File photo by Clay Schuldt The New Ulm City Council held a work session Tuesday about the future of the garlands that have been part of downtown for decades.

NEW ULM — The downtown holiday garlands were the subject of a special New Ulm City Council work session, Tuesday.

The city was recently presented with a petition by area citizens requesting the city continue the holiday garland tradition on downtown Minnesota Street. Recently, the city has considered eliminating the garlands due to liability concerns.

Members of the public were invited to voice their opinions on the garland during the work session.

City Manager Chris Dalton began the discussion with an overview of the current status of the holiday garlands.

In 2016, a fire occurred on the roof of the current Kemske building caused by the garlands. Then-city manager Brian Gramentz hosted a community meeting on the safety and liability issues of the garlands. In 2017, liability was not addressed, but the garlands were still hung.

In July 2018, it was determined the structural integrity of the buildings was the responsibility of the owners to fix. Gramentz proposed not moving forward without easements.

In September 2018, there were discussions of hiring an engineering firm to provide an assessment of the structural integrity of the buildings to hang garlands. No assessment was conducted, but an easement was put in place for 2018.

In June 2019, a cost breakdown of the garlands was presented to the council and another one-year easement was approved, along with a plan to explore other decoration options.

Daltons said there were 22 to 26 buildings that could hold garlands. This means between 11 and 13 garlands hung over Minnesota Street.

Each building in the assessment was estimated to cost between $4,000 and $5,000. For 26 buildings this is $104,000 to $130,000. New cables will be needed, each costing $5,000. For 13 cables this equals $65,000.

After the assessment is done some buildings might need to be corrected to anchor a cable and garland. Initial estimates for reconstruction was more than $50,000.

Dalton looked into options in other communities. Lichfield utilized wood poles to hang garland, but this was not recommended as the weight causes wood poles to bend.

Albert Lea had a similar problem with garlands and anchor points. In 2013, Albert Lea installed steel poles at a cost of $15,000 per pole. Dalton estimated today these poles were at least $21,000 each.

Each of these poles needs a five by five pad that is eight feet deep to support the load. An engineering firm would need to be hired to calculate the weight and wind load, with a six-month lead time to create the poles. Dalton said based on how downtown is structured 16 poles would be needed costing $336,000

Another issue in New Ulm is the steam tunnels underneath Minnesota Street. The tunnels might prohibit placing blocks for these poles along the street.

Dalton reviewed different decoration options, such as wrapping Christmas trees at the intersection, adding wreaths to lamp posts and potentially Christmas globe decorations.

City Councilor David Christian said assessment cost for the project would likely be repeating expense. He spoke with engineers that suggested a building assessment should be done every five years with New Ulm’s aging downtown.

“These parapets are 130 to 150 years old,” Christian said. “They fall on there own in New Ulm.”

Kathleen Backer asked if it were possible to look into a fundraiser or grant opportunity to maintain the garland.

Dalton said he was not opposed to fundraising to help the business owners or use of private funding.

“We’re not here to get rid of the tradition,” he said. “In its current state, it is not safe.”

Council President Charlie Schmitz said a new plan was needed because the city does not have the consent of the business owners.

Christian said there was once 22 garlands on Minnesota Street, but now they are down to seven. He suggested thinking outside the box for alternative decorations rather than sticking to an increasingly expensive garland tradition.

Ten members of the public spoke during the work session. Nearly all pushed for the continuation of the garlands in some form but most acknowledged restoring all the garlands was likely impossible.

Yvonne Weber acknowledges the garlands would never be the same as they were in the past but felt they were important to New Ulm’s tradition. She understood the need to scale down but wanted the city to save some of the garlands. She reminded the council New Ulm was the city of charm and tradition and was designated as a Christmas city. Without the garlands, she did not feel it could claim those titles.

Heather Hammer asked the city to put together a committee to research garland options. She said the petition circulated during the holiday season received more than 3,500 signatures which represented 20% of New Ulm’s population. She acknowledged attaching the garlands to buildings might not be possible, but wanted the issue further explored as it impacted a large part of the community

“We want to make sure all options are looked at,” Hammer said.

Ann Wendinger asked the council to give the citizens avenues and the ability to find a garland solution before moving on to another option.

Alexander Roth said the reason garlands were important was that New Ulm had experienced a lot of loss and the garlands were a tipping point. He said they represented the last strand of authenticity.

“If we say we are the city of charm and tradition then we should be that,” he said.

Danielle Marti, co-owner of Gallery 512, said she had a business interest in maintaining the garlands.

“People come to New Ulm because we have something unique that you cannot recreate,” she said. Marti agreed the garland was a tipping point. People come to shop in the winter, but they come to see the garlands too.

Kyle Marti said the Christmas garlands were synonymous with New Ulm and there was a lot of emotion behind the decorations based on the number of petition signatures. He understood the need to balance emotions with financial support. He proposed setting up a garland sub-committee to review findings of the original engineering report and develop potential plans with funding options and timeline.

Marti was uncertain if personal feelings would change after all the research was done, but it would at least allow people to take ownership of the garland decision.

Jodi Marti represented the Small Business Owners Group. She thanked the business owners who accepted the liability of hanging the garlands in the past. She acknowledged attaching the garlands to businesses might not be viable, but wanted the city to look to other options.

“Before we throw the whole idea away, look outside the box,” Jodi Marti said.

Elroy Ubl suggested that if the garlands were not an option city could revive an older Christmas tradition. In 1925, the city lined Minnesota with Christmas trees.

Ted Marti said the downtown buildings were in tough shape and would need to repair someday and building owners should be concerned regardless of whether garlands were hung from them. He asked if there were grants available to repair building fronts.

Dalton said New Ulm does have a facade improvement program available that is underutilized. He advised business owners considering renovating to call the city about this program.

After public testimony, Schmitz said no one on the council was against the garlands but a plan was needed to maintain them. He was willing to support a garland committee to explore the idea.

Councilor Les Schultz said he had not seen as many signatures on a petition since Chammy the horse. The result was an alternative option that allowed Chammy to remain in town. He believed that there was room to compromise and keep the garlands and also supported a committee to research the issue.

“We can make this work,” Schultz said. “We’re building a gigantic water park and building onto stuff in town and we can’t figure out how to save the garlands? I think we can.”

As this was a work session, the council could not make a formal decision, but the garland sub-committee decision will be added to the next city council meeting.