NEW ULM — The New Ulm City Council is expected to seek bids for the Hermann Heights portion of the RENU project, at its meeting today (Tuesday).

The 2020 Herman Heights Parking Lot Improvement plans and specifications will come before the council. The project documents are complete and ready for the solicitation of bids. The council will set a bid opening date for bids. The project is estimated at $1.24 million. The project includes the relocation of Monument Street further west on the Center to improve sightlines for drives. Two paved parking lots will be created for the park.

The plan would create nearly 90 regular parking stalls, four handicapped stalls, and room for coach buses.

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The council will consider an $88,352 grant from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for the removal and replacement of ash trees. City staff applied for the grant in November. Only ash trees on public land can be removed/replaced with these funds. All removal and planting would occur within two years (January 2020-June 2022).

This is a matching grant requiring the city to pay $49,980 through in-kind services, replanting costs and removal purposes. The trees are threatened by emerald ash borers.

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The appointment of the 2020 Presidential Nomination Primary Election judges will be authorized by the council. This year 55 judges have been appointed to be scheduled as needed. The recommendation is to set the rate of pay for the election judges at $10 per hour with an additional $1 per hour for the Head and Assistant Head Judge.

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The city will authorize a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for professional on-call airport engineering and planning services. To be eligible for Federal grants for consultant services, the city requires to go through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) consultant selection process every five years. The current consulting service agreement with Mead & Hunt expires in June 2020.