Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors Meeting

October 5, 2016 7:30 am

The Waters of White Bear Lake: 3820 Hoffman Rd, White Bear Lake, MN 55110

AGENDA

1. Open Meeting – President Kevin Whelan

2. Welcome New Board Members

1. Consider approval of Minutes from September 7, 2016 Board Meeting

2. Treasurer’s Report, Brian Deuel

3. Executive Director’s Report, Ling Becker

4. Committee Reports:

a. Business Retention & Expansion, Debby Gustafson

b. Investor Relations, Kyle Sommer

c. Workforce Action, Ling Becker

d. Professional Education, Kris Diemer/Marty Welch

e. Annual Dinner Committee, Marguerite DeFore/Nancy Zylla

5. City of Vadnais Heights Update, Kevin Watson

6. Action Item: Approve VHEDC Nominating Committee/Bylaws, Ling Becker

7. Action Item: BOD Insurance Addition, Ling Becker

8. Info Item: Student/youth participation on VHEDC Board, Ling Becker

9. Local Community Update: White Bear Lake Area Schools, Wayne Kazmierczak

10. Adjourn Meeting

11. August Meeting: Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at Twin Cities Metro CDC

Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors Meeting

September 7, 2016 7:30 am

Gable Pines Senior Living 1260 Co Rd E East, Vadnais Heights, MN 55110

AGENDA

Attended by Board members: Kevin Whelan, Becky Bjorgum, Emilie Berg, Larry Raddatz, Mike Spellman, Kyle Sommer, Sean O’Brien, Wayne Kazmierczak, Linda Reber, Jill Funck, Marguerite DeFore, Tom Voegele, Debby Gustafson, Eric Johannes, and Bob Morse.

Also Present: Ling Becker – Executive Director, Gerry Urban Advisor, Ramsey County Commissioner Blake Huffman, and VH Council member Craig Johnson and Kevin Watson from City of VH

Sam Renke, Gable Pines Director welcomed and applauded VHEDC and Ling for the work that has been done in making Gable Pines known in the community.

1. Open Meeting – President Kevin Whelan opened the meeting at 7:30 a.m.

2. Welcome New Board Members – Wayne Kazmierczak from School District #624 and Emilie

Berg from F & M Bank were welcomed as new VHEDC board members and an article was

submitted to Press Publications.

1. A motion was made to accept the August 3, 2016 Board Meeting minutes as presented by Debby

Gustafson/Mike Spellman 2nd; MSP.

2. Treasurer’s Report, Ling reported in Brian Deuel’s absence. Ling reported the checking and

savings accounts have been moved to F&M Bank, and they have some Certificates of Deposit at

other banks. Current Balance is $98,564.44. Marguerite DeFore moved to accept the Treasurer’s

report as presented; Becky Bjorgum 2nd; MSP.

3. Executive Director’s Report, Ling Becker reported a thank you to the VHEDC businesses who

participated in Heritage Days. Ling got to MC the Heritage Days parade. Wrapping up summer-

launched website with positive feedback and by next month will share some analytics; and have

already had 3 questions asking for information on the website just yesterday. Continue to work

on internal documents. Farmer’s Market continues each Wednesday and will end with a

customer appreciation on Sept. 28th with door prizes, musicians, and give-away pumpkins; one

thing we are looking at is to improve the signage to help get more people there. Fresh Thyme is

doing very well and exceeded the Bloomington store 2 weeks after opening in sales. BR&E

Commencement later in meeting and working with the school district on launching additional

pathways between education/training and vocations. Ling continues to work with businesses and

investors on concerns they have, lots of construction questions, 2 businesses have been awarded

exporting grants that gives matching money. Looking ahead to fall – Annual Dinner, Annual

Report, Annual Budget, BR&E; phase 2 of the website, internal items for the board and upcoming

board election. City Center Task Force has been meeting and the new city center streetlights will

go up before winter, but need additional conversation about who/how the upkeep of the

banners/flowers upkeep will be handled between the city and the businesses. Ling went to three

trainings in August; How to Build a Webinar; Council of Development Finance Agencies

Minnesota Roundtable; and Impact Analysis. Ling is looking into a Shop Local App with local

non-profits benefitting from the sales cost. DuFresne & MME are finalist in the Minnesota

Business Magazine’s Manufacturing Awards. Marine Tech also received an award. The next

couple of months has a host of nonprofit events that are happening that we can be a part of, see

Ling’s report.

4. Committee Reports:

a. Business Retention & Expansion, Debby Gustafson reported the upcoming

Commencement on Sept 20th with a mixer following – community and board are invited

to hear the results of the BR & E survey and City of VH will give results of the recent

resident survey. Late August we partnered with Mike Brass of Colliers and did a Broker

Open House; it went well.

b. Investor Relations, Kyle Sommer reported there is a lot of planning going on. We are

trying to get more involved in the non-profit events and will hear more on this.

