Staff photo by Daniel Olson Alissa Mangen stands outside of her pod model daycare. Feedback from citizens pulled by Bolton and Menk asks for creative solutions to the need for childcare be included in the strategic plan.

NEW ULM – Community feedback for what should be included in the strategic plan was shared by plan architects Bolton and Menk at a City Council work session Tuesday.

Representatives of Bolton and Menk attended Bavarian Blast and Spikin in the Street to poll citizens and visitors. They met with community leaders in education, business, and tourism. Two focus groups were held to collect more feedback and share information. From these, and an online form, Bolton and Menk presented their findings.

Of the 454 who completed surveys, 94% were locals and 6% were visitors. The survey found people view New Ulm in high regard. On a scale of 1-10 ranking how likely they would recommend living New Ulm to friends and family, the average response was 8. When asked to rank city services on a scale of 1-5, only 2% gave a 2 or 1 indicating poor or bad quality.

A top priority taken from feedback is Housing. Bolton and Menk’s report stated attainable housing for young people, families, and seniors is a critical concern with rising costs threatening growth and stability.

Near the top is culture. Responses from citizens identified preserving German heritage as a must, while also pushing for a more welcoming, open, and diverse community. On city services, feedback advocated for quality infrastructure and services with improved communication and transparency from the city.

Economic development, downtown revitalization, recreation, sustainability, and transportation were also priorities identified by participants to be included in the plan. This includes the long-term goal of adding childcare. Respondents said they would like to see creative solutions to the problem, like Westridge Place’s pod model.

City Planner Chris Dalton said what he heard was spot on with what he expected. He said they’re excited to act on this community feedback.

“I can sit here as a city manager and say ‘Hey, these are the things I want to do,'” Dalton said. “But what does the community want?”

The strategic plan looks to establish plans on several topics for the city to follow in the next five years. Dalton said the next step is to consider everything and determine what can and can’t be implemented.

“Go through, ‘Is this feasible for us to do over five years?'” He said. “Get timelines and resources that we need to present to council. [Then] they can make the ultimate decision on the goals under our priorities. [We want to] have attainable strategies.”

Research will be done to see what’s attainable after consulting with partners relevant to specific goals and priorities. Dalton said even after the initial strategic plan is set, it will not be kept in stone.

“It’s very flexible,” he said. “After two years, you can be like, ‘Nope, this goal or strategy isn’t working.’ You can take that out and replace it with something else, but at least you’ll be able to check everything off over a certain period.”

As a city manager, Dalton said he is excited to have something everyone can look at and see the relative short-term goals of the city.

“Citizens asking, ‘Hey, what is the city doing?’ Here’s the document, here’s what we’re doing,” he said. “It makes doing things easy because it’s spelled out. It’s a living, breathing document. As we cross stuff off, we’ll be able to add things. By year three we’ll start going through the process again.”

Dalton said the strategic plan should be finished by the end of the year.