City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon.

It is 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21st, 2026. We'll call the City Council meeting of the City of New Ulm to order. First item of business tonight is the consent agenda. Councillors, what are your wishes?

Second. Thank you.

Motion and a second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Item 2.1 is a public hearing for a noise variance for music for a mission. At this time, the public hearing will be open. If you would like to be heard, please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record.

I'm not seeing anybody come forward. We've granted this in the past. We haven't had any issues. So I'm going to offer the resolution, close the public hearing, and authorizing the request from the Music Forum Mission, Terry Zinnell, for a noise variance to permit amplified sound at Zinnell Utility Contracting, 4 Thompson Street, to host a Party by the Pond event on Saturday, August 29, 2026, from 1.30 p.m. to 12.01 a.m. on Sunday, August 30, 2026. Second.

Thank you. We do have a motion and a second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. Resolution. Sorry, resolution. Director Jorgensen, please call the roll.

Councilor Christian. Yes. Councilor Wormcuff. Yes. Councilor Schmitz. Yes. Councilor Mack. Yes. President Becker.

Yes, that motion does carry. Item 3.1 is a bingos and raffling gambling permit for Friends of the Brown County Free Fair.

I'll offer a motion to approve the issuance of the lawful gambling permit for friends of the Brown County Free Fair to conduct bingo and raffles gambling at Brown County Fairgrounds, 1201 North State Street on Thursday, August 13th, 2026 and Saturday, August 15th, 2026. Second.

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

Aye.

That motion does carry. Item 3.2 is also a raffles gambling permit for New Ulm Baseball Association.

I'll make a motion to approve the issuance of a lawful gambling permit for New Ulm Baseball Association to conduct raffles and gambling at Nuba Facility, 123rd North Street on Sunday, December 20th, 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 3.3 is a tree service license renewal for 2026-2027.

President, Councilors, I'd like to make a motion to approve the issuance of a tree license renewal for CTS Construction and Tree Service, LLC 34151, 283rd Lane, Lee Sewer, Minnesota 56055 for the period beginning July 22nd, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027, 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 aye. Aye. That motion does carry. Item 4.1 is summary of business conducted during board and commission meetings.

Okay, I attended the park and rec meeting. You'll be dealing with four or five agenda items. It was actually a busy meeting coming down the agenda at the end of our agenda. Attended the EDA meeting. Good meeting, just standard normal business. And also I attended the League of Minnesota Cities meeting in Rochester. And I won't take the thunder from the other counselors that were there. I'll let them report. It was a good conference.

Yep, it really was. I attended as well with the mayor and council president Becker. Learned a lot again. It was one of those that learned how to deal with social media problems in communities, which everyone has, turns out, and quite a few other just de-escalating techniques that they teach. So it was a really good convention.

I can just maybe add to our sister cities exchange student. Our inbound student has been delayed for a visa issue currently. The mayor wrote a letter and this is the first time this has ever happened for an inbound exchange student. So we'll be learning a little bit more hopefully at next month's meeting and go from there for that part.

Cable communication Commission has not met but yesterday the Heritage Preservation Commission approved the door replacement the northern of the three front doors on Minnesota Street for the Chamber of Commerce and I will be leaving tomorrow to go up to Minneapolis for the National Heritage Preservation Convention for the rest of the week and I'll report back after that Thank you

Go ahead, Mayor.

Okay, a couple of things. I had the opportunity to tour the Chamber Plot's new apartments. And it was exciting to see the three different units that they're making available downtown New Ulm. So kudos to the Chamber of Commerce staff and board for making that happen. Also, the EDA did a tour of the Highland Apartments last week. looking at building one. And as of August 1st, 20 units will be occupied. And so today I understand the cleaning crew is coming in to get that first building ready. It was very interesting to see the units in person. You know, we've heard so much about it. They had several different options and city council president was there as well. So maybe I'll have you continue and share what we got to see also i attended the unveiling of the restored haunstein sign at the haunstein brewery so that was an interesting opportunity and kudos to them for doing that restoration and then finally i too is at the league of minnesota cities conference and went on the tour of looking at their housing projects and how creatively they were looking at... satisfying the many different types of housing needs but one of them that I appreciated seeing was they removed a single-family home and put four cottages on that particular single-family home lot and they worked with the neighborhood association to make sure that they were not infringing on the culture of that particular neighborhood And so there were many other housing projects as well. But it was very, very interesting because Rochester, being much larger than we, had many, many projects going on. But it doesn't belittle in any way the projects that we have going on in New Ulm. So thank you.

Thank you.

