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Action Team Meeting Minutes IDC / Jobs 2020: Action Team Report Back Meeting Present: Jim Hoolihan, Tarry Edington, Peter McDermott, Dan Margo, Catherine McLynn, Bernadine Joselyn, Tom Osborn, Matt Romanik, Nancy Roth, Lucy Flessner Jim Hoolihan called the meeting to order. Action Team reports were given as follows:
AIR SERVICE ACTION TEAM Team representatives met with MAIR (parent company for Mesaba Aviation and Big Sky Airlines) on June 23rd and presented their 19-passenger aircraft concept to Paul Foley, CEO and Bob Weil, CFO. The proposal was well-received as Big Sky currently has several idle aircraft in storage. At their suggestion, the concept will be presented to the Airlink Planning Group at Northwest Airlines as soon as a meeting can be arranged. The Airport Commission will be given an update on the progress and activities of the Action Team at the July 13, 2004 meeting. A recommendation to the Airport Commission to consider becoming an Airport Authority will be made at that meeting. Airport authorities are independent bodies with taxing authority beyond city and county lines. The recommendation is being made because the airport is vital to economic development of the region and having an airport authority may be necessary to restore scheduled air service. Team members have been in contact with Liberty Airlines also. Liberty hopes to run scheduled air service across Northeast Minnesota using 37 passenger aircraft to Minneapolis. Liberty’s current business plan requires a subsidy which will not be available until 2006. The Team will stay in touch with Liberty.
Currently in the Greater Grand Rapids/Itasca area at least 5 different organizations – each with their own pot of money - are marketing various portions of the area. Two recent tourism studies of the area concluded that tourism marketing should be consolidated into one organization for more effectiveness and bang for the buck. The Tourism Action Team is proposing an area wide tourism marketing organization that would replace the current Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the tourism portion of the Chamber of Commerce. The new organization would be charged with marketing all of the Itasca area. Board representatives would come from resorts/lodging in the outlying regions, Grand Rapids lodging facilities, attractions and golf, retail and restaurants. This diverse board would be charged with making the marketing decisions. The Action Team proposes that the new organization would be funded by the current Grand Rapids 3% lodging tax already being collected, and include the addition of a 3% county-wide lodging tax that would be collected at the remaining Itasca County lodging facilities, and with associate memberships from attractions, golf, retail, restaurants and campgrounds. It is estimated that the annual income would be $390,000 under this scenario. The law dictates that all lodging tax collected (minus an optional 5% administration fee) be spent for tourism marketing. Team members have developed a proposed organizational structure, mission and preliminary budget for a unified area-wide tourism marketing organization. The mission, in essence, will be “to optimize tourism revenues within the Itasca area while maintaining high quality experience for the visitor and the natural resources they have come to enjoy”.
The Health Care Action Team has set five key goals to work on in 2004. In order to optimize time and volunteers, five sub-committees of the Action Team have been formed to work on the individual goals. Primary goals are:
The sub committees are working on each of the above initiatives. The overall intent of the Action Team is to synchronize multiple organizations where possible, ensure healthy competition and create a cooperative spirit among health care providers.
The Action Team has faced the challenge of trying to compile a comprehensive list of current service providers and a map of currently available telecommunication services in the Itasca area. Many service providers are reluctant to provide maps of their infrastructure. Team members will consult with ItascaNet and Itasca County for their GIS base map. The lack of local switching capacity with some of the current infrastructure makes accessibility impossible for many local users. The Blandin Foundation is sponsoring a “Get Broadband: Keeping Communities Competitive” community market development program. Participating communities will receive a broadband “toolkit” of educational materials, program guide, and up to $10,000 to promote community-based broadband education efforts. Action Team members will develop a plan of community education projects for inclusion in the Blandin grant application. Lake County Power (LCP) recently surveyed their customers regarding their Internet needs. A result of their findings was LCP’s decision to offer satellite-based broadbond services which will offer high reliability at a cost of approximately $50 per month. July 14th was the date LCP planned to launch the satellite. Survey data results indicated that there is a lot of room for public education and outreach on broadband. The Action Team is in the process of developing an Itasca Area Broadband User Survey for businesses in area towns not included in the LCP poll.
The Itasca Economic Development Council will be visiting with approximately 20 area governing councils and boards as well as 40 to 50 area organizations to communicate the mission of IDC/Jobs 2020 and the Itasca area community vision proposal. Action Team members concluded that these visits by Council members should delay the convening of a Mayor’s forum until after the community meetings have been held. The Action Team will propose several inclusions to the communications kit that will be used by the Council when convening the community meetings. They include: a. Develop a list of Frequently Asked Questions by businesses wanting to locate in the Itasca area. (This would include a cache of local community members who could “roll out the red carpet” to interested business.) b. Request a “Community Resource” inventory for each community. (i.e., a list of available properties, amenities and attributes of each community) c. Establish a matrix of existing resources in the Itasca area that can be accessed as a place to get answers to issues and concerns of existing and potential new businesses.
Surveys sent to employers for the purpose of collecting data on their employees child care needs have been distributed to the City of Grand Rapids, Itasca County, Blandin Paper Mill, Kmart, Wal Mart, Grand Villages, North Homes, Inc., Ogle’s, Itasca County Family YMCA, School District 318 and ODC. The remaining major area employers will receive the surveys within the next two weeks. The Team reported that they have received 445 surveys back so far – they expect to receive a total of around 1,000 surveys to tally. Through notification in area newspapers, smaller companies will be given the opportunity to call and have the survey mailed to them also.
Regarded by Team members as a show of appreciation for the support their team has provided to the Mill, all members were invited to the meeting at Blandin when the news that UPM launched a feasibility study on building a new paper machine at Blandin was announced. Blandin officials have told Team members that the community support for Blandin witnessed by UPM has had a positive influence on UPM’s decision to proceed with the feasibility study and environmental impact study (EIS). The Action Team will support the expansion plans publicly and will continue to work with Blandin Paper Mill in that endeavor.
Thirty-two of the targeted 100 local businesses have been visited or surveyed through the Grow Itasca program. Team members have had positive feedback from the company officials they have visited. Companies have indicated appreciation for the local interest taken in the businesses already located here. An additional 9 to 10 company visits have been scheduled during the next month. The visits with local companies include completion of the Chamber’s Grow Minnesota! surveys.
The Work Force Skills Task Force is in the process of compiling a written report on the data they received from surveys from area employers asking for information regarding employees skills needed now and in the future. The report will be printed and distributed to interested area organizations. The task force will disband upon completion of the written report and will merge into the Chamber’s Work Force Development Committee and be available to work on the next work force development project.
The Action Team is firming up plans and speakers for the September 10, 2004 Jobs 2020 forum. Speakers are invited to speak from their own lake management experiences. The North Central Lakes Project (NCLP) will meet after the forum and will be open to the public. The forum and the NCLP meetings will offer the opportunity to showcase the area and local efforts to promote public and private collaboration on lake management. The DNR will also hold public informational meetings following the NCLP meetings regarding the two year public process for updating shoreland standards. Networking and reports given at the Lakes Management Action Team meetings include: the South Central Itasca County Intergovernmental Planning Board’s wastewater treatment initiative, the Western Mine Planning Board’s report on efforts to eliminate water overflow into the City of Bovey and The Winnie Resort Association.
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