NEW ULM — The City of New Ulm declared a peacetime state of emergency Tuesday because of the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chief of Police and Emergency Management Director David Borchert said a federal, state and county declaration had already been passed. The city is doing this to gain latitude in securing potential funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Minnesota Homeland Security Emergency Management Public Assistance.

This process complies with the city of New Ulm Emergency Operation Plan (EOP) and the Federal Incident Command System (ICS).

City Manager Chris Dalton said internally, city employees who have traveled out of state have been sent home for 14 days. The city is following the Center for Disease Control guidelines, which include sending employees with symptoms home.

As of right now, the library, fieldhouse, civic center and community center are closed. Lutheran Social Service is still allowed to prepare meals at the community center for Meals on Wheels but on-site dining is canceled. Non-essential meetings and travel for city staff have also been canceled.

Dalton said a lot of cities are closing the city hall. He was requesting the council approve potentially closing city hall. Only essential employees who cannot work from home would be allowed in the building.

Councilor Charlie Schmitz was fine with closing city hall to the public but was reluctant to send city employees home. He was uncertain the length of the shutdown would prevent staff from contracting the virus

Dalton said the city cannot control what staff do when at home, but the city can recommend staff stay home for two weeks.

Councilor Les Schultz said the virus might last longer than two weeks.

Schmitz said after two weeks the city might be back at where they started. He said the industries in New Ulm were not shutting down.

Dalton said city operations would not be shutting down but would continue remotely.

Councilor Lisa Fischer said closing down was doing the city’s part to help contain the virus. If employees can work from home she felt that was the best way.

“We’re going to get criticized either way,” she said. “If we look back and say it was overkill, OK, it was, but if we look back and say we should have [closed], it is hard to go back.”

Fischer said it is hard to predict how this will go. She reminded the council Bockfest was less than two weeks ago and that brought 5,000 people into town.

Fischer said the only way to slow this virus down was to limit social interaction. She said if a week after shutting city hall down the virus slows, city hall can re-open.

Fischer made a motion to declare the state of emergency until the first regular city council meeting in April or through a special meeting.

The emergency declaration gives Dalton the authority to close the city hall if deemed necessary.

Dalton said unless there is a mandate from the governor he would seek council approval before completely shutting down city hall.

At this time, city staff who can work from home will be allowed to work from home. City hall and public utilities will be closed to the public starting Thursday.

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The council went into closed session to discuss the sale of Marktplatz Mall. The city has been in discussion with representatives of EBMD, LLC, a Minnesota limited liability company interested in acquiring two parcels of real estate that included the Marktplatz Mall. The property involved has been forfeited for nonpayment of taxes, and Brown County has agreed to a sale price.

The developer’s plan for the mall property would be to provide additional housing and retail activity for New Ulm.

The portions of the mall involved in the transaction are deteriorating and the value of the property is decreasing. No other parties are interested in the property that are prepared to move forward with development and improvement as timely as the proposed purchaser.

Following the closed session, the council authorized entering an agreement to buy the north and south section of the mall from the county, on condition the developer provides the funds necessary to purchase the properties. The city would then transfer the title of the properties to the developers.

The motion was unanimously approved by the council. The closing date was set for April 30.

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An ash tree removal contract was approved. The project consists of removing ash trees from the city boulevard areas as specified by the New Ulm Tree Commission. The bid was for the cutting down of 113 trees, transportation of trunks, limbs or other associated tree debris.

The city received 12 bids for the contract. Ryan Tree and Aerial Service of Springfield submitted the low bid of $7,339.35.

Due to the low cost, staff met with the low bidder to verify the bid and make sure they understood the work involved. The bidder did understand the work involved.

The city has $45,500 available to remove ash from the boulevard. An item in the bid proposal allowed the city to take more or fewer trees down based on the bids. Since the low bid came in significantly below the budget, an additional 105 ash trees were added to the contract at the same rate. Property owners where the additional 105 ash trees are located will be notified.