Revised ordinance to allow St. Mary's demolition

Eckstein says he made offer to buy church building

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- With the expressed desire to "let's get this behind us," the New Ulm City Council approved the revised Historic Preservation ordinance that repeals the designations of St. Mary's Parish school and convent as having historical significance.

The ordinance will become law 30 days after its publication.

It was, however, a decision not easily reached by the council.

Council President Dan Beranek opened the discussion by suggesting approval of the ordinance with a built-in, extended delay of "60, 90, 120 or even 160 days" to give the parish an opportunity to negotiate with a new player in the save-the-school sweepstakes.

James Bodine, chairman of the city's Historic Preservation Commission, reported being contacted by former mayor and councilor Anthony "Tony" Eckstein about his offer to buy the building for "$160,000."

Bodine said he had no reason to doubt the validity of Eckstein's offer.

However, Andrew Biebl, representing the parish's board of trustees, and the Rev. Doug Grams, the parish's pastor, later denied knowledge of any such offer by Eckstein.

In answer to a question from Beranek, Bodine said he would contact Eckstein to see if he would be interested in leasing the property instead because the parish wants to retain the land.

The council briefly considered approving the repeal ordinance with Beranek's suggested delay. However, Grams said there would be no demolition of the building in the near future anyway because "we just don't have the revenue to do it at this time."

Councilor Clark Tuttle, in proposing that the council approve the repeal without a delay, said, "We should just get this done, with apologies to both sides for misleading them."

He was referring to an apparent miscommunication in which St. Mary's felt it had city approval to demolish the building if a suitable use for it couldn't be found. The HPC, on the other hand, thought it had defined clearly the restrictions that came with the designation.

Meanwhile, Beranek and now-Mayor Joel Albrecht, both of whom were on the council when the HPC was born, stood by their earlier statements that "losing control of a person's property would have a chilling effect on having property designated."

However, Tuttle argued that "you can't preserve property by letting them get in and out whenever they want to."

Wage adjustments

The council approved a 3.25 percent general wage adjustment for the city's non-unionized full-time employees, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2003, as well as a 3 percent increase in City Attorney Hugh Nierengarten's hourly rate, increasing to $73.41 an hour. The third-party billing rate was increased to $126.69 an hour, and the office's annual retainer fee was increased to $43,606.

PUC service extensions

An ordinance which would allow the Utilities Department to provide utilities to customers in a community in which the PUC has a contract for services got its first reading. However, concerns were raised by several councilors about the wording that seemed to allow service to areas which were not annexed. So, further action on the ordinance will be delayed while those concerns are addressed.

Fire contract

A new, six-year contract with the New Ulm Rural Fire Association for fire protection in the city of New Ulm for the next six years was approved.

Hy-Vee request

for gas station

The council delayed approval of a variance request by Hy-Vee, Inc. in order to reduce the number of parking stalls by 15 so the firm can build a gas station on a corner of its leased property. Concerns were raised by Tuttle and Nierengarten about the number of accidents in and around the store's 20th South Street entrance.

Representatives of Hy-Vee, Inc., West Des Moines, Iowa, were asked to discuss with their New Ulm store landlord what can be done to reduce the traffic hazard and report back to the council at its next meeting in two weeks.

Appointments

The council also approved the mayor's nominations for boards and commissions, as well as the council's own nominees. Councilor Ron Fleischmann was elected council vice president, replacing Albrecht in that post.

Nierengarten administered the oath of office to Albrecht as mayor and to Fleischmann, Tuttle and Sharon Weinkauf who was picked by the council to serve the remaining two years of Albrecht's Third Ward councilor post.