Communication moving forward is a big item – how do we communicate better with our

investors and all of the businesses in VH area in general. Helping be the glue for the

non-profits to build local adhesion to the group.

c. Workforce Action, Ling Becker – Cindy O’Donovan is the new chair of this committee

and have added two additional new members. The charter process we are going through

has been helpful in building new committee members. We sponsored 2 interns this

summer and we are sponsoring a 1 school-year internship. Success Stories continue to be

in the Free Press and trying to get copies of the Success Stories into the schools and this

is building content for the upcoming annual VHEDC business magazine – lots of positive

feedback. Phase 2 of the website will be the ability to have a Job Force section where job

openings can be posted; Ling usually gets 2-6 people a week that are looking for

employees. Cindy has put together an entire lineup for the HR group lunch meetings at

MadJack’s. The group hosted an event last month on millennials and how to market to

them.

d. Professional Education, Kris Diemer/Marty Welch not present; Ling reported on the

latest event held at IC Systems “Generations in the Workplace: What Motivates?” These

events have brought great feedback from people and the panels provide different topics

that are relevant. Next event is at Schwing on September 21st titled: Generations in the

Workplace: Building Creative Benefit Options; it will be a working session. Employers

are seeing the need to be more nimble for the different generations. Restarting Chamber

relationship begins next Tuesday – Train Your Brain for Success. Mike Bromelkamp

reached out for a speaker he has used in the past from out East – A Brand Bootcamp –

what makes your business different than anyone else; keynote speaker Mike Lasky. This

will be a ½ day session held on November 10th. The committee has been working with

four components of professional education and the local hotels have been most generous

in giving us their space at no charge.

e. Annual Dinner Committee, Marguerite DeFore/Nancy Zylla; Marguerite reported that

there are several sponsorship levels this year; we have Sell-Ahead Raffle tickets that were

signed out and we need all to help sell these. First prize is 2 Viking Tickets to the

Vikings vs. Lions game and $100 spending money. 2nd prize is a RCI Vacation

Certificate. We are in need of board members to help sell tickets, solicit auction items,

and we need board members encouragement to businesses to submit for any of the 3

awards we are presenting at the event. Finally, if board members have volunteers that

could help that evening with different things, we want our board members mingling with

those attending the event.

5. City of Vadnais Heights Update, Kevin Watson reported on several items identified in the report

sent electronically. Please review report for all the details. On a sad note, the city lost a valuable

employee, Public Service Supervisor, Joe Momsen last night. Gerry Urban asked if the city is

involved in Xcel in their state wide energy street light bulb exchange to LED; Kevin stated the

city is not involved but have talked a bit about the program with Colette; Kevin will follow-up

with Colette.

6. Info Item: Board Internal Documents, Becky Bjorgum reported that one of our action plans from

our April Strategic Planning was to create better internal documents for the organization. On-

boarding for new board members is one, and another thing is the by-law update for the past-

president to executive committee. All can click on the links to access the VHEDC Board of

Director Handbook. There will also be some forms that we use that are also available online.

Thanks to Becky for this well done document.

7. Action Item: Approval of Xceligent Software Subscription; Ling Becker reported a year ago we

approved the contract with Xceligent; what we bought at that time was a seat into the system to

see all the properties/emails and then we purchased an added feature to allow real time

information to feed into our website. The 2015 contract was for $3600. It is felt the added

feature is no longer needed as we can get this information through the “Location One Services”

without any cost. Marguerite DeFore moved to renew the Xceligent Subscription at a cost of

$190/month, and use One Location Services for the real time information feed to our website,

Becky Bjorgum 2nd; MSP.

8. Special Guest Update: Ramsey County Commissioner, Blake Huffman gave us an update from

Ramsey County: Ramsey/Washington County purchased the garbage/incinerator in Newport;

with this we need to continue to work with the business recycling. County – broke departments

into 4 sectors – Economic Development is one working closely with a handful of items – ED

Authority at the county level to fund things like loan programs for businesses, economic

gardening and will talk to the locals here to boost this area. County Library in Shoreview nearing

completion and should be done by October/November. VH is the #2 users of this library. Public

Works is also a part of the ED. TCap – former Arsenal property we in Arden Hills – Bob Lux

from Lattice to develop the property and it looks great and creating 3-4,000 jobs and bringing tax

money in. Property – West Publishing has been mostly demolished and a developer has taken

this from the county to envision what will be built there. County facilities master plan continue to

move – poverty and people needing services is not just St Paul and how to position buildings in

the future to bring services closer for these. VH Sports Center – great news that we have another

potential buyer; Gentry Academy is in the ground on the northwest corner; so all 3 properties will

be paying property taxes. Bob Morse asked how we can find out more about the Ramsey ED and

how Ling and the VHEDC can be involved. Commissioner Huffman stated he and the County

Staff will provide more information.

