ELKO NEW MARKET — As Elko and New Market contemplated a merger in 2005, Terry Frederickson said it would never work.

Having grown up in Elko and coming to own a masonry business there, he just figured the cities were too different.

Elko and New Market, settled by different ethnicities and religions, just “didn’t like each other very much,” he said.

And there was the long-time baseball rivalry between the New Market Muskies and the Elko Express, which he now manages.

But all in all, “I think it actually went pretty smooth,” he said.

The cities have a new name, but the baseball teams don’t.

“They’re still New Market. We’re still Elko. That’ll probably never go away,” he said.

That inter-city rivalry has been muted by newcomers over the past decade or so who have made the area one of the fastest-growing in the state, he said.

“Some of my best friends live in New Market,” Frederickson said.

Mankato recently released a study claiming about $2.2 million in annual savings if the city merged with North Mankato, mostly in a reduction of mid- and high-level management positions.

Elko and New Market, geographically separated by the Elko Speedway and about a mile of farmland along County Road 2, merged on January 1, 2007. The city is about 15 miles east of New Prague and a few miles off Interstate 35.

The area saw a huge growth spurt between 2000 and 2005, when the population grew by more than 300 percent with the construction of new subdivisions. That influx of new residents, untethered to city affiliations of the past, helped speed the merger along, residents said.

Their merger was on a much smaller scale — the combined city has a population of about 3,800 — but those cities dealt with some of the same issues a Mankato-North Mankato merger would.

Money talks

It, too, was motivated by financial savings, Elko New Market City Administrator Thomas Terry said. A study had reported a merged city would save $2.9 million over 10 years. It would also qualify for state highway aid sooner.

After about 18 months of discussions between the city councils, the populace of both cities overwhelmingly approved the merger in March of 2006. In Elko, 85 percent voted yes compared to 83 percent in New Market.

The two city councils operated jointly during the nine-month transition and an election that fall seated a new, five-person City Council.

No staff members were kicked out as a result of the merger, though some found it convenient to retire at that time, Terry said.

As for the new name, the area was already known to outsiders as Elko New Market. Terry said the city councils wanted voters to decide whether a merger would be a good idea and not get hung up on a name.

Growing pains

Still, Elko New Market has not been without its problems.

Earlier this year, the City Council voted to disband the police department and sign a contract with Scott County. The council then reversed itself and commissioned a $22,500 study that found the move would cost money.

Some residents remain disgruntled about the merger.

Helen Page, owner of Helen’s Country Cafe in the city formerly known as Elko, said voters weren’t informed enough about the 2006 referendum to merge the two cities.

“At first it didn’t bother me,” she said of the merger.

But unexpected problems arose, including details about mailing when her business’ zip code changed from 55054 to 55020 and the Post Office next door shut down and moved in between the two cities.

Nearby, Toni Maat, owner of the Windmill Feed and Pet Supply Company, was dealing with similar, unforeseen issues.

Her post office box, which used to be free because she wasn’t offered mail delivery, now carries a fee because she has a mailbox, which is located a few blocks away because the road in front of her store is too busy.

Her advice to Mankato-area residents considering a merger is this: “The citizens need to really evaluate all the possible angles before they vote.”

Don’t just trust the cities and media to give you the whole story; do some research for yourself, she said.

There’s been a lot of general, post-merger confusion about which zip codes and city ordinances apply to whom, she said.

There was a surprise, too, when taxes rose for people who used to live in New Market and declined for the former residents of Elko. The changes were a result of different tax rates being balanced for the new city.

The merger will eventually be beneficial, she said.

“Probably, 30 years from now, it will be. But for now, it’s uncomfortable,” she said.