City OKs

go-ahead

for final

designs

on new rec

facilities

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The New Ulm City Council Tuesday gave the go-ahead for architects going to final design phase on the Fairgrounds Community Center, Family Recreation Center and Senior Center construction projects.

After having been briefed earlier in the day by representatives of Rozeboom Miller Architects, Inc. of Minneapolis on the schematic designs for all three projects, approval of the schematic designs and authorization for RMA to proceed to the design development phase of all three projects was a slam dunk.

Council President Dan Beranek called the schematic designs "impressive." At the informational meeting, architects Ted Rozeboom, David Sheppard, Victor Pechaty and Andrew Kordon received applause and hardly any brickbats. They had neatly coupled "German modernism" with "New Ulm traditional" to win over the councilors.

(The Journal will publish on successive days individual stories on the schematic designs for the three construction projects.)

The only fly in the ointment had current cost estimates running at 6.4 percent over budget.

"The committees did a real nice job in contracting the projects back to where they were initially," Rozeboom, RMA's principal architect, told the council. "Being 6.4 percent over isn't serious; we'll go back to the committees to reduce it."

Besides, Rozeboom added, from recent bid lettings, it appears that the chances of having these projects come in under estimate are encouraging.

City Manager Dick Salvati, sitting with the council for the last time Tuesday, told the council it should consider supplemental or alternative funding, such as a lease-purchase arrangement, to cover the possible shortfall.

"I believe the council should focus on building a quality product and, if need be, look at supplemental funding to achieve that goal," he said.

* Southern Minnesota Construction Co., Mankato, was the successful bidder out of three firms bidding for the 2001 Utility, Street and Alley Improvements -- Group I project with a low bid of $1,514,377. The city engineer's estimate was $1,916,029.50.

* The council approved 11 on sale liquor licenses, six off sale, 11 Sunday licenses, two club on sale licenses, one wine on sale, three temporary on sale licenses, two for Heritagefest, Inc., and one for New Ulm Turnverein, and a temporary 3.2 beer license for Turnverein. No applicant was turned down.

* In other action, the council voted to hold a public hearing June 19 at 7:30 p.m. on a resolution ordering repair of sidewalks in this year's inspected quadrant of the city and making a special assessment on the property to pay for it. This action affects 17 property owners who have not fixed their sidewalks.

* The council approved Mayor Arnold Koelpin's recommended appointment of Mae Tacke to the New Ulm Human Rights Commission to complete the term of Nancy Busse.

* City staff were authorized to work with Canyon Outback Leather Goods on its request for tax increment financing for building a 11,200 sq. ft. manufacturing/storage building on North Broadway. The project is estimated to cost $350,000, according to Canyon Outback's president, Jamie Cimino.

* At the suggestion of the Safety Council, the council voted to remove the stop signs on German Street at 19th South Street. Stop signs will remain on 19th South, making German a through-street in downtown.

* The council accepted invitations to view the city-owned Wanda Gag art collection at the Brown County Historical Society Museum at 5 p.m. June 19 and an hour later to review community health care issues and future plans at the New Ulm Medical Center.

* Finally, the city council added a messy issue to the new business agenda at the request of Councilor Joel Albrecht. Albrecht reported a number of complaints about dog owners allowing their dogs to do their business in other people's yards. It was particularly offensive, he said, because the coming of spring showed how many times the homeowners' rights had been violated.

City Attorney Hugh Nierengarten said the good news is that a violation like that draws a $300 fine, but the bad news is that in order to get a conviction there needs to be convincing evidence that the suspected perpetrator is guilty. This, he said, would include the exact time and date of the infraction, identification of the owner and the dog, and retrieval of the actual dog poop.

Several councilors speculated that a video camera would come in handy in developing a good case. Albrecht hastened to add that "the great majority of dog owners are very responsible. I think what we have here is a handful of owners who are repeat offenders."

Salvati concurred that it's just a few and suggested a publicity campaign might be the best way of handling it. With that, a relieved council left the dog mess in Salvati's hands.