports law enforcement, but he thought he'd like to make that donation locally. He had mentioned that his father used to be on the police reserves, and he was proud of that support for law enforcement. So he approached us and asked to make a $100 cash donation, asked that it be used for the canine program.

Thank you very much.

Madam President, Councilors, I'd like to offer the resolution to accept a monetary donation in the amount of $100 from Jeff Manderfeld to support the new home canine program. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Director Jorgensen, please call the roll.

Councilor Christian? Yes. Councilor Warmka? Yes. Councilor Schmitz? Yes. Councilor Mack? Yes. President Becker?

Yes. That motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Last item of business today, 6.5, fire department donation.

Madam President and Councilors, I'd like to offer this resolution to accept a $25 donation from Eugene and Gail Lutke. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Director Jorgensen, please call the roll.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. That motion does carry with no additional business. Today's meeting is adjourned. A work session will follow briefly. Thank you.