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Gov. Mark Dayton, as part of a 12-member panel, focused on economic development Friday and listened to Brainerd area leaders identify obstacles and solutions.
His third economic summit, conducted in the John Chalberg Theatre at Central Lakes College, was set in a city that has often led the state in unemployment among cities with 10,000 or more population. In July, the city’s jobless rate jumped to 15 percent, up from 12.9 percent in June. The Brainerd micropolitan area, which covers Cass and Crow Wing counties, had a July jobless rate of 8.9 percent.
Panelist Mark Ronnei, general manager of Grand View Lodge, said educated young people were leaving the area and noted those who remained in Brainerd were struggling to find work.
“We’re creating a central Minnesota ghetto,” he said.
Ronnei said talented young people were not returning to Brainerd because they did not see a future here.
He also said state employees were shackled by antiquated systems and the resulting permitting delays prevented them from being partners with business in economic development.
As he would do several times during summit with various speakers, Dayton told Ronnei he would have a state commissioner contact him on his concerns no later than Monday.
Dayton expressed concern that Grand View was having difficulties with the permitting process in the DNR.
“We’re very serious about tackling it (bureaucratic red tape),” the governor said. “I’ll follow up with you.”
Rep. John Ward, DFL-Brainerd, said the area was blessed with a state regional treatment center and industrial parks and was hungry for living wage jobs. He called for a public/private jobs program with tax incentives for small businesses to hire.
Sheila Haverkamp, executive director of the Brainerd Lakes Area Economic Development Corp., said her organization is focused on business attraction and retention. She said BLAEDC is seeking help from top executive retirees who live in the area.
“ ‘We’re ready, let’s grow’ is the image we’re projecting,” she said.
Haverkamp said she’d like to see a permanent dedicated source of funds for economic development and further streamlining of state programs and processes.
Representing CLC students was Julie Jo Larson. She said she was among the 22 percent of students who were over 30 and the 70 percent who received financial aid or scholarships. Her concerns were keeping tuition costs down, finding full-time employment at a living wage and not having to move to the Twin Cities or the Dakotas for employment.
“Many of us want to work in the Brainerd lakes area,” she said. “We do not want government handouts as students. We want to work.”
Former Republican state Sen. Carrie Rudd of the Breezy Point area encouraged the governor to include representatives of the housing and real estate industry in future summits. Rudd and her husband have owned Lakes and Leisure Realty for 25 years. She expressed concern about the high number of rental properties and foreclosures.
The disconnect that can occur between the needs of employers and the skill sets of students was addressed by more than one person at the summit.
Brainerd School District Superintendent Steve Razidlo said Brainerd schools are involved in a pilot program with an ACT test that measures work readiness, which he said might become the new currency in post-secondary education.
Lisa Paxton, CEO of the Brainerd Lakes Chamber, said manufacturers complain of the lack of skilled workers and the Bridges Workplace Connection is addressing that problem. The Bridges program is a cooperative venture involving the chamber, area school districts and Central Lakes College.
She said surveys have indicated that more than 80 percent of students who attended a Bridges event felt they had established a better connection with job providers. Qualified workers will be needed to replace retiring baby boomers, she said.
Miranda Anderson, marketing director for Essentia Health, said the health system has recruited seven physicians recently but has difficulty finding qualified employees for mid-level positions.
Sen. Paul Gazelka, R-Brainerd, and Ward both mentioned the success of the mountain bike trail near Crosby as an economic development success story. Gazelka said the parking lots at the trail are full, nearby Ruttger’s resort has benefited and this was an attraction that “government had a major hand in.” He and Ward also expressed satisfaction that extra money had been legislated to fight aquatic invasive species in area lakes.
He favored an attitude shift of government working with business on economic development. He praised one of Dayton’s commissioners who he quoted as having said, “We need to move at the speed of commerce.”
Gazelka suggested an ombudsman for agencies like the DNR who would see a business permit through the regulation process.
