NEW ULM — The City Council is expected to select a new permanent city manager Tuesday.

The five candidates for the council to consider include Christopher Dalton, Sam Hensen, Timothy Ibisch, Erin Reinders and Dan Wietecha.

In August 2018, then city manager Brian Gramentz announced he was ending his employment with New Ulm. Gramentz’s last day was Nov. 15, 2018. Later, the council hired David Drown Associates to help recruit a new city manager.

The city received 30 applications for this position. The list of applicants was reduced to 14 by Gary Weiers, a consultant with David Drown Associates. Two later withdrew their applications. The 12 remaining candidates completed a video interview and personality index. Of these 12, the City Council chose their top five to move on for further interviews.

Christopher Dalton has been employed with the City of New Ulm since April 2018. He began his career at the City as the assistant city manager/economic development director and has served as acting city manager since November 2018. Before joining the City of New Ulm, Dalton worked for the City of Santa Ana, California, for nearly 12 years as an economic development aide, economic development specialist, enterprise zone manager and a neighborhood initiatives project specialist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing.

Sam Hansen serves as the city manager for St. James, where he has been employed for over two years. Prior to that, he served as the city administrator for Sherburn for nearly four years. Hansen has a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement, with a minor in psychology, and a master’s degree in public administration.

Timothy Ibisch has served as the city administrator for Blue Earth since October 2014. Before that, he was a mineman in the U.S. Navy for four years. He has also served as a coordinator for the U.S. Census Bureau and a clerk/administrator for Tyler. Ibisch holds a bachelor’s degree in geography and a master’s degree in urban and regional studies.

Erin Reinders has been employed with the City of Unalaska, Alaska, for over seven years. She started as the director of planning and currently serves as the assistant city manager. Before joining Unalaska, Reinders worked for the City of Franklin, Tennessee, for nearly nine years as a city planner, principal planner, and a long-range planning supervisor. She holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, with a minor in anthropology, and a master’s degree in urban affairs and public policy.

Dan Wietecha has served as the township superintendent for Bath Charter Township, Michigan, since April 2014. Before that, he served as a city administrator for Evansville, Wisconsin, and a tri-city administrator for the Nicollet County Tri-City Joint Powers Board. Wietecha holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree.

A two-day interview process with the five candidates began April 1. The city could make its final selection during the Tuesday meeting or choose to narrow down the field of candidates for further interviews.

RENU Updates

The council will consider awarding the RENU Recreation Center construction manager bid to RJM Construction.

For the recreation center projects, the city chose to hire a construction manager under the at-risk method. Requests for proposals were submitted on March 4, and nine proposals were received.

The proposals were reviewed and ranked by the city manager, building official, parks and recreation facility maintenance supervisor and JLG Architects. The proposals were ranked, with price representing 25 percent of the total ranking. RJM received the highest point score with an estimated fee of $547,338. RJM’s fee came in $51,000 higher than second-ranked firm Knutson Construction.

RJM”s fee was an estimated cost. Their total fee is 1.65 percent of the project value. At an estimated value of $8.2 million this fee was $547,338. If the project value went to $10 million, their fee would be over $600,000.

RJM’s bid for construction manager was not the lowest bid, but the firm did have experience with the at-risk method.

The council will also consider discontinuing the planning of the RENU dome project. The RENU committee recently recommended the project be discontinued to allow the $3.5 million earmarked for this project to be allocated to the Recreation Center RENU projects.

The RENU committee also recommended the city does not use RENU funding for the creation of a daycare facility.

The council is expected to set bid opening dates for the Johnson Park RENU improvements. The Johnson Park improvements are scheduled to begin construction in June.

Downtown Action Team

The Downtown Action Team will bring a recommendation to the council to create new public parking lot signs downtown and to rename parking lots based on their locations.

Parking availability is a common problem in the downtown district. The creation of signs would help direct out-of-town visitors to available parking lots. Naming the lots for the street address would help visitors locate these lots.

Roundabout

A public hearing will be held on the proposed 2019 North Highland Avenue improvement project. In August, the city council accepted a recommendation from the safety commission to construct a mini-roundabout on North Highland Avenue at Oak Street.

A public open house for the proposed roundabout was held on March 6. The majority of comments received from the attendees were supportive of the improvement.

The preliminary cost estimate of the project is $366,000.

Variances

Two variance requests will be reviewed by the council. The first is for a zero-foot front-yard setback for the Dairy Queen at 150 N. Broadway. The variance would allow the construction of an addition.

The second variance is for a parking reduction for the proposed distillery at 201 1st St. N. Based on the proposed usage of the property the city code requires 49 parking spaces. The council has the option of allowing a variance to require no off-street parking or a modified parking variance. Staff estimates 22 possible parking spaces are available on the property.

Permit Amendment Recommendation

An interim-use permit (IUP) could become part of the city code. The planning commission recommended adding IUPs to the city code during the previous commission meeting.

Minnesota defines an IUP as a temporary use of property: until a particular date, until the occurrence of a particular event, or until zoning regulations no longer permit it. An IUP has a maximum five-year limit from the time of approval, but applicants may reapply for another IUP.

The council previously asked the planning commission to consider reviewing the requirements.