NEW ULM – The New Ulm City Council gave a first review of recommended changes to the city charter Tuesday.

New Ulm’s Charter Commission unanimously recommended amendments to seven sections of the city’s charter during their meeting last month. City Manager Chris Dalton gave a summary of the recommended to the council. Most of the amendments were minor alterations in language, but a few changed how boards and commissions operated in the city.

The most significant changes to the charter was in section 87 and section 88. These two sections cover the New Ulm Police Department and Police Commission.

Dalton said amendments to these sections altered the procedure for removing a police officer from their position. The Police Commission will still be involved in the hiring of officers, but the Police Chief and City Manager will have the authority to remove an officer without calling for a meeting of the Police Commission.

The New Ulm Library Board was also impacted. An amendment to section 101 would reduce the board from nine to seven members. Dalton said no one on the current Library Board would be removed by the change, but when members reach the end of their term no replacement will be appointed.

Councilor Tom Schmitz said a similar reduction was made to the Park and Recreation Commission a few years ago and he was not aware of any problems with this change.

The Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) authority to appoint or remove department head position was removed from section 221 of the Charter. New language was added to give the PUC authority to remove or appoint the Utility Director.

Section 28 of the charter outlines the duties and powers of the Mayor. Dalton said the charter commission discovered an inconsistency between this section and section 71 which also listed in detail the powers of the Mayor. It was decided to remove the language from section 28 and refer to section 71 for duties of the Mayor.

Section 66 of the charter covers procedure on ordinances. Language referencing business licenses was removed from this section. Dalton said this was because the city did not issue business licenses. This section also had a language amendment updating references to references to “e-mail” notifications to “electronic” notifications.

The remaining charter amendments were simple language changes. Section 60, covering special meetings replaced the word “members” with “Councilors.” Section 180 saw an addition to a section title. Dalton said section 180 covers issues related to public nuisances but had no official name. The recommendation was to title it “Public Nuisances.”

Council President Andrea Boettger said she was thankful for Charter Commission’s work in bringing the council these recommendations. The Charter Commission is required to meet every year to review the city’s charter. They are not required to make changes, but a cursory review is needed.

Councilor unanimously approved the first consideration of the charter amendment ordinance and set a public hearing date for Tuesday, July 15.