Park and Rec Director Joey Schugel said adding three flag poles to the center of Veterans Square is included in the current master plan for the space, which provides a plan for additions over the next 20-25 years. With money left over from the initial construction, Schugel described where they were now.

“There’s money left from the original donation due to the fact that it was moved into more of a cost-effective area,” he said. This area already has concrete that’s ADA-accessible. The slope is ADA-accessible. Over the last few months, our veterans group and committee came together to help present decisions to do something with those leftover funds.”

Schugel said from those initial discussions, the idea was to use the remaining $17,000 to place three flag poles on a raised concrete block with lighting. The money is in a restricted account, with funding only intended to go towards the Veterans Memorial.

Currently, the square has a large monument dedicated to area Vietnam veterans who passed during the war, with future memorial benches available to remember veterans from other wars.

This location in the center of Veterans Square was discussed as the most likely place for three flags to be placed on a concrete slab. The tree in the foreground would need to be chopped down to make room.

Veteran Roy Janni said they had talked about eight different different monument designs before deciding to go with the flags instead. He said like many veterans memorials across America, the three flag poles would have the state flag, American flag, and POW-MIA flag.

Concerned citizen Dr. Ann Vogel said an area dedicated to veterans from Vietnam and elsewhere was long overdue. She felt the decision to place Veterans Square in German Park was one that had slipped under the radar of many New Ulm citizens. Vogel said she has talked to several people who were unaware of the developments for Veterans Square and its placement.

Vogel said she worried with the addition of Veterans Square, German Park was beginning to be cluttered.

“You’ve got a beautiful garden, a wonderful city gardener who takes great care of this,” she said. “You have people come who are handicapped, I see them come down the handicap-accessible ramp. They come for the concerts at night. You have people from all the group homes that can come down there and enjoy this kind of thing. This is going to detract from it.”

Vogel said instead of where it is, she prefers it have a new home in the city cemetery. She said there is space where it is fully plowed and people can better focus on contemplating and honoring the service of Vietnam and other veterans.

This master plan lays out what the area may look like after future years of development. The Park and Rec Commission discussed placing three flag poles on a slab in the middle of Veterans Square, as depicted in the plan.

Maggie Schwab also shared her concerns about the placement of Veterans Square. As someone who lives close to the park, she said it is a fun family park and not one that lends itself to a war memorial. Schwab said she had seen children play on the benches, and not only do they have to be discouraged from doing so by adults but are also in danger of getting hurt.

Attendee Tom Backer urged they stay on the topic of the flag poles, as it was the intended discussion topic. He said going back over what has happened the past three years would be useless because none of the Veterans Square developments have been a secret.

Vietnam Veteran Jerry Sandau asked what the length of the concrete base supporting the flags was going to be. Commissioner Kurt Johnson said the flag poles would be 30 feet tall, while the base would be a 24 feet by four feet concrete slab.

With feedback of all types taken, Commissioner Carisa Buegler said everything would be taken under consideration for future meetings.

“We appreciate the differing opinion as we are faced with the long-term vision of where these flags should be placed,” she said. “Thanks for all the feedback and opinions. We appreciate that as we take that into consideration for our decisions going forward.”