NEW ULM – For the first time in New Ulm’s history, the city has an official strategic plan.

The New Ulm City Council formally adopted a recently completed strategic plan during Tuesday’s city council meeting.

A strategic plan is a public document adopted by a local unit of government that outlines long-term goals and the strategies it will use to achieve them. Creating a strategic plan has been a goal for the City of New Ulm for several years. In 2024, the city was able to complete the document through the consulting work of Bolton & Menk.

Mojra Hauenstein, project manager with Bolton & Menk, presented the city with the final strategic plan document on Tuesday. She described it as a road map for the city.

“It sets the priority for your decisions for the next five years and establishes a vision and mission,” she said.

The plan opened with the city’s vision and mission statement, which Hauenstein read to the council.

Community Vision: New Ulm is a welcoming and adaptable community, growing a resilient economy that fosters innovation and accountability rooted in German heritage.

Community Mission: To sustain excellence through community-led decision-making that fosters continuous improvement.

New Ulm’s strategic plan is divided into five themes: inclusion and engagement, quality infrastructure, economic resilience, governance, and sustainability. Each theme was divided into strategies, objections, and actions. Each action has performance indicators and a timeline to determine whether the city is meeting the goals on schedule.

In creating the strategic plan Bolton & Menk conducted a public survey and sought after public input during major New Ulm events, including Bavarian Blast and Spikin’ in the Street. Hauenstein said the top priority for New Ulm citizens was expanding housing for all ages. The second priority with attracting new residents. This was reflected in the strategic plan.

Of the five themes, quality infrastructure had the most strategy points with six. Strategy points were downtown revitalization; diverse and attainable housing integration; parks management; utilities; transportation and corridor enhancement.

“That shows where our energies and focuses are at the moment,” Hauenstein said.

Strategic plans not only help guide decisions for a city, but plans can be used to help with funding. Hauenstein said often when cities apply for grants, a requirement is to have some action plan in place.

Councilor Les Schultz thanked Bolton & Menk for helping the city complete the plan. He believed the document would be helpful for future council members and city staff. Schultz did question how often the city should check to make sure they are following the plan.

City Manager Chris Dalton said there would be periodic updates for the council. He said a lot of the items in the plan would not be touched until 2026 because the 2025 budget was already set. Actions that do not require monetary expense could be started in 2025. As the city reaches targeted goals on the strategic plan, the city can make changes to the plan.

“It will be a living, breathing document as the years go on,” Dalton said.

Hauenstein encouraged the council to use the plan as a prioritizing document that can be updated to serve the city’s needs.

“Please use the plan as your north star to clarify what the true direction is,” she said.

“I appreciate having a strategic plan,” Mayor Kathleen Backer said. “It provides a road map but it also behooves us to look at that roadmap, as we’re allocating funds, and if we depart from that road map, we justify it. It is about having checks and balances.”

“This was a long time coming,” President Andrea Boettger said. She praised the document including a holistic view of the city and its citizens.

The strategic plan is currently available on New Ulm’s city website.