District 88 finances voted top local story for 2001

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEW ULM -- The financial difficulties of District 88 in 2001 would have been a lot more desperate without the narrow passage of tax levy referendum in November.

But the passage of the referendum will bring enough revenue into the district over the next ten years to keep current programs running. The district's budget and the tax referendum were judged the top news story in New Ulm for 2001.

The stories were culled from the pages of The Journal this past year, and were voted on by Journal employees. The voting was open to all employees of The Journal, not just newsroom employees.

The District 88 financial story was followed, in order, by the installation of Bishop John Clayton Nienstedt as only the third bishop of the New Ulm Diocese; Gov. Jesse Ventura's two-day visit to the city in September; the spring flooding in New Ulm; the reaction to the surprise opening of a "gentlemen's club" in Nicollet; the finalization of plans and awarding of contracts for New Ulm's Park and Recreation facilities improvements; the addition of cast-iron lions to the Hermann Monument; the retirement of City Manager Dick Salvati and the hiring of new City Manager Brian Gramentz; the progress, or lack of it, on Highway 14 improvements; and a diabetes symposium that focused on Native American health and ended with a signed agreement of cooperation and reconciliation between New Ulm and the Dakota tribes who were once enemies in the Dakota Conflict of 1862.

1. District 88 Finances

The failure of a mail-in tax levy referendum in May 2000 had left Public School District 88 in tough financial shape. After cutting nearly $1.5 million from the budget in the previous two years, the District School Board had to trim another $1.2 million for the 2001-2002 school year. With projections pointing to a gentle but steady decline in student population over the next ten years (and a resulting decline in school revenues) the school board had little choice but to seek another tax levy referendum. The alternative was another decade of budget cutting and painful cuts in the quality of education in the district.

The November levy question became part of a larger issue as school districts and city governments throughout the state put a record number of tax questions before their voters. Gov. Jesse Ventura and tax-watchdog groups about the state urged voters to protect the tax cuts and property tax reforms passed by the Legislature this past year. Ventura even suggested some districts were using the changeover to seek more tax money, and were giving out misleading information to voters.

The District 88 referendum passed by a narrow margin in heavy turnout -- 3,144 "yes" votes to 2,987 "no" votes.

2. A bishop for New Ulm

The Catholic Diocese of New Ulm has had two bishops since it was established in 1957 -- first Bishop Alphonse Schladweiler, who served from 1957 to 1975, and Bishop Raymond Lucker, from 1975 until his retirement for health reasons in November 2000.

In June, the Vatican announced the appointment of Bishop John Clayton Nienstedt as the new bishop of the diocese. Nienstedt was an auxiliary bishop in the Detroit Diocese,

The new bishop was installed in August in a ceremony that drew an impressive list of the Church hierarchy -- several cardinals and papal nuncios were in attendance, along with bishops and archbishops from several states in the U.S. The installation was held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Sleepy Eye rather than the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New Ulm to accommodate a larger crowd.

During his installation ceremony, Bishop Nienstedt called for Catholics in the diocese to focus their attention on increasing the number of clergy. He asked for a voluntary return to meatless Fridays and for more prayers for religious vocations.

Nienstedt's installation was followed soon after by the death, on Sept. 15, of his predecessor, Bishop Raymond Lucker.

3. Ventura's visit

Governor Jesse Ventura proved to be a powerful attraction when he finished a tour of southwest Minnesota communities with a stop in New Ulm.

Ventura was the guest of honor at a sold-out banquet at the Holiday Inn, which featured a dinner of German sausage, red cabbage, and german potato salad, and entertainment by the Concord Singers.

The following day, Ventura visited sites around New Ulm, including the Hermann Monument. Ventura had criticized the state's appropriation of $400,000 for the monument during his election campaign, but said he had not realized the size of the monument until he saw it.

Ventura finished his visit with a broadcast of his "Lunch With the Governor" radio program from German Park, giving most of the hour over to talk about New Ulm and a chat with Mayor Arnold Koelpin.

4. Spring Flooding

Flooding returned to the Minnesota River and Cottonwood River in the spring of 2001, but it found New Ulm much better prepared than in 1997.

Flood levels never approached the high water marks of 1997, when armies of volunteers built sandbag levees around homes threatened by rising water.

