NEW ULM — The New Ulm Economic Development Authority received a report from Better City consulting group Tuesday. Better City is working with the New Ulm EDA to create strategic plan that lays out the group’s priorities.

Better City CEO Jason Godfrey said New Ulm was already starting from a strong position in terms of strategic planning. He said the bulk of Better City’s work was perfecting the plan going forward.

The five priorities are housing, identify and branding, business retention, tourism and coordinating with economic partners.

Under housing, Godfrey complimented the city’s on its recent actions.

“Pat yourself on the back,” he said. “It is really incredible what you have all done and the changes in the home building ecosystem.”

Godfrey confirmed that there was significant demand for housing in New Ulm based on the number of people commuting to work each day. However, the city already has multiple housing projects in development and is on target to meet the demand.

Going forward, Better City recommended the EDA focus on in-fill housing projects. This means rehabilitating older buildings as residential space. This also means adding apartment spaces on the second and third floors of downtown businesses.

“That’s perfect, because that increase property value without increasing infrastructure,” Godfrey said. “It also creates more density in your downtown core where people can walk to the main street businesses.”

For identity and branding, Better City recommended greater consistency in promoting New Ulm. Godrey said New Ulm is conflicted on its identity. Part of the problem is because New Ulm had several features to offering from a high quality of life, an extensive park system, German heritage and active downtown.

Godfrey said New Ulm can be all of these things, but from an economic development perspective it needed to pick one brand and one message for consistency.

New Ulm City Manager Chris Dalton said the need for consistent branding and logos has been on the city’s radar for sometime and is an ongoing process. The goal is to get all three economic development groups to share a consistent message when promoting New Ulm.

On business retention, Betty City recommended coordinating business outreach between economic development group, but also prioritize funding for businesses that are able to expand.

Godfrey explain that a businesses that are able export products are more valuable to the city then businesses that sell internally. An exporting business brings in money from outside the city rather than competing for the same clients inside New Ulm.

Godfrey also recommended support for Career and Technical Education (CTE) focus on robotics. With a rise in automation, many technical skills are being outsourced to robots. Some of the skills being bought at the CTE Center might not be in demand in a few years. Godfrey advised the city to communicate with local industries about which specific technical skills are needed and promote those programs.

Godfrey again complimented New Ulm on being ahead of other communities with daycare. Access to daycare was a major business retention need. Better City has worked with many cities struggling with meeting the childcare needs, but New Ulm was being proactive in creating a pod model daycare.

On tourism, Better City said New Ulm was already doing strong work. The only recommendation was to start considering adding a new hotel once tourism expanded. Currently, tourism levels are not high enough to justify a new hotel, but that could change as the city promotes new festivals and events. Godfrey suggested a downtown hotel to accommodate people attending events in the core of the city.

The last priority was coordinating with the other economic development groups. Godfrey explained that in New Ulm there are technically three economic development groups. There is the EDA run through the city; a private economic development, the New Ulm Business Resource Innovation (NUBRIC) and the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce.

Godfrey said it is important to determine the role of each of the three groups. Better City felt the New Ulm EDA should be leading the economic development groups. He said New Ulm EDA had the connection to the city with dedicated funding and grants.

Godfrey said a key component of establishing the roles of economic development groups is to make sure each group is aware of what the other offers. If a new business is considering moving into New Ulm, that business should be able to approach any of the three entities and be directed to the correct source.

As an example, if a new business calls the Chamber asking about an incentive program offered by the City of New Ulm, the Chamber needs to know the details of that program and direct the business to the correct resource.

Godfrey closed the presentation saying New Ulm was in a strong place because of what previous communities leaders had setup, but said the community is at another inflection point. The EDA needed to begin thinking about the businesses of tomorrow and how to lend support for those new business now so that in 20 years the community will still be in a strong economic place.