9. Adjourn Meeting: Marguerite DeFore moved to adjourn the meeting; Larry Raddatz 2nd; MSP.

10. August Meeting: Wednesday, October 5, 2016 at The Waters of White Bear Lake: 3820 Hoffman

Road White Bear Lake, MN 55110

Vision: To enhance economic development in the City of Vadnais Heights and the surrounding areas through the

attraction, retention, and expansion of existing businesses and industries. This will be accomplished by serving as a

conduit of economic development resources, building collaborations with strategic partners, and providing

advocacy.

To: VHEDC Board of Directors From: Ling Becker Date: October 5, 2016 Info Item: Executive Director Update Farmers Market: The Vadnais Heights Farmers Market completed its inaugural year. I would like to especially thank Gerry for all his support and help. Last week we hosted a Customer Appreciation Day on the last day of the market and the businesses and St. Paul Growers were very pleased with how the event turned out. I will be doing a season wrap up meeting with the St. Paul Growers in mid-November, and we’ll talk about how to continue to improve this new amenity to the community. Website: I am continuing to do additional website improvements. A few things have been added. We’ve added a featured property page that allows me to highlight properties and then push out to social media. There is also a new page called Business Connect that provides more real time resources, programs, and discounts for businesses that also allows for me to highlight and get out onto social media. Finally, the internal documents that we have been working are accessible to board members online. At the footer of the website, there is a Board of Directors Resources Page. It is password protected, and there will find all the Board Resources. The password is vhedc2016.

Senior Housing Day: I’ve helped the Senior Center, School District, and area senior housing businesses coordinate the October 1 Senior Housing Awareness Day. The cities of Vadnais Heights, White Bear Lake, White Bear Township and Hugo all did a proclamation. The day featured tours at almost 20 facilities with transportation available through NewTrax who is a VHEDC investor. The School District should be extremely proud of its efforts and the biggest

role I played was helping them partner with area businesses like Press Publication to make the event as successful as possible. Bylaws: The Executive Committee and I are continuing to look at the language. Because Erickson, Bell, Beckman, & Quinn are so generous with making our updates--we want to make sure we do our annual update all in one opportunity. I would anticipate bringing to the board a final draft of the updates for board approval at our November Board meeting. Budget: Brian and I are working on a draft 2017 budget. The Executive Committee is scheduled to comment on it on October 19th. A draft will be brought to the Board for a first review in November. We’ll make any adjustments based on feedback and bring a final proposed budget to the December Board meeting for final board approval. Looking Ahead:

I’ve been working with Innovative Office Solutions on an exclusive tour of the U.S. Bank Stadium. Innovative furnished the stadium with over 34,000 pieces of furniture. They have a unique relationship with the Vikings, and they are willing to help us bring VHEDC in on a non-public, unique tour opportunity. We are looking at a Thursday afternoon in November though nothing has been finalized.

Young Professionals: Emilie and I have started preliminary discussions about VHEDC sponsoring a Northeast Metro Young Professionals group. There are some great initial ideas and we are pulling a proposal together to be brought to the October Executive Committee meeting. We anticipate bringing something more formally to the Board at the November Board meeting.

In terms of big projects we will be wrapping up the dinner and move onto investor renewals, the 2017 edition of the Magazine, and the Northeast Metro Expo (April 30).

Community Events: It is a busy season for community events.

Thursday, October 6th: Taste of the Northeast (Northeast Youth and Family Services) Friday, October 7th: Annual Gala (Merrick) Friday, October 14th: Bear Legacy Event (White Bear Area Educational Foundation) Friday, October 14th: Opening Door Gala (Journey Home Minnesota)

Community News:

The City of Maplewood is weighing the merits of a contract with the White Bear Area YMCA to take over management of the entire building, located at 2100 White Bear Ave. This change would be an expansion of the partnership that began last year in which the YMCA started managing the MCC’s aquatics operations. The City will be making a decision in mid-October on this. The White Bear Area YMCA is an active VHEDC investor, and I have met with them on several occasions.

Lakeshore Players Theatre announced a leadership change and has hired an interim Executive Director.

Board Meetings: Thank you for your continued support through the year! The Board has been a committed group both to Board meetings, Committee meetings, and behind the scenes. Our remaining Board meetings this year will be Wednesday, November 2nd at Twin Cities Metro

CDC. Our last meeting of the year will be Wednesday, December 7th at North Oaks Golf Club hosted by F&M Bank. Costco has a Special Offer for Everyone that is a part of VHEDC!

Any business owner including your employee’s who are new to Costco and join through our Marketing Department at Maplewood Costco between October 3rd – October 9th will receive up to $20 in the form of a

Costco Cash Card!

Receive a $20 Costco Cash Card as a new Executive Member.

