ksweeney@nujournal.com
NEW ULM With the 55th anniversary of the New Ulm St. Patrick’s Day Parade approaching on Wednesday, the Irish community in New Ulm has been faced with a dilemma. They, of course, want to keep the tradition of the longest continuous St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the state alive, but they want to do their civic duty in the face of the COVID-19 celebration.
“We know that the New Ulm St. Patrick’s Day celebration draws huge crowds to New Ulm every year, and we know this has all the makings of a Super Spreader event,” said parade organizer Tom Donnelly. “Last year we estimate 13,000 people showed up for last year’s parade, which was cut short due to the COVID-19 shutdown. We want to avoid that this year.”
cschuldt@nujournal.com
NEW ULM The New Ulm City Council approved an amendment to the City Attorney Service agreement allowing Blethen Berens to serve as the city’s legal representation along with attorney Roger Hippert.
Nierengarten & Hippert Law Office has served as City Attorney for New Ulm since 1979. From 1986, until the retirement of Hugh Nierengarten in 2015, three or four attorneys were providing the legal services required to meet the City’s needs, including all of the work involved in City criminal prosecutions, the civil matters involving the City and also the New Ulm Public Utilities.
Roger Hippert and Tom Borgen were able to cover these duties, but as of Jan. 4, Borgen has left the firm and Hippert is not in a position to provide all of the services as a solo practitioner. Hippert went into negotiations for Blethen Berens Law Office to assist with legal services. The addition of the Blethen and Berens Law Office would require changes to the current retainer agree
cschuldt@nujournal.com
NEW ULM The council will consider changes to the City Attorney contract at its meeting Tuesday.
During the Feb. 16, meeting the city council tabled an amendment to the City Attorney Service Agreement to allow a review of the service agreement with Brown County for criminal prosecution.
Nierengarten & Hippert Law Office has served as City Attorney for New Ulm since 1979. From 1986, until the retirement of Hugh Nierengarten in 2015, three or four attorneys were providing the legal services required to meet the City’s needs, including all of the work involved in City criminal prosecutions, the civil matters involving the City and also the New Ulm Public Utilities.
cschuldt@nujournal.com
Journal file photo
The city council by a 4-1 vote agreed to an engineering study for anchor pole design to possibly hang holiday garlands over Minnesota Street again.
NEW ULM –The City of New Ulm will move forward with engineering services to look into designing new poles to support holiday garlands on downtown Minnesota Street.
In 2020, the holiday garlands were not strung across downtown Minnesota street because the anchor points on the buildings no longer support the holiday decorations.
To develop new decorating options, the city formed a garland committee. It was determined that if the city wanted to continue hanging the garlands, new poles will need to be installed at all intersections downtown. Before the poles can be manufactured, an engineering study must be conducted to determine where poles can be placed. Steam tunnels and utility lines run under the downtown area. Certain areas might not support new poles.