HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 07-18 City Council Special Meeting PacketAGENDA
MAPLEWOOD CITY COUNCIL
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
5:00 P.M. Monday, July 18, 2016
City Hall, Council Chambers
A. CALL TO ORDER
B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
C. ROLL CALL
D. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
E. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None
F. NEW BUSINESS
1. Consider Selection of Business Engagement Program
(A quorum of the Housing and Economic Development Commission may be present)
G. ADJOURNMENT
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MEMORANDUM
TO: Melinda Coleman, City Manager
FROM: Michael Martin, AICP, Economic Development Coordinator
DATE: July 14, 2016
SUBJECT: Consider Selection of a Business Engagement Program
Introduction
At the July 18, 2016 city council workshop meeting, staff will provide an overview of its plan to
implement the core pillars of business engagement as communicated by the University of
Minnesota Extension’s course. In developing the program, staff used the following principles as
a guide to what the program should include:
• Demonstrate to businesses that the community appreciates their presence
• Help existing businesses solve immediate problems
• Increase businesses' ability to compete in regional, national, and global markets
• Establish a strategic plan for economic development
• Build community capacity to sustain growth and development over the long term
These principles and the resulting recommendations build off of the University of Minnesota
Extension’s course that was taken by staff members, council members and housing and
economic development commission (HEDC) members. The coursework focused on what to
consider when building a program, how to implement the program, who to involve, how to
respond to concerns and how to sustain initiatives over time.
Discussion
Program Overview
At previous city council and HEDC meetings, potential options on how to facilitate a program
have been discussed – city-led, work with the Extension office or partner with local chambers.
For those who have taken the business engagement course, you now know it takes a good
amount of effort and many people to make a program successful. Because of this, staff
recommends the city partner with its chamber groups, who have experience and staff dedicated
to seeing this effort through. The city does not have available staff that can give this program
the type of effort that is needed. The city will benefit from working with groups who have
conducted engagement visits for many years with several area cities. Staff looked to
neighboring cities to look for models that worked elsewhere and could be incorporated into
Maplewood. Staff recommends the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce (SPACC) be the
lead party guiding the city through this effort while the White Bear Area Chamber of Commerce
(WBACC) also conduct visits within its focus area of north Maplewood.
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Since it is impossible to visit every business in the city, staff and the chambers have developed
a strategy to prioritize visits with the intent of gathering data and building relationships with
companies poised for growth. As reinforced in the Extension course, the most successful
business engagement and expansion efforts occur when cities focus on companies already in
the community. As they have done in other communities, the chamber groups recommend the
city work to conduct 25 total visits over the next year. This typically means 50-75 businesses will
have to be identified and contacted to find 25 willing businesses. Five of those visits will be
conducted by WBACC in the north Maplewood area and SPACC will conduct the other 20 visits
throughout the rest of Maplewood.
Working with the SPACC, the city will use Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic
Development’s data on employment and wages to identify companies experiencing the highest
growth and prioritize those for visits. In addition to leveraging localized growth, the SPACC will
use Greater MSP’s definition of “Key Industries” and include those businesses. Key industries
include headquarters, agriculture and water technology, health and life sciences, innovation and
technology and financial services. It is also known that certain companies are so important to
overall health of Maplewood that annual visits will be established – these companies include
3M, HealthEast and Washington Prime Group (owner of Maplewood Mall). The city manager will
also work to setup annual meetings with the city’s school districts.
These visits will be setup up by the chamber groups and there will be an online component
used for signing up to go out for visits. Each business visit will include a chamber staff member,
a member of the city’s senior management team, a city councilmember and a HEDC member.
As mentioned in the Extension course, there should be no more than four individuals attending
each visit. The visits will be conducted on site at each business and the same survey of
questions will be used.
At the conclusion of the visits, the SPACC will aggregate the data, to maintain anonymity of the
companies visited, and provide analysis of the results to help guide potential policy decisions by
the city council to better foster an environment for business growth. As stated in the Extension
course, studies have shown that as much as 80 percent of new jobs created are by existing
businesses rather than by new businesses attracted to a community. Retaining and facilitating
the expansion of existing businesses is an important component of any city's plan for economic
development. With the increasing scarcity of resources at the local level, focusing on the growth
of existing businesses is more efficient than enticing a new business to move into a community.
Next Steps
As proposed, this program would be kicked off at the city’s community engagement breakfast in
October. The annual breakfast program will focus on business engagement topics and
demographic trends. Staff will invite speakers from these fields and will facilitate a discussion
amongst the panelists and attendees. The breakfast will serve as a notable kickoff point for the
engagement program and the visits will continue into and conclude in 2017.
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Commission Review
On July 13, 2016, the housing and economic development commission (HEDC) discussed the
business engagement program and recommended working with the SPACC and WBACC on
developing a business engagement program. The HEDC also recommended the city explore
the potential of partnering with the Oakdale Area Chamber of Commerce in either participating
in the facilitation of the program or if there are any other ways to include the group in
engagement opportunities.
Recommendation
Staff will be requesting feedback and direction from the city council regarding staff’s outline for
the business engagement program.