Receive a $10 Costco Cash Card as a new Gold Star Member. The Executive Membership offers an annual 2% reward, get paid to shop with qualified Costco purchases, up to $750 per year. (See your Costco representative for details, currently in Minnesota gas and stamps are NOT included)

The Costco Anywhere Visa card offers 4% gas(up to $7,000 then 1% after, annual), 3% dining out, 3% travel, 2% on all Costco and Costco.com, and 1% everywhere else. The Costco Anywhere Visa has NO annual fee, with the first 7 months of no interest! (See membership counter for full terms and conditions)

With a Costco membership you can enjoy great savings on thousands of high-end brand name products and services at more than 500 warehouse locations worldwide. In addition to offering highest quality products at lowest possible prices, each warehouse offers a variety of convenient member services such as our travel program, Fax-N-Pull program, gas program, gas station, pharmacy, bakery, meat, deli, 1-hour photo, hearing aid department, optical department, tire department and 24-hour shopping at www.Costco.com!

The Gold Star/Business member Costco Membership is only $55 per year, and Executive Membership is an additional $55 upgrade fee per year(Backed by our risk-free 100% satisfaction

guarantee). Membership includes a FREE Household Card. (A Household Cardholder refers to either a spouse or a family member 18 years of age or older living at the same address)

Maplewood Costco will be holding a Special Reception for all business owner’s and their employee’s at 1431 Beam Ave. Maplewood, MN 55109 from 6P.M. to 8P.M. on October 5th with amazing food and tours! ( Bring in this flyer between the dates above to receive special. Must have flyer, I.D., and company name. Offer Expires October 9th at 6P.M.)

Sincerely,

Thomas Jellison- Executive Coordinator 1431 Beam Ave. Maplewood, MN 55109

Phone #: (612)-486-1756

Fax #: (612)-486-1742

Email: w01021mkt03@costco.com

Vision: To enhance economic development in the City of Vadnais Heights and the surrounding areas through the attraction, retention, and expansion of existing businesses and industries. This will be accomplished by serving as a conduit of economic development resources, building collaborations with strategic partners, and providing advocacy.

To: VHEDC Board of Directors From: Debby Gustafson Date: October 5, 2016 Board Item: BR&E Committee Update BR&E Project Update: The BR&E project hosted its Community Commencement Meeting on Tuesday, September 20 at 3:30 pm. The mayor welcomed the group, we had the chance to thank our sponsors, and then various folks presented on the different priority projects that have come out of the project. Here is a a link to the Summary Report. The University was impressed with our efforts, and this project has had the benefit of much community support as well as the ability to leverage the existing VHEDC committee structure to accelerate the initiatives. Garceau Property: Ling updated the committee on her efforts to assist Kevin Watson and the City to identify possible development projects to the Garceau Property. We are grateful that Mike Brass has been willing to assist in this. Mike is reaching out to potential housing developers while the City has received interest from senior housing developers.

Digital Billboard: Ling has been working with owner of the electronic billboard along I35E on the east side just south of 694. It is currently digital on one side. The owner is moving ahead with making the billboard digital on the other side as well. Several businesses in the City Center have expressed interest in having more access to digital advertising.

Heights Plaza: Pylon signs are up on the corner and the new City monument sign is complete on the corner of Hwy 96 and Centerville Road.

Upcoming Business Openings: Starbucks: October 3, 2016 Punch Pizza: first half of November

Website: We continue to add to our website various business resources. There is now a featured property section which posts information about properties and then the info is distributed via social media.

2017 Initiatives:

Grow MN Retention Visits: Continue with business retention visits on a monthly basis now that we are moving to the implementation phase on our project with the U. Ling and Ed Jambor (Lake Area Bank) went on a visit last week. If you know of any businesses that we should visit, let Ling know.

Signage Code review in partnership with the City Quarterly Business Council (BR&E Project initiative)--the committee will be looking at

content and format Continuing conversations about street lights and marketing the City with the new

opportunities of banners/hanging baskets. Ling is pulling together information on how those things are generally paid for in other communities, and anticipates utilizing the City Center Task Force to make some recommendations.

I35 Construction: We are nearing the end of most of the construction on I35E

VADNAIS HEIGHTS BEGINS BUSINESS RETENTION & EXPANSION (BR&E) IMPLEMENTATION ACTION

Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation (VHEDC) announces six economic development priority projects resulting from its BR&E survey research with 45 local businesses.

Media Contact: Michael Darger, Extension Specialist in Community Economics and BR&E Director, Extension Center for Community Vitality, St. Paul, 612-625-6246 or darger@umn.edu

Vadnais Heights to assist its local employers with workforce connections and enhance communications for economic development success

VADNAIS HEIGHTS, Minn. (9/21/2016)—Vadnais Heights employers depend on nearly 9,000 employees commuting into the community daily. The Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation (VHEDC), in partnership with the city of Vadnais Heights, has launched several projects to ensure that local businesses continue to have skilled employees.

Economic development experts have identified workforce as a key issue facing Minnesota communities. “With thousands of skilled baby boomers transitioning out of the workforce and Minnesota's labor market nearing its full employment potential, the outlook is increasingly tighter workforce availability in the coming years,” said Laura Kalambokidis, University of Minnesota Extension economist who also serves as the Minnesota state economist. “Minnesota communities and their partners working with employers to address workforce needs can be valuable for retaining and expanding those businesses.”

