NEW ULM — City employees will no longer be fired if a relative is elected mayor or councilor.
Section 24 of the city’s Home Rule Charter and Municipal Code prohibits city employment of immediate family members of elected officials. The anti-nepotism language has been in the charter since 1973, but few city officials were aware of the language until 2020.
Since then, three incidents forced individuals to resign or not be considered for a position because of a family connection working with the city.
Last month, the city convened the Charter Commission to look into potential changes to the charter. There was concern that the provision punished potential city employees because of the family relation, but it did little to prevent unfair treatment in the workplace.
Wednesday the commission made a formal recommendation to change the language of the charter. The new language would no longer prohibit relatives of elected officials from working for the city, but added language saying the mayor or city council could not “influence or attempt to influence the hiring, transfer, suspension, promotion, discharge, reward, discipline or the adjustment of grievance of a related person.”
The new provision went on to define “related persons” to include parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or first cousin.
It also includes relations by marriage or domestic partner such as husband, wife, stepparent, stepchild,...
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