Staff photo by Clay Schuldt Mayor Terry Sveine, right, delivered a proclamation Monday at the Park & Rec meeting declaring Jan. 14 to be Tom Schmitz Appreciation Day in New Ulm. Schmitz, the Park & Rec Director, is receiving the Clifton E. French Distinguished Services Award from the Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association on Jan. 14.

NEW ULM — Park and Recreation Director Tom Schmitz was given a special mayoral proclamation Monday during the Park and Rec Commission meeting.

Mayor Terry Sveine read a proclamation into the record declaring Jan. 14, 2022 as Tom Schmitz Appreciation Day.

The proclamation was given in honor of Schmitz for his service to the community and the recent announcement he will be receiving the Clifton E. French Distinguished Services Award in 2022.

Sveine described the Clifton E. French award as the highest professional award given by the Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association. It is equivalent to a Lifetime Achievement award.

Schmitz has been in the parks and recreation industry since he was a teenager. He graduated from Mankato State University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Services. He spent 14 years as Assistant Park Manager at Blue Mounds and Flandrau State Parks. During this time he also served as a commissioner on the New Ulm Park and Recreation Commission.

Schmitz became the director of New Ulm Park and Rec. in 2005. He helped oversee two rounds of local option sales tax that raised millions of dollars toward designated civic projects, including construction of a new Civic Center, a tripling of the size of the Community Center and a conversion of the Vogel Arena into an improved fieldhouse. Major improvements were also done at Johnson Park, Hermann Heights, the German Park amphitheater, and the Recreation Center expansion (new aquatic center, gymnastics center, indoor playground, fitness center and improved fieldhouse/track.)

Schmitz will be given the Clifton E. French Distinguished Services Award on Friday, Jan. 14 during a special ceremony. The proclamation honors this date.

Schmitz said he was humbled and honored to receive the proclamation and award.

The Park and Recreation Commission also thanked Schmitz for his service and dedication to the community.

Commission Chair Carisa Buegler said to Schmitz, “You have made New Ulm a better place to live, a better place to raise our children, a better place to achieve our best health outcomes.”