Vadnais Heights conducted their own BR&E research with 45 local businesses. The community organized and oriented area professionals to conduct in-person research interviews to local employers earlier this year. The survey data were analyzed and a research report was prepared by the University of Minnesota Duluth and Extension. Many issues were identified. One noteworthy finding is 53 percent of the interviewed businesses plan to modernize or expand their buildings or equipment in the near future. Extension’s BR&E expert Michael Darger notes that Vadnais Heights and VHEDC are in the mainstream of American city economic development practice. “A recent national study of over 700 cities revealed that 62 percent conduct BR&E surveys with their businesses and 82 percent are partnering with chambers or economic development corporations like VHEDC. But not every community is as ambitious as Vadnais Heights was in engaging a broad-based task force of community stakeholders to engage with local businesses.”

The Vadnais Heights BR&E task force decided on six priority projects to respond to business concerns and needs (see below). Three of the projects directly respond to workforce issues and three other projects will enhance communications and understanding among businesses, local organizations, and inbound commuters. The projects have recently begun and will be developed over time. 1. Workforce Resource Connections Event - hosting a one-stop event to surround employers with key contacts and info. from a variety of resource providers. 2. Workforce Resources Promotion – developing web-based and publication types of communication tools with workforce information and ideas. 3. Connect workers to community resources, amenities, and events - finding additional ways to connect commuter employees of Vadnais Heights businesses to the community in which they work. 4. Create a marketing plan for the City of Vadnais Heights - including community outreach, economic development, and collaboration. 5. Create a newsletter and webpage with informational business topics - filling the gaps in communications with area businesses. 6. Establish a task force related to communication between city and businesses - creating engagement with businesses using various methods.

For more information on business retention and expansion from the University of Minnesota Extension: http://bre.umn.edu For additional information about the Vadnais Heights BR&E initiative contact: Ms. Ling Becker, Director of Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation, Vadnais Heights, lingbecker@vhedc.com, and 651-485-9532. The University of Minnesota shall provide equal access to and opportunity in its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

Vision: To enhance economic development in the City of Vadnais Heights and the surrounding areas through the attraction, retention, and expansion of existing businesses and industries. This will be accomplished by serving as a conduit of economic development resources, building collaborations with strategic partners, and providing advocacy. To: VHEDC Board of Directors From: Kyle Sommer Date: October 5, 2016 Board Item: Investor Relations Update Events:

BR&E Commencement Meeting and Mixer: Tuesday, Sept. 20 from 4:30-6pm at Jimmy’s.

Annual Dinner: November 1, 2016 VHEDC Mixer/Toy Drive: Thursday, December 15 at Jimmy’s--last year we had a great

turnout at this event and hope to have the same. Go Local App: While I was not able to sit in on the presentation, a few others were able to hear a presentation with DoGoodTech. Ling is gathering their thoughts, doing some more research and will bring more conversation about this after the Annual Dinner and into 2017.

BR&E project:

The BR&E project resulted in conversations looking at the ways we market and communicate resources and our services. Also, there were conversations about how to connect businesses/employees to more of the amenities and activities of the local community.

Annual Report:

Committee will be giving input on the 2016 Annual Report at our upcoming meeting this month and will then forward it onto the Executive Committee. We plan to have the Annual Report available at the Annual Dinner.

Investor Drive

Just after the Annual Dinner folks will be getting information about renewing their investment. While we have rolling investment terms, a large number of our investors are up for renewal at the end of the year.

2017 Initiatives:

2017 Vadnais Heights Business and Community Profile--the is will launch in December for a March publication date again.

Joint quarterly business newsletter with the City Provide some support for non-profits to come together for lunch/roundtable discussions 2017 Philanthropy Day event

Vision: To enhance economic development in the City of Vadnais Heights and the surrounding

areas through the attraction, retention, and expansion of existing businesses and industries. This

will be accomplished by serving as a conduit of economic development resources, building

collaborations with strategic partners, and providing advocacy. To: VHEDC Board of Directors From: Ling Becker Date: October 5, 2016 Board Item: Workforce Action Update Internship Program: The VHEDC sponsored two interns this summer. One student from Century completed an internship at Micra Manufacturing in Hugo. Another student from White Bear Lake High School just completed his internship at Structural Wood. This student was featured in our most recent Workplace Success Story. See attached. We now have our first school year intern at IPS Worldwide this fall. She is a marketing student doing 150 hours for 4 credits. Success Stories: We continue to run Success Stories and receive positive responses. If you know of any businesses that would be interested in being featured, let me know. The business will get a feature in the local paper but also will be highlighted in the next magazine as well. We’ve now featured: Fresh Paint, DuFresne Manufacturing, and Fairway Collision. This next month Innovize has agreed to be featured. Website: We continue to work on adding workforce resources to the webpage. This is an ongoing project, and figuring which ones to highlight and get out to folks with the least amount of effort is a challenge. The committee will discuss doing an outreach to area businesses and figuring out who in each business is the best to receive workforce related resources. Phase 2 of the website project is a job board. The committee had great discussion as to how to implement this. We are excited about the opportunity to connect employers with candidates on a more local level. A foundational aspect of the job board feature will be company profiles that will allow businesses to showcase who they are and what they do. More effort will be devoted to this after the Annual Dinner on my part. New Apprentice Grant: If you know of businesses willing to set up an apprentice program. This new program might be a good resource. I attended a webinar on this and if you know anyone interested, please have them contact me.

