NEW ULM — The New Ulm City Council approved a pedestrian crossing flag pilot program for the city.

The New Ulm Safe Routes to School Team proposed the program and is looking to apply for grant funding to implement it.

Sam Gatton presented the program on behalf of Safe Routes to School. He explained that certain intersections in the city can be a challenge to cross for pedestrians. One low-cost solution used in other communities is the pedestrian crossing system.

A pedestrian cross flag system involves installing buckets to hold flags on both sides of a roadway crosswalk with an instructional sheet.

Pedestrians would pick up a flag before entering the roadway and carry it with them as they cross the roadway, putting the flag in the opposite bucket once the roadway is crossed. The idea is to create a low-cost solution to increase pedestrian visibility and driver yielding at crosswalks.

The proposed intersections are Center and Highland, 4th South and Broadway, and the South Garden Street mid-block crossing near the Rec Center. Mn/DOT has expressed support of this project on Broadway.

Gatton said South St. Paul has implemented this system and it has been popular.

Councilor Les Schultz supported the program and liked how it was a local solution to improve safety.

Mayor Terry Sveine asked if other cities implementing the program had issues with flag theft.

Gatton said South St. Paul has not had an issue with flags being stolen, but said Salt Lake City, Utah spent thousands replacing flags. Gatton believe it was impossible to know if the theft was a problem until they tried it here.

Councilor Eric Warmka made the motion to approve the program and authorize city crews to assist in the installation of hardware to hold the flags. Councilor David Christian seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved.

The council also asked Gatton to return six months to give a follow-up report on the pilot program.

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Brown County Veteran Services Director Greg Peterson presented New Ulm Police Officer Andrew Achman with a 9/11 Commemorative Coin.

The Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs minted Global War Terrorism coins as an expression of appreciation to Minnesota Veterans who have served since Sept. 11, 2001.

Peterson read a brief description of Achman’s service. Achman joined the army at age 23 and trained as an intelligence analyst. He deployed from Fort Campbell in March 2008 to Afghanistan. Achman’s mission was to receive, interpret and relay sensitive information about the opposing force for the sole purpose that American fighters would someday find and eliminate Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda Taliban Terrorists. Achman spent a year in a war zone, working in the harshest conditions so Americans could travel freely and sleep soundly at home.

Achman receive a standing ovation from the council when he received his coin. Achman said he was proud to serve his country and met some of the greatest people he has ever known in the service. He appreciated his hometown supporting him where he was able to work as the School Resource Officer.

Achman has served with the New Ulm Police since 2014.

Peterson said anyone from Brown County who served since 9/11 can visit the Veteran’s Office and receive this commemorative coin.

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The council held the first reading of the new city fee schedule for 2022 and proposed additional amendments. The council chose to increase the tobacco licenses, sidewalk snow removal fee, mowing fees.

Councilor Schultz suggested raising these fees. He said some communities raise tobacco licenses as a method of discouraging tobacco sales and use. The city’s tobacco license was set at $150 since 2012.

Schultz also questioned why the snow removal fee ($50 + contract cost) was significantly lower than mowing fees ($265 administrative fee + contract cost). The council has previously discussed the snow and weed mowing assessments. Councilor Larry Mack said every year the same people neglect snow and weed removal, forcing the city to do the work and bill the property owner later. Mack said some people find it is cheaper to have the city do it.

Schultz suggested raising the fee to encourage repeat offenders to take the property on their own.

Christian said he supported that increase because it was extra work for city staff to clean up repeat offenders.

Schultz made a motion to amend the fee schedule to raise the administrative fee for snow removal and weed mowing $300 in addition to the contract fee and raise the tobacco license to $250.

Christian seconds the motion. The increase was unanimously approved by the council.

The council also discussed removing the dog licensing fee as it was ignored by most citizens. Schultz estimated there were only 128 dog licenses in the city even though the number of pet dogs was likely in the thousands.

“We’re only getting 5% or less complying with an ordinance for a fee, why do we keep charging it,” he asked.

City Manager Chris Dalton said this year the city plans to start promoting dog licensing to achieve greater compliance. He said many residents are unaware they need to license a dog. If compliance does not go up with advertisement, Dalton said they could consider eliminating the fee.

City Attorney Roger Hippert said in the event of a stray or dog attack, the city needed to identify the owner. He believed it was an issue of enforcing the license.

Dalton said some communities have eliminated the dog license, like Sleepy Eye. Some communities have removed the license, but require the owner to get a locator chip implanted. He was hopeful getting information to the public could increase compliance.

The second reading of the fee schedule will come before the council during the Nov. 16 meeting.

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Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) approved the operating budget for the new transit route within New Ulm, beginning in Spring 2022.

The council authorized the City Manager to execute a service agreement with Heartland Express for a deviated fixed bus route upon final approval of language from the City Attorney.

The agreement refers to the development of an advisory board made up of the City and Heartland Express representatives who will be involved in decisions related to the City route (fees charged, times and location of stops, monitoring and review of the use and cost of the program). The board will likely consist of four individuals from each representing entity with meetings to be held as needed.

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The council received the proposed 2023 MSAS Improvement project engineering report. The project consists of two sections of road improvements. The first is North Highland Avenue from Oak Street to Highway 14 and will include bituminous mill and overlay, pavement markings and ADA sidewalk improvements.

The second section is North Broadway from 20th North Street to County Highway13 and will include pavement Stabilized Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) and overlay, pavement markings, and ADA sidewalk improvements.

The city has programed for 2023 STP Small Urban Funding for $946,203. The estimated cost is $1,510,000.00, with $563,797 dedicated from MSAS funding.

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Airport maintenance and operation grant came before the council. This agreement would allow the State to reimburse the City for three-quarters of eligible routine Airport maintenance costs not to exceed $51,768.00 for each fiscal year.

The State’s 2022 fiscal year runs from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, and the 2023 fiscal year runs from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.