Attachment
1. Example of Survey of Questions
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Business Retention & Expansion Survey
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City of Arden Hills Survey Reporting Form (rev 2.23.15)
COMPANY NAME /CONTACT INFORMATION
Company Contact:
Company:
Pa rent Company:
County:
City:
OVERVIEW INFORMATION
Vis it Date:
Interview Nam e:
Interviewer Em ail Address:
Organization Type (select one):
0 City
0 County
0 Chamber
0 MNSCU
0 Port Authority
0 BSR
0 Non Profit
0 Other
BUSINESS DETAILS
Primary Business Sector (se lect one):
0 Accommodation/Food Services
0 Administration/Support/Waste Management/Remediation Services
0 Agriculture/Forestry/Fishing/Hunting
0 Arts/Entertainment/Recreation
0 Construction
0 Educational Services
0 Finance/Insurance
0 Health Care/Social Assistance
0 Information
0 Management of Companies & Enterprises
0 Manufacturing
0 Manufacturing -Food/Candy
0 Mining
0 Professional/Scientific/Technical Services
0 Real Estate/Rental and Leasing
0 Retail Trade
0 Transportation/Warehousing
0 Utilities
0 Wholesale Trade
0 Non Profit
0 Other
Primary Sector Other:
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Does Company have a success ion plan? YES NO
Has the company ownership c hanged? YES NO
Or is change imminent? YES NO
Explanation:
Over the past year, have company sa les (select one):
0 Increased
0 Decreased
0 Been relatively stable
0 Fluctuated widely
0 Not identified
FACILITIE S
Type of facility (select all that apply):
0 Branch
0 Distribution
0 Franchise
0 Headquarters
0 Home-based business
0 Manufacturing
0 Office-operation (non HQ)
0 R&D
0 Sales Office
Is there room for expansion at site? YES NO
Is this facility owned or leased? Owned Leased
PRODUCTS/S ERV ICE S
Company's major products/services:
Has this company introduced new products? YES NO
Briefly describe new products:
LOCAL EMPLOYMENT AND WORKFORCE
Number of Full Time Employees at facility:
Number of jobs at this faci lity changed (select one):
0 Increased
0 Decreased
0 Stayed the same
If increased, was it hard to fill jobs? YES NO
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Why are openings hard to fill ? (select all that apply):
0 Poor work ethic
0 Lack of basic education
0 Lack of technical skills
0 Lack of candidates
0 Challenging location
0 Competition
0 Other
Expect the number of jobs at facility (select one):
0 Increase
0 Decrease
0 Be relatively stable
0 Unsure
Types of jobs do you expect to hire:
Anticipate need to train employees:
What kind of training will be needed?
TRANSIT /TRANSPORTATION
YES NO
How well does existing transportation infrastructure serve your business (select one)?
0 Exceeds needs
0 Meets needs
0 Needs improvement
Please explain:
Do your employees use transit (i.e. bus/rail)? YES NO
Do you think more employees would use transit if it were more readily available? YES NO
MARKET INFORMATION
Company's primary market (select one):
0 International
0 United States
0 Midwest (including MN)
0 Minnesota
0 Local
0 Not identified
Company's fastest growing geographic market (select one):
0 International
0 United States
0 Midwest (including MN)
0 Minnesota
0 Local n Not identified
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Does this company export? YES NO
If so, where (select all that ap ply):
0 Africa & Middle East
0 Canada
0 Europe & Russ ia
0 Greater China
0 India, Pakistan, Central /South Asia
0 Japan & Korea
0 Southeast Asia
0 Australia & Pacific Oceania
0 Latin America & Car ibbean
0 Mexico
0 Not Identified
Interested in learning about exporting? YES NO
Percent of sales outside US?
INVE STMENT PLAN
Does this company plan to (check all that apply)
0 Invest in new facilities
0 Make major equipment purchases
0 Renovate/Expand current facilities
0 None
0 Not identified
Please explain:
Approximate date of investment (select one):
0 Within one year
0 Within two years
0 Within three years
0 Unsure
If investing in new location, why (select all that app ly)?
0 Access to labor
0 Access to markets
0 Environmental permit obstacles
0 High state taxes
0 High local taxes
0 Labor costs
0 Lease expiration
0 No room at this location
0 Quality of workforce
0 Transportation/infrastructure
0 Other
Explanation:
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COMMUNITY
The City has a revolving loan fund of approximately $150,000.
Would you r bus in ess be int erested in using this fund?
If yes, for what purpose?
The City holds a State o f the City event every yea r .
Have you attended this in the past?
If no, why not?
If yes , how could the eve nt be more useful ?
YES NO
Do you identify you r business as being located in: ARDE N HILLS
Why?
YES NO
SAINT PAUL
Th e Economic Development Com mission advises the City Council/Economic Develop ment Authority
on issues concerning the business community.
Would you be willing to serve as a Commissioner? YES
POST DISCUSSIO N VISIT
Does this company requi re follow up? YES NO
If yes, w hat organization(s) sho uld assist (se lect all that apply):
D City
D Chamber
D College
D State
D Workforce
D Other
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NO
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APPENDIX B -FOLLOW-UP SURVEY REPORTING FORM
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City of Arden Hills Follow-up Survey Re porting Form (rev 7.31.15)
Rank t he loca l b usiness cli m ate: Com munity Ra n kings
Education and Tra i ning
K-12 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Higher education 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Customized Trai ning Programs 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Overall Workforce Quali t y 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Tra nsportation/Locati o n
Public Transportation 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Highway Infrastructure 1 2 3 4 s n/a
Air Service 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Proximity to Suppliers 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Qual ity of Li fe
Recreationa l Opportu ni ties 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Cu ltural Opportunities 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Crime Rate 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Social Organizations and Networks 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Housing Supply for Workforce 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Loca l Access to Capital
Lending by local financial institutions 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
As sistance from loca l governments and/or non-profits 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Local Government
Attitude towa rds busi ness 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Permitting/Zoni ng 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Local Taxes 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Local fees 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Utilities
Telecommunications/Broadband Service 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Telecommun ications/Broadband Rates 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Electric Rates 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Electric Rel iabil ity 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
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