So I'll kind of add on to what the mayor was saying. So following our EDA meeting earlier this month, we had a chance to tour the new apartments that are going up. I was very happy with the progress, the layout, and really the plan and the staff. I mean, everyone was so great and so welcoming. They are going online and have folks moving in on August 1st already. And so they were feverishly getting everything ready and getting everything cleaned up and ready to go. The good thing is because we are serving and meeting a need that we have for housing in our area, they are going ahead and moving forward with that third unit ahead of schedule. And so once they're completed with these two, there are going to be some more of these apartments going online as well. So if there is somebody looking, this would... be a great place. And then I also attended the League of Minnesota Cities Conference last month in Rochester, attended a great session on data centers. This is a very important topic and something that our communities do need to stay on top of as well, because they're not a one size fits all. They're not all the same. And we need to understand and know the differences, especially if we have any that are interested in coming to our communities. And so that was very helpful as well. And those are my updates. Anyone else have anything to add? All right. Thank you, guys. All right. Under new business, item 5.1 is Junior Pioneer Park Water Main Crossing Project.

Thank you, Madam President and City Councilors. This project is a joint project with the Public Utilities Commission to provide some water redundancy in the area of Junior Pioneers Park going back towards Shell's Brewery. Public Utilities Commission contracted with SEH Incorporated to design the project and prepare project plans. City staff will bid out this project and run the project and administer the project for the PUBLIC UTILITIES. THIS PROJECT IS PROPOSED TO BE FUNDED WITH WATER INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING. SO IT IS OUR RECOMMENDATION TODAY TO SET THE BID DATE FOR AUGUST 26TH AT 10 A.M. WHERE STAFF WILL RECEIVE AND OPEN THE BIDS, AND THEN WE'LL BE BRINGING BACK CONTRACT WITH THE BID INFORMATION FOR THE FIRST MEETING IN SEPTEMBER.

THANK YOU, MR. DOTHEIM.

Well, I'll offer the resolution approving the plans and specs, ordering the advertising for bids, the Junior Pioneer Park, Water Main Crossing project, setting the opening bid date, authorizing staff to receive and open bids for the project at 10 a.m. Wednesday, August 26th, 2026 in the City Hall Council Chambers. Second.

We do have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? 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. Item 5.2 is a Police Department Towards Zero Deaths Enforcement Grant Application.

I'll make a motion to authorize the New Ulm Police Department to submit a grant application for a toward zero deaths enforcement grant from the Minnesota Department of Traffic Safety for traffic safety enforcement projects during the period of January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2027. Second.

Thank you. We do have a motion and a second to any additional discussion. I just would like to add that this has been a program that has been in place since 2003, and it has been successful in reducing traffic statewide vitalities. And so I do think this is a good grant. Any additional comments? All right. Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. That motion does carry. Item 5.3 is a deed redevelopment grant application for Paul Nyers.

COUNCIL PRESIDENT, COUNCILORS, THIS IS THE DEED APPLICATION FOR THE REDEVELOPMENT GRANT. WE'RE LOOKING TO APPLY ON BEHALF OF PAUL NYEARS FOR CONSTRUCTION, REHABILITATION, DEMOLITION OF 217 THROUGH 227 NORTH MINNESOTA TO POTENTIALLY DEVELOP A HOTEL ON THAT SITE. GRANT AMOUNT IS $464,508. um which will be matched which uh we'll have to match at least half of that and tiff and or tax abatement will cover that portion of our match so there's really no budgetary or fiscal impact to us this is just the resolution grant is due august 1st i'll be taking it up to minneapolis that last week in july because they need two physical copies and electronic copies and i don't trust the mail to get it there on time so we'll be hand delivering that and application at this point in time is complete i'll do one more look through and work with mr nyers if anything needs to be added but as of my cursor review everything is there

A COMMENT I DO WANT TO MAKE IS, I MEAN, ALL FOR THE RESOLUTION, MR. MEYERS HAS MET WITH OUR CITY STAFF, PLANNING AND WHATNOT, KNOWS THE PATH THAT HE'S GOT TO TAKE, SO HE'S KIND OF AHEAD OF THE GAME ON THAT.

YEAH.

SO MOVING FORWARD.

YEP. SO THIS WOULD BE THE FIRST STEP, BASICALLY, FOR THIS PROCESS? YEAH.

THIS WILL BE PART OF THE FUNDING STACK THAT HE NEEDS FOR FUNDING THE PROJECT. This is, again, that first step, and he will know probably in two to three months if we're awarded the grant after it closes.

So if there's no other questions, I'm going to offer the resolution to submit a grant application to Department of Employment and Economic Development on behalf of Paul Nyers. 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. Motion carries. Item 5.4 is attendance at the 2026 ICMA Conference in Long Beach, California.

