The obstacles and challenges to creating jobs in Borderland are likely familiar to anyone who lives here.
But Gov. Mark Dayton listened intently Monday as members of a 12-person panel, ranging from business representatives, development organizations and schools, described their view of the major barriers to economic development in the area.
And Dayton said that he wasn’t done listening to Borderland. He offered his “home phone number” to allow people to offer their ideas for job creation to him personally. That phone number is 651-201-3468.
Dayton, a hockey player in his youth, made his knowledge of International Falls and its connection to hockey known, dropping local names like former Bronco and hockey great Tim Sheehy and mentioning a little local hockey history.
“The Broncos were where it happened for the rest of us,” he said. “I’m fairly doomed for life because I was born in the Twin Cities, where we didn’t have ice for three months of the year. I have a place in my heart and soul for this area.”
At the urging of Rod Otterness, Falls city administrator, Dayton pledged to take part in the International Tug of War next year, but joked that he would not follow a workout regime suggested by Otterness to help him bulk up for the event.
International Falls was the site of the sixth regional economic development summit held by the governor. The summits are aimed at gathering the best ideas on job creation from Minnesotans and to highlight Minnesota’s strong business climate and economic development opportunities.
“We’ve already received at the first five some excellent ideas and some constructive criticisms,” he said. “I am not here to make a speech. I am here to listen and to learn.”
Panelists offering their views at Monday’s forum included Rep. Tom Anzelc; International Falls Mayor Shawn Mason; Northeast Higher Education District President Sue Collins; International Falls Chamber of Commerce President Faye Whitbeck; Bob Anderson, representing the Rainy Lake Medical Center Board and the Koochiching County-International Falls Airport Commission, Koochiching Economic Development Authority Director Paul Nevanen, Rep. David Dill, Rainy River Community College student Katie Kosobucki; Boise Paper Public Affairs Manager Lori Lyman, county Commissioner Rob Ecklund and Alton Shannon of Shannon’s Inc.
The governor has held regional summits in Winona, Fergus Falls, Brainerd, Virginia and Faribault. The regional meetings are expected to culminate Oct. 25 at a Governor’s Job Summit in St. Paul.
Earlier in the day, the governor participated in a press conference with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff on the need for significant investments in job-creating transportation projects.
Dayton has said that his primary concern for the rest of his term will be job creation.
Several of the panelists discussed how regulatory issues, such as state and federal wetland rules and the Environmental Protection Agency’s boiler MACT Rules, have hindered development and cost local businesses and taxpayers money.
Shannon offered several suggestions to encourage job growth including a moratorium on sales and use tax for certain construction projects, reshaping unemployment compensation to encourage people to take jobs rather than stay on the assistance, and to retain the prevailing wage law in the state.
Mason, Nevanen and Ecklund encouraged the governor to make known on his travels in the state and abroad the Borderland foreign trade zone, one of just three in the state.
“One of the largest obstacles is policy made by folks who don’t live here,” added Mason.
Collins discussed cuts made in funding to colleges in the district and how it has impacted programming and staffing. Kosobucki explained how she had returned to college to further her degree, but faces looming student loans to pay back and is unable to afford health care.
Dayton apologized to Kosobucki and said its shameful in a country like the United States, which encourages people to return to college to make a positive impact on society, that they must face such struggles.
A show of hands of students attending the forum showed that many wanted to remain in the community after college.
Dill said that “outside opportunities” for job creation are needed in the north, but also that local people must be encouraged to be entrepreneurs.
Anderson said health care and transportation, as well as the community college, are keys to economic development in the community.
Following the presentations from the panelists, audiences members discussed their concerns, with some, including Roxanne Skogstad-Ditsch, asking questions about cuts made to services in a special legislative session that resulted in the end of Minnesota’s longest government shutdown.
Dayton said that he, too, was unhappy with many of the outcomes of the session, but that it was important to end the shut down and noted that many of the issues will likely be back at the table next year.
County Commissioner Brian McBride discussed the need to make the community’s cold weather testing abilities known and noted that many young people must leave the community to find work elsewhere.
He also encouraged the governor to work with the area’s congressional delegation in an effort to develop training program at RRCC for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents working along the northern border.
Local union official Tim Wegner thanked Dayton for retaining collective bargaining in the state and urged him to streamline regulatory issues and permitting.