Minnesota Apprenticeship Initiative (MAI) In October 2015, Minnesota was awarded a $5 million grant through the U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. DOL) as part of its American Apprenticeship Initiative to expand registered apprenticeship as a workforce development tool in five industries:

advanced manufacturing, agriculture, health care services, information technology, and transportation.

Throughout the next five years, Minnesota will engage more than 100 employers in developing registered apprenticeship programs to recruit, train and retain 1,000 new apprentices in 30 occupations. Grants are awarded to approved employers to assist them with costs associated with developing registered apprenticeship programs. The grant is a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI).

Apply for a MAI Grant

MAI is seeking new employers to expand or create new registered apprenticeship programs in the industries of advanced manufacturing, agriculture, health care, information technology, and transportation. Through a new grant, employers may receive up to $5,000 for each new MAI registered apprentice to assist with apprenticeship support costs. The application deadline is 5 p.m. on Oct. 26, 2016.

Vision: To enhance economic development in the City of Vadnais Heights and the surrounding areas through the attraction, retention, and expansion of existing businesses and industries. This will be accomplished by serving as a conduit of economic development resources, building collaborations with strategic partners, and providing advocacy.

To: VHEDC Board of Directors From: Kris Diemer/Marty Welch Date: October 5, 2016 Re: Professional Education

Summer Session Wrap-Up: The Committee hosted the final event of its summer series: o Generations in the Workplace: Building Creative Benefit Options at Schwing

America on Wednesday, September 21 from 7:30 to 9:00 am.

White Bear Partnership: After taking the summer off, the Professional E.D.G.E. series with White Bear Area Chamber restarted in September and will run monthly on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at the Country Inn and Suites.

o The next one is on Tuesday, October 11th about Goal Setting with Erik Therwanger. See flyer attached.

o We are going to continue the partnership in 2017. It makes sense to continue to partner to increase attendance, share costs of hospitality, and organizing effort.

o Ling and Tiffany Abrams (representing the WBACC) have met and are working on a line up of speakers for 2017.

Hot Topics Lunchtime HR Group: Cindy O’Donovan and Joy Vander Heiden of Schwing are working to develop a local HR peer group centered around the Hot Topics and Burning Questions event series. For the fall, these will be held during the lunch hour at Mad Jacks. October session is set for Wednesday, October 12 entitled: Are you ready

for the FLSA/Overtime Changes? See attached for information.

½ Day Session Maximizing Your Company’s Value: November 11th from 8:30-11:30 at the Fairfield Inn and Suites

o Mike Bromelkamp approached Ling with an opportunity to bring in a ½ day training session with a speaker Mike Lasky. Mike is a nationally recognized expert on increasing company value by showing privately-held companies how to become brand-centric. He has over 30 years of experience in intellectual property and currently works for the Schwegman law firm, conducting BrandBoot Camps around the country. He recently offered a new book called The Good Brand. See attached flyer for more information. If you or a business you know would like a discount on this, let Ling know.

Hot Topics & Burning Questions – September – December 2016

Purpose: An opportunity for business leaders and those with HR responsibilities to connect and learn

and share infor atio a out tre ds i the orkpla e a d effe ti e est pra ti e solutio s.

NEW DATE: 2nd Wednesday of the month

NEW TIME: 11:30am-1pm

NEW LOCATION: Mad Jacks Sports Café, Vadnais Heights

TOPICS

Wed 10/12 - Are you ready for the FLSA/Overtime Changes? New regulations go into effect December 1 2016 that may change the way you classify, pay and schedule your

employees. A simple tool and checklist will make this easy for you to prepare for compliance. We will also discuss

creative scheduling options that help you manage your business and add flexibility for your employees.

Wed 11/9 - ROI on Recruiting and Automated Tracking Systems: What’s working for you/against you? With all the discussion about data, metrics, time to fill and automated application and tracking systems, are you

improving your processes and getting the results you need? No atter hat syste s you do or do ’t ha e i place, there are some simple measures you can put in place to determine return on investment in your recruiting

activities.

Wed 12/14 - Your Wish List for the New Year: Reflections and Realties As the year winds down and we wonder how it passed by so quickly, it is healthy and wise to pause and reflect on

here e are, hat e’ e do e, if e’ e a o plished hat e i te ded, and are making the strides we want to

in our lives. It’s ore tha just a he klist. Usi g i dful ess a help us i pro e our effe ti e ess a d e joy our journey along the way.

Each meeting starts with a 10-15 minute presentation on a specific topic, including a handout with an

overview summary of the related issues, suggested actions, and simple, easy-to-use tools you can use

and implement with your business. Following is 45-60 minutes of open floor dialogue and informal

networking.