Steve Christenson, executive vice president with Ascensus, said his firm is one of the Brainerd area’s largest employers and yet many people and students have no idea what it does. The financial services firm has employees who work as consultants and record-keepers. He said the Brainerd area offers quality schools, a strong work orce, fiber optic resources and the help of the chamber and BLAEDC. He would like to see paid and unpaid internships made available for students and tuition reimbursement.
Panel member Randy Olson, vice president of economic opportunity with the Initiative Foundation in LIttle Falls, said his organization works as a nonprofit lender. Its objective is to be an alternative lender that can fill capital voids.
“I would like to see the state of Minnesota establish a revolving loan fund,” Olson said.
Larry Lundblad, president of CLC, said his school is responsive to the community. It draws its more than 6,000 students from a seven-county region. He said about 1,700 students earn college credits at the college. CLC’s Ag and Energy Center at the Staples campus researches crops that can grow in central Minnesota. He said the college has grown by 52 percent in the last four years. Minnesota, he said, has the third highest tuition in the nation among community colleges.
Responding to a question from the audience, Dayton said he did his best to preserve Local Government Aid since counties and cities have limited options for raising revenue and must provide essential services.
“I made my pitch on that very clear,” he said.
Brainerd City Council President Mary Koep said Brainerd was well positioned to be the site of a geriatric center at the Brainerd Regional Treatment Center.
“We are an aging society,” Koep said. “Our area is becoming a retirement community.”
Char Kinzer, public relations manager for Crow Wing Power, talked about her firm’s manganese extraction project in Emily. She was pleased with a recent initiative that requires state agencies to state why a report is not concluded if the working period has been more than 150 days.
Maurice Olson urged the state to support rail travel. Dayton said that was an unmet challenge and that the U.S. was far behind other nations in that area.
Spotted© Photo Gallery - Dayton Economic Summit
MIKE O’ROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
Comments (31)
Add commentJobs
We need more than incentives for small business. We need a new large factory that will pay decent wages. The employers here know that with the unemployment rate high, they can refuse raises and use fear against their employees.
If an agency decides to thumb
If an agency decides to thumb their nose at a state law there is no higher authority besides the expensive court system that will force them to comply. That happens on the state level and it happens right here in Crow Wing County.
satisfied with invasive species efforts?
It's too bad Gazelka & Ward have been too busy to meet with any of the local Lake Associations. There is no way they should happy with the DNR's response. I know GCOLA has been trying to get the DNR to formulate a plan for years and the zebra mussels is just the first assault. Why did GCOLA and a handful of other lake associations have to go out and buy decontamination equipt? They had to do something to get St Paul to wake up and be embarrassed. When the lakes in this area die, so does the economy of the whole region. PERIOD.
Maybe the US Congress Will Act on The Jobs Bill
Too bad our Congressional Representative Chip Cravaack showed his total lack of interest in the proposed jobs bill for people in Northern MN by indicating dissent of the program and NOT BOTHERING TO EVEN SHOW UP for the joint session of Congress and the Presidents address this week in DC. Guess Chip must be busy doing other more important stuff like moving his family to the East Coast. Good thing Mark Dayton is at least showing up and learning first hand what is going on in the local economy and what could be done to help the current situation.
Glad it was held in a theater
For theatrics is all you got! You can only talk so much talk and that, so far, is all that seems to be coming from Dayton. Blah, blah, blah...........
Thank You Governor Dayton
for coming to the Brainerd Lakes area and listening to our issues.
This has been posted in response to the above negative nellie post.
minnesnowda
I feel sorry for small minds like yours. If a republican had come instead of Dayton, you would have been critical of anything they said. You are party blind and your head is stuck where the sun don't shine.
manufacture something
NO one on the panel has ever made anything for a market! we have had the bus fiasco,the trus joist fiasco,the housing fiasco and many others. until our tax climate is PRO-business we will continue on the slum welfare path!
Snowda, Brown noser.
Snowda,
Brown noser. LOL!
Obama has been "focused on jobs like a laser" since he took office. Where are they?
Obama speech: Rebuilding and modernizing schools
One of the take aways from the Obama speech (I caught it later after the Fantasy Football Draft and watching a very entertaining Packers vs. Saints game), was modernizing the nations schools.
