IEDC Minutes 01-03-2012MINUTES
MONTICELLO INDUSTRIAL & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (IEDC)
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
7:00 a.m., Boom Island Room
MEMBERS PRESENT:
LIASIONS PRESENT:
MEMBERS ABSENT:
STAFF PRESENT:
1. Call to Order
2.
Chair Luke Dahlheimer, Vice Chair Joni Pawelk, Bill Tapper, Dick Van
Allen, Dan Olson, Wayne Elam, Jim Johnson
Sandy Suchy, Chamber
Clint Herbst, Mayor
Glen Posusta, City Council
Rich Harris, Patrick Thompson, Zona Gutzwiller, Chris Kruse, Don
Roberts, Wes Olson
Economic Development Director Megan Barnett - Livgard, City
Administrator Jeff O'Neill
Luke Dahlheimer called the meeting to order at 7:00 a.m.
Approve Minutes
BILL TAPPER MOVED TO APPROVE THE DECEMBER 6, 2011 MINUTES. MOTION WAS
SECONDED BY WAYNE ELAM. MOTION CARRIED 7 -0.
Consideration of addinE items to the agenda None
Reports
a. Economic Development No report
b. City Council
Jeff O'Neill reported that the Embracing Downtown Plan will be moving forward for approval
at the next City Council meeting.
FiberNet Monticello has been looking at organizational shifts and bond refinancing to
streamline and reduce costs. Clint Herbst and Lloyd Hilgart are leading a bond council and
working with HBC to provide competitive pricing for FiberNet services.
Staff will also look at cross - marketing ideas, such as the cash mob event, in an attempt to
increase a sense of community support and keep dollars local among the 100 business
members. In addition, FiberNet continues to identify additional revenue sources. They are
teaming up with the City of Big Lake to provide signal strength to connect tower to tower to
help improve Big Lake's internet access and reduce their costs.
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c. Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Sandy Suchy noted that the City- Sponsored Frostbite Challenge Ice Fishing Tournament is
scheduled for the weekend of January 7th. The Chamber plans to interview 20 local businesses
as part of Grow MN and will share findings with the City. IEDC members were invited to
register for participation in session priorities planning with the Minnesota Chamber.
d. TAC
The next Transportation Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 26th.
5. IEDC Concierge Services
Staff asked for input as to how to strengthen the Concierge Service. New business owners find the
one stop website to be very useful. There have been several new businesses established downtown
recently and a few retail operations that are considering locating in Monticello. Businesses are also
pleased with the Concierge Section of the Chamber Directory. Staff plans to work with the
Chamber to update the Concierge section for 2012.
a. Breakfast with Mayor /Administrator
Mayor Clint Herbst and City Administrator Jeff O'Neill met with eight local industries for
breakfast over the past year. Staff received positive feedback from these events.
The IEDC recommended scheduling breakfast meetings with Doug Schneider, Russ Martie,
and representatives from IRT, AVR, WSI, and Karlsburger Foods in 2012.
Staff will contact these businesses and set up appointments.
b. Site Visits
Several industries were considered as tour options: Hoglund Auto Body, Precision
Technologies, SMA Elevator and Polycast Specialties and Bondhus.
Staff will contact these industries and set up tours.
c. Updated pictures/brochures /services
The IEDC was invited to recommend additional "services" that the concierge team concept
can provide and/or initiate. Staff suggested updating the concierge photo and marketing
mailings for 2012. There was some discussion about including an IEDC representative as part
of several site review meetings to provide the perspective of the business community in an
active development project. Joni Pawelk agreed to sit in on the Ford site review meeting.
6. BR &E Follow Up Survey
Staff noted that it had been two years since the completion of the BR &E survey. The IEDC
discussed the value of doing a follow -up survey and determined that it might be more useful to
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instead prepare a mailing which outlines the accomplishments resulting from the original survey
findings.
7. Added items
New IEDC Member - Luke Dahlheimer welcomed School Superintendent Jim Johnson to the
IEDC. Next month's meeting agenda will include a discussion about strengthening the school and
local workforce relationship. Bill Tapper suggested that it might be useful for the IEDC to tour of
the high school to learn about what type of programs are currently offered to the students.
Annual Meeting -The IEDC was encouraged to attend the Wright County Economic Development
Partnership annual meeting scheduled for Friday, January 20u' at 7:30 a.m. at the Monticello
Community Center. The guest speaker is the CEO of Greater MSP.
8. Adiournment
BILL TAPPER MOVED TO ADJOURN AT 8:02 A.M. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY DICK
VAN ALLEN. MOTION CARRIED 7 -0.
Recorder: Kerry T. Burri 145
Approved: February 7, 2012
Attest: I
M a a l -Li ar , Economic Develop e t Director