Sponsored by the Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation (VHEDC) - no cost to you except

for your lunch. Coordi ated y the VHEDC Workfor e Co ittee a d fa ilitated y Ci dy O’Do o a , M.A., SPHR, SHRM-SCPMA, local business owner of Right4 Your Business, LLC.

Next season will 11:30 on Wednesday October 12 at Mad Jacks Café in Vadnais Heights. Register

through the VHEDC website at https://www.vhedc.com/calendar/

Vision: To enhance economic development in the City of Vadnais Heights and the surrounding areas through the attraction, retention, and expansion of existing businesses and industries. This will be accomplished by serving as a conduit of economic development resources, building collaborations with strategic partners, and providing advocacy. To: VHEDC Board of Directors From: Marguerite DeFore/Nancy Zylla Date: October 5, 2016 Board Item: Annual Dinner Update Silent Auction: If you have not been contacted about donating a silent auction item, please consider making a donation toward the event. Contact Ling for details. The Committee has been working to contact donors and all donations are to be dropped at at Twin Cities Metro CDC. VHEDC Awards: Ling is working with Brian Glad, a professional videographer that Joe Vruno connected us with. They are in the process of making the business videos with the majority of the footage being shot this week. At the dinner we will present three awards.

Keith Warner Standard of Excellence Award VHEDC Business Achievement Award VHEDC Partnership Award.

Fundraising: We did not do a Silent Auction at the Golf Event this year. At the Annual Dinner this year we are doing a hybrid of sponsorship, sell ahead raffle and silent auction. This newly added components take pressure off of soliciting for silent auction items which appears to be a positive direction which we can re-evaluate after the event. Sponsorships: We are trying something new with event sponsors.

Book Sponsor ($4000): MidWestOne Bank Gold Sponsor ($1500): Peoples Bank Midwest, F & M Bank, Comcast Silver Sponsor ($500): American Family Insurance-Kim Bennett Bronze Sponsor ($250): Children’s Discovery, BizRecycling

Sell-Ahead Raffle: Please continue to help us sell raffle tickets. First Prize: Two Tickets to Vikings vs. Lions game on Sunday, November 6. Limo transportation to and from the game and $100 spending money.

Second Prize: RCI Vacation Certificate. Good for 7 day vacation at an Endless Vacation Rentals affiliated resort. Vacation must be booked by May, 27, 2017 and used within one year of that date.

Attendance: We currently have over 200 signed up (last year attendance was 240). We hope to get to 275 if possible. Ling is pushing to get as many folks to sign up by Oct. 17 as we’ll have to make a determination about how many books to purchase at that time.

What can the Board do?: Plan to come, invite others Help get silent auction items. Donations will be accepted at Twin Cities Metro CDC or

arrange a pick up with Ling. Help sell raffle tickets Anyone you can suggest that would be a great volunteer. We would like to have the

board doing less work and mingling with attendees.

Vision: To enhance economic development in the City of Vadnais Heights and the surrounding areas through the attraction, retention, and expansion of existing businesses and industries. This will be accomplished by serving as a conduit of economic development resources, building collaborations with strategic partners, and providing advocacy. To: VHEDC Board of Directors From: Ling Becker, Executive Director Date: October 5, 2016 Board Item: Board Nomination/Election Process Requested Actions:

Approval for the creation of the 2016 Nominating and Election Committee Approval to amend bylaws to increase board size to 25.

Background: The VHEDC bylaws allow for up to 20 board members at a given time. We currently have 16 individuals serving on the Board of Directors. Also, Gerry Urban serves as an Advisor.

There are 9 board members seeking re-election. There would be 2 open seats for the 2017-2019 term. We have potentially 3 additional folks interested. I am recommending that increase the

board size in the bylaws to reflect up to 25 board of directors. Creation of a Nominating and Elections Committee: The Nominating Committee would bring a ballot to the Board for approval at the November Board meeting along with presenting the election process at that time. It is suggested that the Nominating Committee be made up of people who are not running for election (Ling Becker, Gerry Urban, Sean O’Brien, Larry Raddatz have agreed to serve in the capacity).

Term Expires Dec. 31, 2016 Willingness to serve another term

Term Expires Dec. 31, 2017

Kevin Whelan Yes Larry Raddatz

Becky Bjorgum Yes Debby Gustafson

Sean O’Brien No Colette Jurek

Eric Johannes Yes Emilie Berg

Marty Welch Yes Brian Deuel

Kris Diemer No Kyle Sommer

Nancy Zylla Yes Michael Spellman

Bob Morse Yes Linda Reber

Wayne Kazmierczak Yes Thomas Voegele

Marguerite DeFore Yes

Jill Funck Yes

Other Candidates: I have potentially three additional board candidates:

Mary Buerkle (Buerkle Honda) Chris Olson (GDO Law) SEH representative in discussion

Timeline:

October Board meeting: Create a Nominating Committee November Board meeting: nominations are put forth by the Nominating and Election

Committee By November 7th, ballots are sent to all investors. Ballots must arrive at City Hall by 4pm on Tuesday, December 6th or brought the Annual

Meeting (on December 7th) which is also the VHEDC December Board Meeting. Increasing Board Size:

We are at a pivotal point in the organization and having more capacity will help accelerate our efforts. After all the work with the new Strategic Plan, it is great have a mix of folks with differing lengths of history with the organization. While I don’t think we will aim to have 25, I think having that extra flexibility would be worthwhile. With everyone so busy, I think this will also continue to increase our capacity and impact.

