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[DULUTH, MN]  Mayor Roger J. Reinert today announced the public launch of The Big Five Action Plan: Strategic Priorities for Duluth. This strategic framework represents work already underway across City Hall over the past two years and is intended to create more public awareness and partnership around these key community priorities.

The Big Five Action Plan is the result of issues that were identified during the 2023 campaign and have guided the City’s work since Mayor Reinert took office: housing at all income levels, growing Duluth’s commercial tax base, investing in streets and utilities, revitalizing downtown, and affordable property taxes.

Mayor Reinert, and the City’s leadership team, held a leadership retreat in January to develop a more structured approach to these five priorities. This included identifying specific strategies, assigning internal leaders and teams, establishing performance measures, identifying obstacles, and creating timelines to better track progress and communicate results.

“For the past two years, City staff and leadership have been focused on these challenges”, said Mayor Roger J. Reinert. “This next step is about ensuring that as an organization we are aligning staffing and fiscal resources, measuring progress, and communicating to our residents a clearer picture of what has already been done and the work underway.”

The Big Five Action Plan also provides a shared roadmap for the organization and a public framework for understanding the City’s priorities. Each area includes current initiatives, accomplishments, measures of success, challenges, and next steps.

“Much of local government’s most important work happens behind the scenes to include planning, coordinating, maintaining, and solving everyday problems,” said Reinert. “And frankly, we’re not very good at celebrating our successes. This plan helps connect our daily work to the larger goals residents care about and ensures we continue focusing our finite resources where they matter most.”

The Big Five Action Plan strategic priorities include:

Housing at All Income Levels

Expanding opportunities across the housing spectrum by increasing supply, reducing barriers to development, supporting redevelopment and infill projects, and improving development processes. More than 800 housing units have recently been completed, with more than 300 additional units currently in development.

Growing the Commercial Tax Base

Strengthening Duluth’s economic foundation by supporting business retention and expansion, preparing sites for future investment, aligning workforce needs, and attracting new economic opportunities.

Investing in Streets and Utilities

Addressing aging infrastructure needs through strategic investment in streets, water systems, stormwater management, sidewalks, pedestrian safety, non-motorized transportation routes, and long-term planning.

Affordable City Property Taxes

Balancing delivery of essential services with affordability through financial alignment, operational efficiencies, responsible budgeting, and strategic use of City staff and fiscal resources.

Downtown Revitalization

Supporting a stronger and more vibrant downtown through residential development, small business growth, improved public spaces, enhanced safety and accessibility, and partnerships with businesses, property owners, and community organizations.

Progress on each priority will be tracked through a public-facing dashboard available on the City of Duluth website. The dashboard will highlight accomplishments, ongoing work, performance measures, and areas requiring continued attention.

The Big Five: A Strategic Action Plan for Duluth is available at https://duluthmn.gov/mayor/the-big-5-action-plan/.

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