NEW ULM — The New Ulm Park and Recreation Commission made no official recommendation on the 2020 lease agreement for senior dining at the Community Center, deciding to leave the final decision with the City Council.

Lutheran Social Services (LSS) has leased the Community Center’s kitchen and cafetorium for years, to make, serve on-site and deliver off-site meals to seniors. Currently, the lease agreement is $51 per day. The general philosophy of the city is to adjust fees to account for inflation. The recommendation for 2020 is to increase the lease fee to $53.

The lease fee charged to LSS for senior dining has been an annual point of discussion for the Park and Rec Commission and New Ulm City Council.

In 2015, the commission and council agreed to reduce the LSS lease fee from $86 per day to $50 per day.

In 2016, the Park and Rec Commission adopted a 2% increase, bringing the lease to $51 per day. This fee has remained in place for 2017, 2018 and 2019 despite increases in city expenses.

In 2014, a comprehensive analysis determined the city expense is at least $101.30 per day.

The City of New Ulm values this service to area seniors, officials said. The commission and council believe the senior dining program has helped keep seniors living in their homes instead of a nursing home, which could save the city more than the fee increase.

Another point of discussion was the number of meals delivered outside New Ulm. LSS uses the Community Center to prepare Meals on Wheels dinners. Approximately 36% to 59% of LSS meals prepared at the Community Center go to seniors residing outside New Ulm’s city limits and in other cities. Last year, the city placed a maximum cap of 75% for off-site delivery.

Commissioner and City Councilor David Christian asked if LSS had ever asked Brown County for help funding senior dining.

LSS Regional Manager Sarah Anderson said they have not asked Brown County or other communities for financial support, but said the other communities allow them the use of community buildings without charge.

“They are already granting us that space to operate the service in their community,” she said.

In the past, United Way has helped fund the program, but Anderson said the organization had not met its campaign goal resulting in a 16 percent cut to programs, which is $1,280 annual loss.

Commissioner Bob Skillings asked how LSS would make up the difference if the lease fee was increased.

Anderson said LSS would need to fundraise. LSS does receive federal funding, but this only covers a third of the cost of the meal. LSS does ask diners to contribute if able but does not charge or collect. The suggested contribution per meal is $4.50, but on average LSS receives $2.40 per meal at the community center. Meals on Wheels delivered to people’s homes bring in $3.18 per meal on average.

“We have a handful in every community where they outright cannot contribute a penny for their meal,” Anderson said.

Christian suggested skipping the discussion on whether to increase the fee and sending it to the city council. He said the council is the same as last year and they have supported the program in the past.

Commissioner Gene Slettedahl agreed that instead of having a lengthy discussion the council could decide.

Christian made a motion to recommend the city council sign the 2020 lease agreement at a rate other than $53 per day. This was to give the council an option to decide the feel. This motion was seconded by Slettedahl and unanimously passed by the commission.

The matter will come before the city council on Tuesday, Nov. 19.

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New Ulm Baseball Association (NUBA) requested the 2020 State Tournament’s field rent user fee and concession stand user fees for Johnson Park to be credited to NUBA’s repayment of the observation deck.

NUBA has pledged to repay the city for the $147,500 observation deck at Johnson Park.

In a letter to the Park and Rec Commission, NUBA president Bob Skillings said the 2020 Men’s State Amateur Class B and C Baseball Tournaments are a rarity, and NUBA is requesting the fees be applied to retiring the pledge for the deck. NUBA estimates $13,000 will be generated from the tournaments.

Skillings is a member of the Park and Recreation Commission and he chose to recuse himself from this discussion as did other NUBA members and commissioners Leroy Flor and Jim Bastian.

Michael French with NUBA formally presented the request in person to the remaining commissioners. French said these tournaments were a unique event and this will not be a regular request from NUBA.

Christian said no money from RENU was used for this patio. It was covered by the city’s general fund. He reminded the commission there was no time limit in which NUBA had to pay back this loan. Also, the $13,000 was a preliminary estimate and was already included in the Park and Rec budget.

“The only problem the council might see is that we created a $13,000 shortfall in their budget,” Christian said.

French said he anticipated the city would receive increases in revenue due to the improvements to Johnson Park.

Schmitz said this would create a budget shortfall, but it also could set a precedent in which other user groups could request rent forgiveness.

French argued other communities hosting these baseball tournaments don’t charge field rent or sales tax. He also reiterated this was a unique event compared to other user fee requests.

Again, the commission chose not to make a formal recommendation on this time, choosing to allow the city council to make the final decision.

Slettedahl made the motion to send the request to the city council without a recommendation and it was approved by the council.

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The commission received an update on Reinvest in New Ulm (RENU) projects. The update included financial reports on Johnson Park, preliminary costs on the Hermann parking lot and review of the Recreation Center designs.

Schmitz said the Johnson Park improvements were expected to be completed by the end of the year. The improvements are still within the contingency budget for the project. Any unused contingency funds for Johnson Park will remain in the sales tax fund.

The first wave of design documents for Hermann Park improvements is expected to come before the city soon. The project will include the relocation of the street and the creation of parking lots. The Hermann Heights retaining wall reconstruction will be along with the parking improvements, but the wall is not funded through RENU sales tax.

Schmitz said the Recreation Center improvements are still in the design development phase. The designs will come before the RENU Oversight Committee within the next month, followed by a month of fine-tuning the project with the budget.

Schmitz said an open house event at the Rec Center allowed individuals to bring concerns forward about the project. At the last commission meeting, several individuals expressed concerns about the size of the locker space in the design.

“We received some input and that input has been incorporated into the design development stage,” Schmitz said. He reminded the commission these improvements to the Rec Center were modest but would serve the community.