Officials of the Koochiching Economic Development Authority Wednesday reviewed its plan for marketing the Borderland area and making it more attractive to people who may want to live and work here.

According to KEDA Director Paul Nevanen, the organization came in just under its $12,000 budget for marketing expenses this year.

“Marketing can be kind of a cloudy area,” Nevanen said.

A marketing summary by Nevanen showed that the bulk of the money – about $6,000 – went to magazines for advertisements which aim to show off the community, its “ideal” location and other features that could benefit future businesses and projects.

“There is six solid site selector magazines out there,” he said. “We have gone back and forth with some of them...they’re all fairly close and the content is similar...we focus on infrastructure and logistics...our messaging is basically about our location, the foreign trade zone and the gateway to Canada.”

Nevanen noted that though the market is very competitive, Family Dollar was an example of a business that came across the KEDA website and decided to establish a local location.

In addition, Nevanen said social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have reached “an extensive audience.”

“I think on our Facebook page we have about 300 ‘likes’,” he said. “The reach of Facebook is incredible. Every week we post jobs available in the area...that has been received really well.”

Board members agreed avenues like Facebook are a prime spot to post job listings and good for younger people to see.

KEDA member Soren Olesen said many times he “shares” items posted on the KEDA’s Facebook page to his own timeline, ultimately reaching an even larger audience.

“That’s how the younger people communicate,” KEDA member and Falls Councilor Pete Kalar said of social media.

In related business Wednesday, the board discussed local people who are using contacts to help attract business opportunities to the area following Boise Inc.’s announcement to layoff 265 people at the Falls paper mill.

Nevanen reported that Dave Hebig, business officer at Border State Bank, along with other local officials, met with a representative of an unnamed regional manufacturer about local business opportunities.

“It was an outreach based on the Boise announcement,” Nevanen said. “(Hebig) wanted to make contact that there is a very capable skilled workforce here and if there’s someway this location could be of value to this manufacturer.”

Nevanen said the meeting was to understand needs of the manufacturer and additional communication will follow.

“We don’t know where this is going to go, but I like the notion of somebody in the community utilizing contacts,” he said.

Nevanen said a meeting with Ron Fagen, president of Fagen Inc., was held and Fagen shared ideas about biomass and how his company uses it.

“He had a couple of ideas that he thought might work here,” Nevanen said. “Again, it’s utilizing our workforce.”

Nevanen said he and Jenny Herman, of the Small Business Development Center, met with representatives of the Natural Resources Research Institute regarding manufacturing a high-tech modular housing concept.

“It’s basically a house-in-box concept,” he said. “A 1,200-square-foot house can be put on a flatbed or a rail car and be assembled in one day.”

Nevanen said there is “certainly” a market available for these types of houses.

“This lead came from Congressman (Rick) Nolan’s office,” he said. “They like this area in terms of it being on the border, the rail here and again, the skilled workforce...We’ll continue to pursue that.”

Also Wednesday, Nevanen said he met with county Engineer Joe Sutherland to “bring him up to speed” on the foreign trade zone and the work that has been done at the site.

The undeveloped site, jointly owned by the city of International Falls and Koochiching County and managed by KEDA, has been on the back burner for several months, however, is coming to the forefront recently after the Boise announcement.

Former Congressman Jim Oberstar is expected to visit the International Falls Economic Development Commission Friday to visit the FTZ, among other local sites.

The board agreed to hold meetings in other communities in the county in the fall after the busy summer winds down.

Last month, the board met in Littlefork and no members of the public attended the meeting. Nevanen reported the Littlefork Mayor Mike Fort offered his apologizes for the lack of attendance.

The board agreed that busy summer schedules are the likely cause of no public attendance and plan to hold September or October meetings in other communities.

“People in the rural areas (of the county) do care,” Olesen said of issues discussed during KEDA Board meetings.

KEDA member and county Commissioner Wade Pavleck agreed. ”It is important for boards to reach out to the county.”