The New Ulm City Council awarded the construction bids for the Recreation Center Reinvest in New Ulm (RENU) project Tuesday.

NEW ULM — The New Ulm City Council awarded the construction bids for the Recreation Center Reinvest in New Ulm (RENU) project and assigned the bids to the project construction manager RJM Construction.

The Recreation Center improvements are the largest RENU project and include a new pool area with zero-depth entry and water park amenities, new strength and wellness center, new entry and an indoor playground.

On June 4, bids for the project were received along with 12 alternative bids. The total project without alternative add-ons came in at $10.753 million. The RENU Oversight Committee on June 9 chose to recommend all but one of the alternative add-on bids. Add-ons include an aquatic ninja course, climbing wall, aquazip line, life flooring in the pool area, lane line storage containers, plastic lockers and benches, evacuator deck drains and telescoping bleachers.

City Manager Chris Dalton said there were three other alternates funded through the previous RENU maintenance fund that include bathroom renovations, sprinkler system and HVAC control replacement. This brings the project cost up to $11.567 million.

In February, the city council was presented with an estimated budget of $11.5 million. The recommendation is near that budget amount. The cost breakdown for the project is $10.859 million from RENU sales tax, $193,713 from the previous RENU maintenance fund, $265,049 from the General Fund and $250,000 from the Economic Development Authority.

Councilor Les Schultz made the motion to approve. “Four years ago the voters of New Ulm wanted this water park, it was the number one priority,” he said. “Over 75% of the community said ‘we want this.'”

Councilor Lisa Fischer seconded the motion but had questions about the alternative bids.

Fischer was concerned the overall cost of the RENU projects included expenses beyond what the voters approved.

Fischer asked if the Life Flooring alternative bid of $167,142 was the lowest alternative as it was the premium flooring option.

Park and Recreation Director Tom Schmitz said Life Flooring was a safety deck surfacing that reduced slipping and was cushioned in the event of a fall. Schmitz said children and seniors fall on the current pool deck and this would alleviate injuries.

Dalton said this was the lowest bid the city would ever see for this type of flooring. He said it was becoming the standard for pools. Installing at a later time would cost double or triple the current cost.

Council President Charlie Schmitz supported the flooring for the safety reason and overall liked the plan for the Recreation Center.

“I think we have a good product here that we need to do,” he said. “I think the public will enjoy it. It is only once every 20 years and if we don’t do it now we’re never going to do it.”

The council approved the motion. Construction is scheduled to begin mid-July.

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New Ulm’s Sidewalk Cafe Policy will remain unchanged. City Attorney Roger Hippert brought an amendment to the policy that would reinstate a former rule requiring fencing to designate sidewalk cafe space for businesses selling on-sale alcohol.

Minnesota law prohibits an on-sale licensee from allowing customers to take alcoholic beverages off the licensed premises. Communities that allow sidewalk cafes typically require a physical barrier to help licensed owners comply with the law and the owner’s patrons know the area on the sidewalk where they may legally possess and consume alcohol.

The city previously had a policy that required on-sale establishments to place portable fencing around cafe areas, but the requirement was removed in 2010 because the fences were interfering with the watering of hanging baskets on Minnesota Street. The amendment removing the fencing requirement also required markings on the sidewalk to identify the cafe area.

Hippert said fencing was no longer an obstruction and should be reinstated to prevent bar and restaurant patrons from spreading into the public right-of-ways and address problems on Minnesota Street.

Schultz opposed reinstating the fencing. He was on the council when the fences were first removed. He said they were in the way and the fences did not make a lot of sense. Schultz did not want to place further conditions on bars that had just reopened; especially since the city recently considered relaxing the law.

Hippert the bars on Minnesota Street are not following the current policy. The cafe boundary is supposed to be marked on the sidewalk, but many of the bars have no marking indicating the boundary.

Fischer said policy guidelines should be enforced but the fencing was a step back. She suggested educating the establishments about the guidelines.

Schmitz said he could not see making the regulations any stricter after the recent shutdown. He did not see a problem with bar patrons on Minnesota Street but wanted to lean toward leniency.

Councilor Larry Mack said there were brown boundary markers on the sidewalk to designate the cafe zones, but people ignored them without a bartender enforcing them. Mack said the boundary needed to be there to define the areas. He suggested the lines be repainted and encouraged establishments to notify patrons of the current guidelines.

The council made no official motion because the boundary lines were already in the policy.