|
Action Team Meeting Minutes IDC and JOBS 2020: Action Team Report Back Meeting Present: Jim Hoolihan, Mike Ives, Tom Osborn, Mary Ives, Doug Learmont, Sholom Blake, Bernadine Joselyn, Rick Utech, Lucy Flessner Jim Hoolihan called the meeting to order. ACTION TEAM REPORTS Action Team 1: Reduce production costs of manufacturing Doug Learmont reporting The Action Team considered a proposal from the Department of Employment and Economic Development and UMD’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research to do a study on the economic impact of manufacturing in the Itasca region. The proposal did not appear to provide the type of information the Team was hoping to gain and the cost was prohibitive. A decision was made not to accept the proposal at this time. The Team is in the process of developing a news article for submission to the local newspaper on the impact of manufacturing in Itasca County. They want to be able to support statistics and conclusions outlined in the article before completing it. Additional issues the Team is looking at include wood fiber availability and the high cost of workers’ compensation. Dan McCormick of Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital has been invited to the December meeting to talk to the group about workers’ compensation costs. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 9th at 4:00 p.m. at Central Square Mall in the ITE conference room. Action Team 2: Implement a county-wide lodging tax to promote the region’s tourism Mike Ives reporting As grant dollars for tourism promotion dwindle and resort owners are faced with paying for their individual advertising and marketing, the Action Team believes Itasca County resort owners will see the value in collecting a lodging tax. Leads and inquiries received by the Convention and Visitors Bureau through their marketing efforts are compiled into a prospect list and passed on to the lodging properties that collect the tax. In an attempt to show the value of receiving the prospect list, the CVB sent the prospect list to area resort owners for a trial period. Team members are hopeful that a major resort owner will be won over to the benefits of implementing the county-wide lodging tax. Members have met with several large resort owners and the Edge of the Wilderness group which has been successfully collecting the tax for several years. Team leaders will continue discussions with local resort owners. Action Team 3: Become a center of excellence to educate and sustain a professional healthcare workforce for regional rural communities. Mary Ives reporting When the Healthcare Action Team was formed, their goal was to create a healthcare degree program through ICC that would supply a highly qualified workforce to support the delivery of area healthcare. The scope of that original goal was expanded into four main objectives. Objective 1: Strengthen rural health science education options and opportunities The Team worked to bring the NE Area Health Education Center (AHEC) to Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids lost the bid to Hibbing but Mary Ives was invited to participate in the selection process for hiring the new AHEC director. The new director is forming a regional Board of Directors and Betsy Johnson’s name has been submitted to serve as this area’s community representative. The Team worked to get a US Department of Health and Human Services grant called Career Ladder for Education and Advancement of Nursing (CLEAN) for rural Minnesota. A consortium of colleges - ICC, Hibbing and Rainy River - were successful in receiving the grant which will help educate, train and retain nurses in a collaborative virtual learning facility sharing effort. Objective 2: Support the Rural Health Science Education Center Initiative. Funding was not an option in this legislative session, but the Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital and MNSCU will remain supportive for the future. Objective 3: Formulate an “Educate the Educator” program for Health Care Awareness This option is waiting to be embraced. Team member Mike Johnson has met with a consultant who works with the Blandin Foundation and may be a future resource for this proposed outcome. Objective 4: Support and strengthen student career exploration opportunities The Team met with the Chamber’s Education Committee and received positive feedback from them. The formation of a sub-committee for the Chamber’s Education Committee is being suggested to help follow-up with several long-term health education objectives. Action Team 4: Help improve Blandin Paper Company’s chances of becoming a preferred UPM-Kymmene expansion site Tom Osborn reporting The next meeting of Action Team 4 is scheduled for Tuesday, November 18th at 7:30 a.m. in the Blandin Paper Company’s boardroom. The Team will review the past year’s activities and accomplishments. At the formation of the Action Teams last February 2003, Team members were asked to serve until the end of the year. Tom Osborn will recommend that the committee continue on into 2004. At next Tuesday’s meeting members will be given the opportunity to continue membership on the committee or will be given the chance to resign. Joe Maher will make a presentation at next week’s meeting entitled “Coated Groundwood Market”. Additional people who may have an interest in the subject will also be invited to participate. Action Team 5: Align workforce skills to match regional employer needs In order not to duplicate efforts, Action Team 5 joined forces with the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee. Action Team 6: Explore JOB Zones as an economic development tool for Itasca County Rick Utech and Sholom Blake reporting The JOBZone application for Itasca County has been submitted and those working on the project are very optimistic that the Northeast Region application will be selected. Word is expected by the end of November. Rick Utech handed out a sheet listing the cities and townships within Itasca County that were included in the JOBZ application. The total acreage for Itasca County is 793.36. Action Team 7: Create efficiency, accountability and reduce costs in public services. No report available Action Team 8: Create a community-wide event Bernadine Joselyn reporting Efforts are underway to make the Goods from the Woods event a self-sustaining institution for the future and build it into a 501(c)(3) organization. The Blandin Foundation will continue to play a significant role but the event will eventually have to have legs of its own. It is hoped that this can be accomplished by the year 2005. A Memorandum of Understanding will be developed to clarify roles, expectations and contributions for the future. Additional future initiatives include:
Action Team 9: Grow Itasca Mike Ives reporting The Grow Itasca Action Team will meet tomorrow morning (November 12th) at 7:30 a.m at IDC. Under the new partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, the goal is to visit 100 local businesses to listen to their needs and try to provide assistance to help them deal with their challenges and issues. Approximately 40 of those business owners or managers have been called upon to date. The results of the visits have been rewarding and appear to have been welcomed and appreciated. In several instances, team members have been invited back for follow-up meetings. One of those follow-up meetings will take place this week. No date has been set for the December Report Back meeting. At the December meeting the process and criteria for organizing new Action Teams for 2004 will be discussed. Suggestions made today for future Action Teams included: 1.) Central Business District, 2.) High healthcare costs to businesses and 3.) Minnesota Wood Campaign. The meeting was adjourned. Submitted by Lucy Flessner
|