Many of the schools in the Brainerd area were built back in the depression era in the 30s and are still standing quite well today. Washington, Lowell, Harrison, and Whittier for example. Still standing quite well after many years.
The goal is to modernize 35,000 schools across the nation, putting a large amount of folks back to work and doing the nation a huge improvement in energy efficiency.
Now is time to remove the politics. I heard a phrase the other day which is pretty accurate on the term politics:
Politics is a compound word coming from the Greek Poly
meaning 'many' and Ticks meaning 'Blood sucking bugs'.
So, let's stop paying attention to 'Blood sucking bugs' and put this country back to work, private and public. Modernizing the nations schools is a huge positive direction forward.
The President of the United States is a respected office, and too many folks elected since in the 2000s have forgotten this.
The yahoo from Louisiana who held up a sign and at least didn't scream something during an address by the president is to be commended for a silent criticism of respect.
off the bus
All I know is I was filling up my motorcycle at the Holiday station when up walked at dude who had apparently just got off the bus (the new bus station is Mickeys behind Holiday station) and the first thing he asked me for was 2 bucks (because he ..........I couldn't understand him). No- I didn't give it to him although I could have afforded it. I'm sure some other town/ state paid for his ticket to get here. Now that Michigan will only pay for 4 years of welfare I'm sure they will have to put on extra buses to Mn.
dutchman
You might want to pick up a real book, like a dictionary. The word politics is actually from the French, from around the mid-15th century. Nice try. As for putting people back to work, if they can be put back to working on the infrastucture of this country, I have no problem with that. As long as it does not add to the national debt! So how's it going to be paid?
Maybe just once....
A politician would come to listen to the working people. You know, the people who have to be at work when these events are always held! And the people who have been hurt most by the economy!
So I guess 'cyclerod4' isn't much of a Good Samaritan
Jesus said: ...“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37
New International Version (NIV)
mission
Thank you for our Sunday preaching. It is funny that liberals only use Jesus when it makes a point for them. If cyclerod isn't a good samaritan, then that would make you a chump.
Funny that
the majority quoted are paid by the taxpayer, is't it?
ProudRino
Excellent point!
huh? "Majority?"
Ronnei runs a tight ship at Grandview. There's also business people from Essentia Health, Acensus, Crow Wing Power, and the Chamber is a member paid organization. Even former Senator Ruud has her own business.
There's a basic math failure here. You goofy GOP's are discounting at least SIX business people here. duh??
Too much watching Faux News. Your conclusions are a bit tilted.
snowball
The article concerned business people with a slanted view full of their own self interest. I am sure Ronnei runs his business any way he wants. And by what I read, he is concerned with the DNR. As someone posted earlier, these people are not concerned about the people doing the real work. And if anyone is tilted, it would be you. Too much time looking inward instead of outward? Halfwits like you have this idea that every Republican watches Fox, is a tea partier, and only has one point of view. Well my view is that liberals and democrats are running this country into the ground
Snowda believes conservative
Snowda believes conservative only watch one channel.
I don't even get Fox News! I had to cancel my cable to pay for the school levy that was crammed down our throats.
a no-show for rural airports meeting, too
Cravaack also didn't show for the important meeting in Mpls. on an alternative air service for Brainerd and other rural airports in the North. The FAA was there, as was Great Lakes. Our Rep. for Congress was not. Clearly, at every turn, he's going to show up only where his right-wing interests are served, and not the communities he is supposed to represent.This is not a good sign for a job-hungry area, and not a good attitude.
not very respectful pdnet, as usual
minnesnowda
I feel sorry for small minds like yours. If a republican had come instead of Dayton, you would have been critical of anything they said. You are party blind and your head is stuck where the sun don't shine.
snowball
Halfwits like you have this idea that every Republican watches Fox, is a tea partier, and only has one point of view. Well my view is that liberals and democrats are running this country into the ground.
Wiser minds might ponder if I am a member of the local clergy /or your next door neighbor, etc.