This year city crews built clay berms along homes on the south end of Valley Street, and smaller crews of volunteers managed to keep the water at bay until it crested on April 16 at about 11 feet above flood level.

Damage estimates in New Ulm and Brown County were set at $785,000.

5. That's no mirage

Resident of the nearby town of Nicollet were outraged in late September when The Mirage, a "gentlemen's club" featuring nude dancers, opened without warning. The club's owners, two young men from the Twin Cities, opened the club as a non-alcoholic establishment, so there was no need for them to seek a liquor license.

The club was closed briefly four days after it opened for alleged health code violations, but reopened again when the violations were corrected.

The club's sudden appearance spurred neighboring communities, including New Ulm, to adopt laws preventing such businesses from opening. Nicollet also passed an anti-nudity ordinance, but too late to stop the club from operating.

6. Park facilities project

City of New Ulm officials progressed with plans to build new and expand existing recreation facilities in New Ulm. In a project financed by a city 1/2 percent sales tax approved by voters the previous year, the city plans to build a new double-rink ice arena and community building at the Brown County fairgrounds, expand the New Ulm Senior Center, and convert the ice arena at Vogel Arena into a multiple-gymnasium complex with a running track.

Plans were drawn up and approved, and the city's fears that the project might be too expensive for the revenue produced by the sales tax were allayed in December when bids for the projects came in under the $10 million estimates. Heymann Construction was the low bidder and won the contract.

7. Copper or iron?

The Hermann Monument received some new lions and became the focus of a bit of controversy in 2001.

Original plans for the monument called for four statues of lions to be reclining around the base of the monument, but lack of finances at the time meant the lions had to be cut. Plans were made to add the lions for the centennial of the monument's dedication, with metalworker Carl Mindermann, a member of the California Sons of Hermann, making the four copper-sheathed statues.

For various reasons, Mindermann was unable to complete the lions for the dedication, and this year city officials decided to commission four cast-iron lions from a foundry in China to complete the monument. The lions were purchased at a substantial savings over the estimated cost of the copper-sheathed lions, but a question arose over the effect the cast-iron lions would have over state funding for the monument's restoration.

The state bonding legislation passed in 1997 giving $400,000 for the monument's restoration mentioned that the addition of "copper" lions was part of the project. Some state administration officials wondered whether the substitution of cast iron lions for copper would make the city ineligible to receive the funds. The questions were allayed late this year when officials of the Minnesota Historical Society decided the new lions were suitable substitutes meeting the legislation's intent.

8. End of a era

The local career of New Ulm City Manager Richard Salvati, spanning over three decades, came to an end with his retirement in 2001. During his tenure, Salvati oversaw many changes and developments in the city, including the building of Vogel Arena and the New Ulm Family Rec Center, the building of the Brown County Law Enforcement Center as a cooperative project between the city and Brown County, the building of a new fire station on Broadway and the renovation of the Goosetown Fire Station, the renovation of City Hall, renovation of the Public Utilities Buildings, a new Street Department garage and a new city water filtration plant, the realization of the "Streetscape" project on MInnesota Street and First North Street, and finally, the passage of a city sales tax referendum for improvements to the Park and Rec Department facilities.

Salvati's place has been taken by Brian Gramentz, a Springfield native who came to New Ulm from Hudson, Wis., where he had been the city manager.

9. Highway 14 concerns

The condition of Highway 14 has long been a concern to city officials and residents. Some signs of progress toward getting an expansion of the highway to four lanes between New Ulm and Mankato developed this year when the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced it had funding for a placement study that would show where the highway would go when it is expanded in the future.

10. A reconciliation

It was a symbolic gesture with great emotional impact. This summer New Ulm hosted a symposium on diabetes and its effect on the Native American population, which is afflicted with the disease much more frequently than the general population.

The symposium brought Native Americans to New Ulm, a city many of them had avoided for generations following the Dakota Conflict and the siege of New Ulm, a pivotal battle in that conflict.

The final night of the conference featured a supper and entertainment at the National Guard Armory in New Ulm, where Mayor Arnold Koelpin and members of the Dakota tribes signed a document pledging reconciliation and cooperation in the battle against diabetes.