7.2. EDSR 05-20-2019 Request for Action
To Item Number
Economic Development Authority 7.2
Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by
General Business May 20, 2019 Amanda Othoudt, EDD
Item Description Reviewed by
Director Report Cal Portner, City Administrator
Reviewed by
Action Requested
Information presented for discussion to keep the EDA updated on development activity.
Background/Discussion
BUSINESS VISITS
Completed eight BR&E visits with three more scheduled over the next few weeks. Please RSVP if you
are able to attend.
MISCELLANEOUS
I attended a familiarization (FAM) tour in Dallas with representatives from DEED and other economic
development directors from across the state. I visited with owners of some of our local companies and
toured their facilities. In the past, DEED hosted FAM tours in our region with global site selectors. This
year, they switched it to meet with corporate decision makers, connect with our local companies and visit
their facilities in the area in an effort to show our continued support through all facets of their business. I
thought this year’s FAM tour was very successful. We will attend another one in the Chicago area later
this summer.
BNSF
Cary Hutchings, Director, Economic Development
Chris Danos, General Director Strategic Programs, Economic Development
Discussion focused on BNSF market demand forecasting, certified sites program and automation. BNSF
plans to own and develop logistic parks across the country which would include offering transload
services to their customers. Their goal is to own the real estate and offer land leases in an effort to guide
and control development to industries that require rail. Larger metro markets are targeted. BNSF is
currently exploring new technologies such as automating horizontal container movement. Adopting these
new technologies can improve safety, expand their capabilities and enhance their customer’s experience.
They recently began construction on an automation pilot at their Logistics Park Kansas City intermodal
facility which will be operational this year. The information obtained through this pilot project will be
critical to understanding the benefits of automation, the level of expertise needed to run this type of
facility and will set them on a path to be the first rail carrier in the U.S. to implement this technology
within an inland intermodal facility. The relationship with short lines was discussed with BNSF indicating
they have a four person team manage it. We mentioned the closure of Electrolux and the target market
opportunity that presents. Becker facility was discussed as a low expense way to serve Minneapolis with
The Elk River Vision
A welcoming community with revolutionary and spirited resourcefulness, exceptional service, and community
engagement that encourages and inspires prosperity
available land to grow. In relation to community partners, BNSF asks that we track our rail-served leads
and share. We toured their corporate campus and control center which coordinates all train traffic in the
United States.
Copart, Inc.
John Reed, Director of Property and Development
Mason Laycock, Manager of Property and Development
Discussion with Copart focused on company growth, location needs, workforce and company culture.
Copart, Inc. is an asset liquidation services company to institutional, commercial and private owners of
used, undamaged or damaged vehicles, trailers, watercraft and power sports, industrial and construction
equipment. Most sellers are insurance companies, licensed dealers, financial institutions, charities,
municipalities and fleet operators. They are a $15B publicly-traded company (NASDAQ: CPRT). They
have roughly 200 locations worldwide in more than 150 countries with 7,500 employees. The top five
countries their buyers export vehicles to are Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Guatemala, and
Honduras. All transactions take place on-line. Their staff is split 50/50 between IT folks and asset
managers. Copart’s staff development includes a management program called Copart University,
quarterly leadership training, and promoting from within. Copart recently submitted a CUP for a site they
are considering in Elk River with room for expansion. They have been looking for a Twin Cities regional
yard location (50-100 acres) which would employ 15 – 40 people and are sensitive to community and
environmental issues. They pride themselves on environmental compliance and becoming part of their
communities. Copart is considering a new call center for title processors with 50-200 employees and
considering Lexington, Atlanta and Columbus. We suggested Elk River.
BBA
Dean Barber, Principal of Barber Business Advisors. BBA is an economic development and corporate
consulting firm. Dean’s team has developed a process or formula specifically designed for taking
action: SWOT + LMA = TI/IC or Translation: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
(SWOT) plus labor market analytics (LMA) leads to identification of target industries and specific
companies within those industry sectors that would be an appropriate fit for a community. (TI/IC). Dean
talked in great length about how he works with corporate decision makers to understand their strengths
and weaknesses to identify opportunities and threats as it relates to location decisions for the company.
Site Selection Group
We were able to meet with three members of the team: Jenna Keller, an associate project manager who
focuses on incentives, her new colleague Cody who also concentrates on sites and incentives, and
Tommy Hankins a senior associate of research, labor analytics and projects like call centers. The firm
manages a lot of large scale, high employee number, projects nationwide and echoed trends that we are
all hearing – too few food grade buildings on the market, shrinking workforce, etc. We highlighted parts
of the state that may be overlooked – St. Cloud Electrolux building/workforce, the Elk River GRE
Energy Recovery Station plant shutdown/available workforce and Iron Range unemployment and skill in
call centers. Tommy was unaware of these opportunities and also asked about graduate retention
rates. Jenna offered to send a link on a webinar they recently hosted on how communities can “stand
out” to site selectors.