President and Councilors, I'd like to make a motion to approve City Manager Chris Dalton to attend the annual 2026 International City Manager's Association Conference in Long Beach, California from October 16 to 22nd of this year, 2026.

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 5.5 is new on fire department services for Flying Dutchman Motorcycle Club Hill Climb.

I'll offer the motion to approve the New England Fire Department Rescue Squad to provide services to Flying Dutchman Motorcycle Club for their motorcycle hill climb 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 5.6 is Herman Fest 2026 Requests. I see Mr. Shugle. Good evening.

Thank you, Council President Betker, City Council, Joey Shugle, Park and Recreation Director for the City of New Ulm. This is an annual request for Herman Fest activity that would take place in Herman Heights Park and Harmon Parks, as well as three things that need your approval. One is to close Center Street from Garden to Highland, allow cannon shoots and fireworks to be displayed during that event as well. I will report there are no substantial changes to this event as years passed through the as requested by the Herman Monument Society. This does take coordinated efforts from Park and Rec as well as the Police Department and Fire Department to make sure this goes off smoothly as it has in the past.

And again, it was unanimously approved at the park and rec meeting. So, I mean, it's nothing new to any of us. I'm going to offer the resolution authorizing the Hermann-Magnon Society to temporarily close Center Street between Garden Street and Highland Avenue on Saturday, September 12th, 2026, from approximately 8.15 to 9 p.m. to accommodate the fireworks discharge during Hermannfest and authorize a request by the Hermann-Magnon Society for the following during Hermannfest on Saturday, September 12th, in Herman Heights and Harmon Parks. Grant an exception to the city code section 8.20 subdivision three to allow the discharge of cannons and fireworks during the event including the 5K. Authorize the discharge of fireworks at Herman Heights Park during the event. Permission is required as the city is the owner. Allow the fire department to remain on standby at the fireworks discharge site should their services be required. This does not include call control or fireworks discharge activities. Second.

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

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

Yes, that motion does carry. Item 5.7 is Pollinator Park and Natural Resource Area.

Thank you, Council President, City Council. This is a request to designate the pollinator park and natural resource area as city park land. If I can steer your attention to the screens here, in 2015, both the Park and Rec Commission and City Council approved designating a portion of the 2250 North Broadway Park as a natural resource area that could be used for pollinator preserve and monarch butterflies area. If you look at the screen, that red rectangle is the part that that area was developed to do that after 2015. So after the last 11 years now, that area has seen significant development due to high, high volunteer activity out there and passion for that area. In addition, these two other parcels, which are in blue, make up additional 20 acres. The current area is 2.64. City property those areas have also been used Throughout that area with some walking trails Education signage and some native native plantings But this request is talking about that that whole area to officially designate that parkland back in 2015 the pollinator park as it's called was not designated parkland at that time in both The comprehensive plan in 2024 and the park and rec master plan in 2026 that was just adopted, both recommended that this area be enhanced. And coming from the 2024 city comprehensive plan, a conceptual study was done of what this area could look like. And that is in, we can reduce that. So this kind of became, it was staff met with both consultants and volunteers to kind of develop this area. And this came from the comprehensive plans recommendation to look at what some possibilities are in this area. And then our park and rec master plan then adopted and is also recommending that we look at some of these enhancements. So really this would be the first step in adding or actually designating this area parkland. And then some of these enhancements could take place in the future. I will add that park and rec maintenance staff does do regular maintenance in this area, even though it is not parkland right now. Our recreational trail goes through that area. And again, I have high volunteer activity out there. So I am happy to answer any questions that any of you have.

Who's lucky enough to have this in their backyard. I can't thank the volunteers that have put all the work to making this what it is. It's an awesome part of town.

Trails are fun.

This looks very usable. I'm very much in support of this. David mentioned the same before.

Also, my comment was I did like the natural resource area. It's a common thing we have in New Ulm, great use of the property. Director Shugle and myself actually had that discussion in some of our other parks that are natural resources right now. Going a step further, I'd actually mention a couple of our forest parks that some counselors weren't even aware of that don't get used or advertised. So I think it's a great use.

President and Councillors, I agree with that, and I'd like to offer a resolution to designate the Pollinator Park and Natural Resource Area as city parkland. Second.

We do have a motion and a second. Any additional discussion?

I don't have discussion, but I just want to extend on behalf of the city of New Ulm appreciation to the volunteers that have gotten us this far with that pollinator park. I don't think we would be sitting here tonight approving this additional acreage if it wouldn't have been for their efforts. So thank you to all of the volunteers that have supported that pollinator park concept and made it a reality.