When you call me names and use the above personal insults - this shows me your arguments are very weak.
I have presented some very main line viewpoints. I am not alone in my opinions, trust that.
Word for the day: Ad hominem
Ad hominem (latin "to the person") is an attempt to negate the truth of a claim by insulting the person making it. Ad hominem is described as a logical fallacy. This results in a presumption about a person. Fallacies exploit emotional triggers structured using rhetorial patterns that obscure any logical argument.
ad hominem
Yes, minnesnowda, when they resort to namecalling, they have lost the argument and are digging down into their emotions for a reaction.
But, it is easy to be rude and outspoken when you are anonymous. I think pdnet likes people to react so he can justify the idiotic names he calls liberals. I doubt he is very brave at public meetings. LOL!
I ignore him.
snowda and lake
You two make me laugh. It is funny when people of your type throw insults at others, it is fine, but when the same is directed at you, you become high and mighty. Make up your little minds and try to stay in one direction. I am beginning to think you both suffer from "old timers", instead of just being stupid.
lakelander
One of the first posts that you made on these boards was when you accused me of being obnoxious and ignorant. I don't believe you are in a position to accuse others of namecalling.
huh?
I never condemned name-calling, I merely pointed out that if you resort to it, you are losing the argument. Re-read my post.
I apologize if I said you were obnoxious, as it isn't a word I usually use. Are you sure it was me?
And ignorance is something measurable, after all. And dean, you are always saying you keep being booted off of this site for some reason or another. What are those reasons?
I love to be snarky...I admit that. I also wonder why some of you retort with name-calling instead of with salient points to support your arguments.
I just watched the GOP candidates get snippy with each other. They are self-destructing. Denying folks with no health insurance care is not a winning platform. And talk about flip-flopping: pandering to the TP tonight, but next debate it will be some other group.
well
We have been providing Iraqis health care for almost 9 years...so how about for our own citizens who can't afford it?
Daton in BLA
Interesting artical that says absolutly nothing. First of all sen Gazelka and Ward congratulations on spending a boat load of money to make Ruttgers more money with the bike trail that will be used only part of the year. Second of all Ascensus, nobody knows what they do because they don't advertise, that is business managment 101. Why do they need the governments permission to create internships? That is a simple basic prossess, even I could se up an internship if I owned my own business. Why do people think the government needs to make the most basic business managment dessissions?
The Brainerd Lakes Area has only one vision for the future, tourism. No one seems to understsnd or possibly care that durring the off seasons there seems to be more people unemployed than are working. The majic number I keep seeing in these articles is 15% unemployment, this number does not include the unemployed whoes benifits have run out or the unemployed who have been denied benifits for one reason or another. The real number is probably closer to 30%.
I agree that we need big business in this area but unfortunatly if it does not involve tourism it wont happen. Who wants to see big business when they come up from the cities? Wake up Brainerd, take a drive through the industrial parks and see all the empty buildings. Should we start keeping homeless in those buildings? I can forsee the future of this area, those who dont leave for jobs will be homeless sooner than you would think and wont that look just picturesq to see homeless people roaming the streets. Now that will help the tourest trade.
Tea Party debate last night.
The question was to (MD) Ron Paul what should happen to a young man who is gainfully employed but chooses not to have health insurance and he ends up in a coma - who pays for that? (Do we let him die?) Hollers of YES! from the audience were chilling. Ron Paul suggests that 'the churches' could take care of him.
Similar to cheers at the last debate for Rick Perry executing the most prisioners in Texas.
Privatizing Social Security? Yeh, let's turn our retirements over to Wall Street = and the tanking stock markets.
Fact Check today has been verrry interesting.
Asencus is a retirement financial planning business, it employs lots of people offering decent jobs in this area.
"Asencus is a retirement
"Asencus is a retirement financial planning business, it employs lots of people offering decent jobs in this area."
"Privatizing Social Security? Yeh, let's turn our retirements over to Wall Street = and the tanking stock markets."
So which is it, Snowda? Financial products from the big banks/Wall Street good, or bad?
Please pick only one.