Fleischmann involved with

youth, seniors, athletics, arts

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Councilor Ron Fleischmann, in seeking election to a second term from Ward 2, believes a City Council member needs to be a generalist and do a lot of listening to taxpayers' concerns.

"I'm pretty much a generalist," said Fleischmann, 43, is the youngest member on the council. "Maybe being the youngest, I tend to focus more on youth activities, but, certainly, I'm concerned about making sure our seniors have a nice place to gather and have their meals."

Fleischmann said one of the concerns at the Senior Center was that seniors would have to walk into the center on an incline, making it very difficult for some to get into the building.

"So the new re-design has two entries that are both at grade level and an elevator," Fleischmann explained. "So, yes, certainly I'm involved with youth, but I'm also involved with seniors, with athletics and with the arts."

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the City Council right now, Fleischmann said, is budgeting for 2003 because of the projected $3.2 billion shortfall at the state level.

"The unfortunate part is we didn't get ourselves into this mess. The budget of New Ulm is actually one of the strongest in the state; we have the highest ranking that any city our size can have for our financial soundness," he said.

"Unfortunately, the state is faced with a huge deficit, and we need to plan ahead. We should expect that some of the cuts that the state will need to make to address that will be passed on to city government. So, our real challenge is going to be understanding what our budget is, what our priorities are, how we can best meet the needs of our citizens without cutting necessary programs."

On a positive note, Fleischmann feels the council has made significant progress in the area of industrial development during the past four years, and he hopes to be able to continue with his role in it.

"For years, we really have worked hard to address all the needs of the city so we're already in the middle of a number of projects that I feel are real important. We just recently approved the purchase of a parcel of land that eventually will develop into an industrial park," Fleischmann explained.

"The important thing for the council is to make sure we get the structures out there to have that park ready so when we do have somebody who comes to us and says, 'We're considering New Ulm; do you have any sites?' that we have a site up and ready to go. I feel there are times when groups have come to us, and we've had to turn them down because we're not prepared for them in that way."

Fleischmann believes growth by annexation is also important.

"I'm working on a sub-committee with our council president and meeting with the area townships to prepare them for our expansion. We certainly don't want to be foolish about this; it's the kind of thing we want to do in a cooperative effort with the townships in the area. We've found they're very open to that."

Fleischmann also believes he has established a good working relationship with the other council members.

"We are five very distinct, different personalities, and I think that's real important. We have some members who are very aggressive in spending, that kind of thing, and I'm rather conservative in that area. We have other council people who are very conservative in their approach to expanding services, and I'm somewhat aggressive in that area," he explained.

"At council meetings, I spend an awful lot of time sitting and listening. When I do have something to say, it's usually, I hope, pretty well thought out, and it cuts to the point."