Mayor, I would agree with that, and I see some of the key volunteers here, Deb Steinberg and the Gartners. Thank you very much for all your hard work over the decades.

I'll just add that this is why these reports and these comprehensive plans are important. I mean, even just by citing, you know, what we've done here from the report we received in June of 2024, I remembered kind of going through the report and seeing that, and it's nice to see these things coming to fruition, and that's why we have these types of plans done. And thank you for helping to move this forward. Any other comments?

I just want to say thank you. You've done a wonderful job.

Thank you. Director Jorgensen, please call the roll.

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

Yes, that motion carries. Great work, everyone. Thank you. Item 5.8, Park and Recreation Department Non-Resident Fee Policy.

Yes, Council President Becker, City Council. This would be an update to our non-resident fee policy, which currently sits at 10% of resident fees. And really what we're recommending, staff's recommending at this time is our fees are, any non-resident fees should be 10% across the board and then rounded to the nearest whole dollar. And why we do that is... you know, with the penny going out of use and other things, this is just updating that policy to reflect that. So we would either round up or down to the nearest dollar based on this.

I'll make the motion to approve the park and rec department non-resident fee policy change for a 10% across the board fee, rounded to the nearest whole dollar to take effect January 1, 2027. Second.

We do have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. That motion does carry. Item 5.9, Park and Rec Department Scholarship Policy.

Council President, City Council, this policy would be an update to our current scholarship policy. So our current scholarship policy only allows staff to award scholarships to either program-related fees and activities. So what this recommendation would do is to also open it up to memberships to the South Point Recreation and Wellness Center. And when I say memberships, it would only include the three-month membership, and that could be used one time by a household or an individual. And that would be a start into this process is why we chose that one, and it would be able to stretch the dollars we can go further if we start that way. There have been some additional opportunities in our community for memberships at the recreation center, library pass, library does check out passes now for rec centers for a week long as well. We'd follow all our other guidelines with our scholarships on meeting the criteria, and it would also not include additional budgetary cost as we would be using the same funding we have in the past. We'd just be allocating the funds differently for this. Again, happy to answer any questions.

I've got no questions. I'm going to offer a motion to approve the Park and Rec Department scholarship policy change to include a three-month membership to the South Point Recreational and Wellness Center. to take effect of January 1, 2027. Seconds.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Those in favor, signal by saying aye. Aye. That motion does carry. One more for you today. Item 5.10, Park and Recreation Donations.

Yes, Council President, City Council, a good number of donations this month. First one for the Pollinator Park from Robert and Linda Beck in the amount of $500. A Terry Steinbach plaque at Johnson Park to be placed right inside the entrance from the New Ulm Baseball Association, and that plaque cost would be $3,860.99. Herman Run Sponsorship from Firth Miley Insurance for $150. A Little Free Library to be placed in Nells Park from Kathleen and David Suker for $75. A German Park Paverstone from Shiloh and Brian Earl honoring Jerry and JoJo Earl for $200. Flowers at Riverside from Dr. Ann Vogel honoring Ron Bolden, the curator of the Environmental Learning Center for $103.31. Pickleball general donation from Giselda Webb for $30. A pickleball and other general donation from Betty Camels and other pickleball players for $200. And Rec on the Go, first allotment to that grant from New Ulm Public Schools for $6,400. That total would be $11,519.30.

Again, the Park Department had a great month. I'm going to offer the resolution to accept donations offered to the City of Nome through the Park and Rec Department totaling $11,519.30 for the identified purposes. Second.

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

Councillor Christian. Yes. Councillor Wormcuff. Yes. Councillor Schmitz. Yes. Councillor Mack. Yes. And President Becker.

Yes, that motion does carry. Thank you, Mr. Shugle. Item 5.11, library donations and memorials.

I'll offer the resolution to accept the donations and memorials to the New Ulm Public Library for the period of April 1st to June 30th, 2026. Unless Joe wants to keep reading these. First one was from the Prairie Peacemakers for adult books for $170. Next was Friends of the New Ulm Public Library for $1,000 for children's programs. Friends of the New Ulm Public Library, $150 for other for the National Library Week staff recognition. New Ulm Area Foundation, $130 for children's program. New Ulm Area Foundation, $332.30 for adult books. Ann and Craig Anderson, $50 for adult books. Sue Ullery, $30, adult books. Doug and Betty Royger, $100 for adult books. Carol Kramer, $100 for adult books. Brenda Portner, $50 for children's programs. Catherine Friedrichs, in honor of Nancy Stark, $75. And Anonymous for $85 undesignated. Total of $2,272.30. Second.

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

Yes, that motion carries.

With no additional business, today's meeting is adjourned. We will move into a work session.