NEW ULM — The New Ulm City Council set opening bids for the Hermann Heights portion of the RENU project, Tuesday.

The 2020 Herman Heights parking lot improvement plans and specifications came before the council. The project documents are complete and ready for the solicitation of bids. The council set the opening bid date for 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25.

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.

Community Development Director David Schnobrich said there will be three alternative bids related to sidewalks in the park.

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The council accepted an $88,352 grant from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) 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.

City Planner John Knisley said with these funds the city will be able to remove between 80 and 100 full-size mature ash trees from the boulevards. There are over 2,600 ash trees in boulevard areas across New Ulm. There are additional 360 ash trees in city parks. The trees removed would be the ones most impacted by emerald ash borer.

It is unknown if the grant will be available in the future years, but as the ash borer spreads in the state additional funding could be available.

The plan is to begin removal in winter and start replanting in summer. The city cannot remove trees from April to October because emerald ash borer is active during this time. The available replacement trees are ginkgo, hackberry, bur oak, swamp white oak, honey locust, elm, and Kentucky coffee tree.

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The appointment of the 2020 presidential nomination primary election was authorized by the council. This year 55 judges have been appointed to be scheduled as needed. The rate of pay for the election judges is $10 per hour with an additional $1 per hour for the head and assistant head judge.

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The city authorized 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.