JLL, Jubal Smith
This was a very informal, but extremely interesting conversation with a seasoned site selector. Jubal’s
focus is Texas and he discussed a number of firms that are moving to the area – but not all are
succeeding. He highlighted that JLL’s busiest office at the moment is their Menlo Park site selection
service as companies are seeking to leave the Bay Area to locations like MN, but also new companies are
growing in the area and staying. Certainly good information for Minnesota as the state considers a Bay
Area visit. He further noted that about 75% of the projects they manage “just die”. This was very eye-
opening and helped us to understand why so many projects we manage often don’t provide feedback
after submitting to RFIs.
Data Center Hawk, Luke Smith
Data Center Hawk offers industry insights on data center site selection, facility trends, and business
decision-making. Luke discussed why locations like Phoenix are seeing investment, the Texas landscape,
and the future of non-Northern Virginia investment. An interesting trend he noted is land-banking,
where developers are buying up prime real estate to develop data centers in 2-3 years. At this time, they
are only seeing this move forward in Northern Virginia, but expect that to change. Luke noted that they
visit different markets each quarter and they are overdue for a Minnesota visit. We suggested a late
summer tour to our shovel ready site in Elk River – sometime after the PUC rules on the Google
proposal – and will follow-up on this visit.
DartPoints, Loren Long
DartPoints has been exploring options in Minnesota for a large-scale deployment of up to 20 micro-edge
data centers. Their facilities are small – just 1-5 acres – but serve as rural internet exchanges that are
proven to increase speeds and reduce costs of internet access. Their goal is to improve access specifically
in the education and healthcare sectors, and are achieving this with the help of programs like Connected
Nation, the federal Erate program and telecom providers. They were very pleased to meet with all FAM
tour participants as they are seeking to understand the overall Minnesota landscape and where to place
potential facilities (need at least 20,000 “sets of eyes” per facility). The follow-up is to stay in touch as
DartPoints seeks locations and for partners to be advocates for this project.
Microloan Essentials Course
I attended a 2-day class focusing on underwriting practices and procedures for microloans in the public
and non-profit sector. We focused on real case study’s involving small to medium sized businesses. There
were several helpful tools and resources for underwriting loans, and accessing lender risk to include a
standardized underwriting grid. In an effort to strengthen our microloan program, I would like to present
this information to the EDA at a future meeting.
Public Art
Staff met with Parks and Recreation staff to discuss possible locations to install public art. It was
suggested by staff to bring this topic up for discussion at the Parks and Recreation Board at their June 12,
2019, meeting as Public Art aligns with the Parks and Recreations master plan.
Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA)
Staff from ERMU, EDA and the county met with representatives from MMPA to explore marketing
efforts, the potential purchase of the county shovel ready site and potential other sites. MMPA is
extremely interested in locating a data center to the county site.
Business Award Ceremony
CM Westgaard and I attended the Chamber’s Business Award Ceremony in April. Five businesses were
honored by the Chamber:
Large Business of the Year: Plaisted Companies
Small Business of the Year: Attics to Basements Building & Renovations
New Business of the Year: AEGIR Brewing, Co.
Employer of the Year: The Bank of Elk River
Young Professional of the Year: Conner Mickelson
Connect the Dots Event
CM Ovall, Debbi Rydberg, Dan Weber and I attending the Connect the Dots event at Bunker Hills again
this year. This is a fundraiser for the Anoka Technical College Foundation. The EDA supports this
organization each year by providing a scholarship to students in need of financial support.
Sherburne County Partnership Meeting
Amanda attended the Sherburne County Partnership meeting this week. The topic of discussion was
what “5G” Technology means and how we as communities can get ready for implementation. 5G
technology is considered the “next generation” of wireless communications. It is expected to
provide internet connections that are least 40 times faster than 4G LTE. 5G technology uses a variety of
spectrum bands, including millimeter wave and radio spectrum, which can carry very large amounts of
data a short distance. Tom Herr and Phil Leaf from Parallel Technologies presented information on how
this technology will be first implemented in metro cities, and then deployed to cities in greater metro
following major corridors. Small cell devices are typically affixed to light poles, buildings, stop signs and
other poles roughly a block apart from each other. The radio waves don’t penetrate energy efficient glass,
or buildings very well, so devices may also have to be deployed inside buildings to receive the enhanced
network speeds.
