NEW ULM — In June, New Ulm officially hired Audra Shaneman as the new Assistant City Manager/Economic Development Director.

Shaneman was hired for the position with the understanding that economic development would take up 75% of her time. As the former president of the New Ulm Area Chamber of Commerce, she has the experience necessary for the job.

“[I’ve] been in community management and community development in different forms,” Shaneman said, “Economic development was a big part of what we did at the chamber.”

Now working directly with the city, she said the perspective is a little different. As a Chamber president, her role was to be supportive of businesses. Support is still part of her role as a city employee, but with the added knowledge about city procedures and regulations.

Shaneman said after taking on this job she was advising an entrepreneur looking into buying a building in town. She suggested having an inspection done before purchasing to avoid greater costs later.

“I wouldn’t have necessarily thought of that before taking on this role,” she said.

Economic development for a city is a broad category. In general, Shaneman works with city departments to promote businesses in New Ulm.

Recent work includes helping institute new grant and loan programs through the Economic Development Authority (EDA).

New Ulm has a commercial rehab loan, limited loan program, revolving loan and signage and awning grant program and recently a small business incentive program grant,

Shaneman said the small business incentive program grant is popular. With this program, new businesses open from three months to a year are eligible for a grant up to $10,000. All funds for this EDA grant were used in 2019. It was replenished again for 2020.

Shaneman is also studying economic development strategies of other communities to determine if they can be adapted in New Ulm.

“You can’t just take a template from another community and expect it will work here,” she said.

Shaneman believes New Ulm’s greatest opportunities are with businesses already in town.

She said there is a mindset that the best option is to bring in outside businesses that are willing to hire hundreds of employees, but in reality, those opportunities are few and far between. Investing in current businesses is more practical and can create a significant impact.

“If someone has a four-person business and then hires one more person, that’s a 25% increase,” Shaneman said. “If that person is making $50,000 a year, that’s significant.”

This has happened recently. In 2019, two local firms, Windings, Inc. and DLC Manufacturing and Fabricating, have implemented big expansion projects that will grow their workforce.

New Ulm is one of the many Minnesota communities dealing with a retiring population that employees need to replace. This means the city needs to recruit a new workforce and New Ulm must be a city where recruits want to live.

In recruiting workers, the question is often whether they can find housing and childcare, Shaneman said.

“When you are recruiting somebody, it is the whole family because they have to move,” Shaneman said.

These are issues a lot of communities are dealing with, but the challenge is finding a way to get on top of the issue and look toward the future.

“Your economy is always changing. It is never going to be what it was,” she said. The decisions made now will impact the New Ulm economy in the future.

Currently, New Ulm has a strong manufacturing presence. It is also a regional center for healthcare, education, and shopping.

Looking to the future, Shaneman said the Minnesota Army National Guard Armory project will be interesting for New Ulm. The new facility will have an impact on the economy when completed.

Recently, the Highway 14/15 interchange reopened and the bridgework was completed.

“That was three years of significant road construction,” Shaneman said. “That impacted different businesses at different times. Maybe now we can get back to normal.”

Going forward, Shaneman believed New Ulm was in a transitional period.

“We’ve seen generations of great business leaders and now we need another generation,” she said.

There is a lot of optimism in moving forward. Shaneman said New Ulm already draws a lot of people to our community.

“We are an attractive community with a good reputation,” she said. “It’s just a matter of figuring out how to make that work for us in the area of economic development.

Since taking over as the Economic Development Director Shaneman was excited to see how often New Ulm was already doing the right thing for the economy.

“There is always room for improvement, but we have good infrastructure,” she said.” We’ve got good bones and good foundation to build on.”