THUMBS UP

Park & Rec Master Plan nears completion

The New Ulm Park and Recreation Department held an open house Monday for the Park and Rec Master Plan. This new master plan has been in development since April and is expected to be complete by next April. The open house allowed the public to get a closer look at a draft of the plan, but also provided feedback. The plan is an impressive guide to New Ulm’s park system. It includes information on all 28 of New Ulm’s city parks as well as demographics for the community. Considering the size of New Ulm’s park system, the community was overdue for a parks master plan. Once the plan is complete, New Ulm will be able to ensure the park system remains one of the best in the state for years to come.

THUMBS UP

SouthPoint steps up on Rec Center naming rights

New Ulm has an extensive park and recreation system and it is expensive to maintain. Per capita, New Ulm has one of the highest park budgets in the state. Last year, the Parks Department began seeking to sell the naming rights to different facilities to offset some expenses. Recently, SouthPoint Financial Credit Union expressed interest in the naming rights for New Ulm’s Recreation Center. An agreement was presented to the Park and Rec Commission earlier this week. The deal would give SouthPoint the naming rights for 15 years at a cost of $45,000 a year. This is a good deal for the City of New Ulm. In addition to receiving a new source of revenue, the Recreation Center gets a fun new name. The SouthPoint Recreation Center has a nice ring to it.

THUMBS DOWN

Fish houses and vehicles on thin ice

This week the Sheriff’s Department restricted vehicle traffic on Sleepy Eye Lake and Lake Hanska due to unsafe ice conditions. Three ice fishing houses broke through Sleepy Eye Lake this week and one UTV sank on Lake Hanksa.

Brown County was recently hit by a wave of warmer temperatures. Only in the last few days have temperatures dropped below freezing, creating incredible unstable ice conditions and even open water in some spots. What’s frustrating is these incidents of ice houses and vehicles breaking through ice is becoming an annual tradition. Last year multiple vehicles broke through thin ice and the year before that, multiple area ice fishing tournaments were moved on land due to lack of ice.

Winters are changing in the region and people who enjoy ice fishing need to realize this. The days where an ice house can be placed in late December and remain on the ice through late February are gone. There needs to be greater common sense and awareness of when it is safe to be on the ice.