MN Marketing Partnership Meeting with DEED
st
Staff attended the MN Marketing Partnership 1 Trimester meeting. The meeting included a presentation
and updates from Kevin McKinnon, the DEED Deputy Commissioner on the legislative session and the
impact it has on the funding for various DEED initiatives. The Executive Director of Business
Development led a presentation on upcoming events, trade shows, and marketing initiatives. The
partnership is looking at increasing dues by $50 starting 2020.
Revolving Loan Fund Balance Reports
At the request of Commission, a copy of the Revolving Loan Fund report is attached.
Patriot Converting Microloan Payoff
Patriot Converting received a Jobs Incentive Microloan in the amount of $200,000 on January 19, 2016,
and paid the balance on May 2, 2019.
Financial Impact
N/A
Attachments
Revolving Loan Fund Report
Central MN Arts Board 2019 Funding Awards
ELK RIVER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
MICRO LOANS
Current Current 5/16/19
Loan Loan Interest Term Monthly Principal
Borrower Date Amount Rate (Months)Payment Outstanding Current
Die Concepts 6/3/2016 $185,200 2.00%60 $936.90 $163,874.95 Y
Heritage Millwork 12/22/2016 $100,000 3.00%60 $965.61 $79,346.78 Y
Patriot Converting 5/5/2016 $200,000 3.00%60 $3,593.74 $0.00 Y
Ralphies#1 9/10/2013 $74,999 3.00%120 $724.20 $34,819.79 Y
Ralphies#2 8/28/2018 $19,175 3.00%60 $343.65 $16,781.24 Y
TOTAL MICRO LOANS $294,822.76 Micro Loan Fund 240
Distinctive Iron 3/3/2015 $126,000 2.03%60 $874.72 $92,221.02 Y
Scott Morrell LLC 8/6/2015 $200,000 2.00%60 $1,011.77 168,275.91 Y
Orluck 7/17/2018 $200,000 3.00%84 $2,642.66 178,330.73 Y
$438,827.66 DEED Jobs Incentive Loan Fund 242
Fund Cash Balances 05/16/19:
Micro Loan Fund - 240 $934,177.66
State DEED Jobs Incentive - 242 $72,916.47
From:CENTRAL MINNESOTA ARTS BOARD
To:Othoudt, Amanda
Subject:[EXTERNAL] For Immidiate Release - Central MN Arts Board Awards Public Art Grants
Date:Thursday, May 16, 2019 9:21:48 AM
CMAB_logo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Central Minnesota Arts Board awards Public Art Grants
At the May 9, 2019 meeting, the Central MN Arts Board (CMAB) awarded $38,000 in Public Art
Grants to three local recipients.
The CMAB Public Art program provides funds for the completion of well-planned works of
public art that are accessible to the general public and supported by the community. An
organization must provide a minimum of 25% in matching funds. Public Art Grants are provided
through Minnesota's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.
1. City of Monticello, $9,400, artist D. Helene Woods will create and install a mural series on
the exterior of the Monticello Community Center designed to depict healthy activity
opportunities available in the center.
2. Community Legacy Foundation, $19,750, artist Roger Reinardy and Nick Christianson from
Brodin Studios in Kimball, MN, will work together to create a bronze rendering of Sinclair Lewis
to be installed at the Sinclair Lewis Library to coincide with the 2020 centennial celebration of
Lewis' novel, “Main Street” July 2019 in Sauk Centre, MN.
3. Delano Area Council for Arts and Culture, $8,850, for Spark the Power of Art- vinyl utility
box sleeves with photos of work created by local artists: Donna Rice, glass sculptor; Emily Lynch
Victory, mathematical illustrator; Mitch Kezar, Photographer; Jill Woodward, painting and
drawing; Shari Zimmerman, painting and mix media; Sarah Flicek, metalsmith; to be installed
August 2019 in downtown Delano, MN.
About Central MN Arts Board
The Central Minnesota Arts Board (CMAB) strives to enhance appreciation of the essential
economic and social roles the arts play in Benton, Sherburne, Stearns, and Wright counties by
providing grants and professional development services to arts and community organizations,
schools, government units and individuals.
For more information about the Central MN Arts Board grant opportunities and services go to
www.centralmnartsboard.org or call the office at 320-968-4290 or toll free at 1-866-345-7140.
Media Contact:
Melissa Marudas
Media Specialist
320-968-4290 ext. 4
media@centralmnartsboard.org
FOLLOW US
CENTRAL MINNESOTA ARTS BOARD | 220 4th Ave North, PO Box 458, Foley, MN 56329
Unsubscribe aothoudt@elkrivermn.gov
Update Profile | About our service provider
Sent by melissa@centralmnartsboard.org in collaboration with
Try email marketing for free today!