The trap range building at 214 N. 21st Street in New Ulm is over 50 years old, but will continue to serve as the gun range club house for the time being. New Ulm Park and Recreation commission recommended declining a $100,000 DNR grant for replacement of the trap range building Monday. Bids for the new facility came in higher than expected with few contractors choosing to bid due to prevailing wage requirements. File photo by Clay Schuldt

NEW ULM – New Ulm Park and Recreation is no longer aiming to use Minnesota Department of Natural Resource (DNR) funds for the new trap range building project.

Monday, the park and rec board recommended declining a $100,000 grant from the DNR to help construct the new trap range building.

Last August, the City of New Ulm agreed to accept a large shooting grant from the Minnesota DNR to replace the trap range building at 214 N. 21st Street. The trap building is over 50 years old and in need of replacement. As part of the agreement, Sioux Valley Gun Club (SVGC) was planning to provide a matching $100,000 grant for the project.

The project was estimated to cost $235,000. However, after bids came back, the cost was substantially higher. During the May 19 meeting of the New Ulm City Council, the council voted to reject all bids based on a recommendation from city staff and SVGC.

New Ulm Park and Recreation Director Joey Schugel said that after the bids came in high, staff learned that many contractors chose not to bid on the project due to the DNR’s prevailing wage requirement.

Prevailing wage is the minimum hourly wage employers must pay certain workers who work on construction and public works projects where state dollars are used to fund the construction.

Schugel said staff and SVGC decided it was in the best interest of the project to decline the DNR grant and find an alternative option for the new trap range.

The original plan for the trap range building was to create a new club house with new storage space. Schugel said the new plan is to focus on a new club house and maintain storage currently on site. In the future, the SVGC would look for new storage options.

Schugel said before bidding the project, there was an understanding that some members of SVGC planned to offer in-kind donations for the project, but chose not to bid with the DNR requirements. He said with the city no longer using the DNR grant, it is possible the city could receive better cost options from contractors to do the work.

Park and recreation chairperson Kurt Johnson asked if declining this DNR grant would impact the city’s eligibility for future grants.

Schugel said this would not impact future DNR grant requests. He said the DNR wants communities to use this grant funding, but there are other communities requesting funds. The $100,000 could be used in other communities.