Vision: To enhance economic development in the City of Vadnais Heights and the surrounding areas through the attraction, retention, and expansion of existing businesses and industries. This will be accomplished by serving as a conduit of economic development resources, building collaborations with strategic partners, and providing advocacy. To: VHEDC Board of Directors From: Ling Becker Date: October 5, 2016 Action Item: Permission to purchase D & O Insurance. Background: In June 2016, the VHEDC decided to purchase a General Liability policy. It has been brought to my attention that we are also missing a Directors and Officers Liability policy as well. Our GL policy covers against accidents, etc that could occur at VHEDC events, etc. A Directors and Officers policy provides different coverage for protection for board members. I have found that this policy is very standard for volunteer boards. I contacted several Chamber groups including the White Bear Area Chamber to discuss. Tom Snell highly recommended that we have this type of policy and indicated it is standard for all Chamber boards. I’ve included a short article that explains a bit why a policy such as this is important. Chris Olson with GDO Law indicated interest in joining the Board. He has been helping me look at this policy. I am requesting board action to allow me to do a final review of the policy with Chris and purchase a Directors and Officers policy from American Family Insurance in the amount of $800 per year for a $1,000,000 coverage. The Executive Committee did evaluate this and recommends approval. If we need additional justification for this, here are some things to consider as I researched the need for this: D&O liability insurance indemnifies directors and officers of nonprofit organizations for

damages and defense costs arising from lawsuits alleging various “wrongful acts.” The policy also reimburses nonprofit corporations for any indemnification that their bylaws or state laws

require them to provide to the directors and officers. Many people are reluctant to serve as

directors or officers of nonprofit organizations if the organization does not provide this much-

needed insurance, since they otherwise could be forced to pay damages out of their personal

assets. The primary role of nonprofit directors and officers is to maintain financial stability and provide

the necessary resources and environment to accomplish the goals and purposes of the

organization. The unique nature of nonprofit organizations presents directors and officers with

difficult challenges in performing this role.

Many for-profit corporations are subject to external forces, which tend to monitor corporate

performance and dictate standards of behavior. Reporting requirements and oversight by

regulatory agencies also serve to identify and guide for-profit corporate performance and

behavior. These external forces are largely absent for nonprofit organizations. Accordingly,

nonprofit directors and officers must implement their own internal information system and

performance criteria in order to timely and effectively evaluate the progress of the organization

and the abilities of its management.

Because nonprofit directors and officers are frequently subjected to less external scrutiny than

their for-profit counterparts, a greater tendency may exist to become complacent, reactive and

perhaps careless in the fulfillment of their fiduciary role.

The potential for inadvertent misconduct is further heightened by the director’s and officer’s commitment to the nonprofit agency. For many, service as a nonprofit director or officer is a

part time activity with little or no compensation.

In addition, the resources of many nonprofit organizations are insufficient to provide directors

and officers with the most desirable support. As a result, decision-making may be hindered by

incomplete information, insufficient time and inability to carefully investigate and document

relevant factors.

Vision: To enhance economic development in the City of Vadnais Heights and the surrounding areas through the attraction, retention, and expansion of existing businesses and industries. This will be accomplished by serving as a conduit of economic development resources, building collaborations with strategic partners, and providing advocacy. To: VHEDC Board of Directors From: Ling Becker Date: October 5, 2016 Info Item: Youth Board Participation Background: A growing trend in non-profits has been increasing youth participation. Due to our strong partnership with area schools, I’ve been interested in pursuing how we could development a program for youth to learn more about economic development. I’ve been working with the business teacher at South Campus and discussing some ideas with him as to how we could expose youth to more of our work. We discussed the idea of having a youth participant on the board. Additional Thoughts:

I am not recommending that we necessarily add a youth board member (voting). Rather, we should explore the opportunity to connect with area youth who may be interested in learning more about business, their local community, etc.

Membership on a board of directors is not the only option for an organization seeking the value and benefits associated with youth leaders. If a youth board member is not the best or appropriate course of action at this time, it is worth considering other ways to implement youth leadership at the organization. Alternatives to board membership include: Creating a youth advisory board; Having the youth join an already existing Advisory Board; Having the youth join a committee; Establishing a mentor-mentee relationship between the youth and an individual in a

leadership position at the organization; Assigning special projects or assignments to the youth that utilizes his or her skills

and perspective; or Having the youth regularly attend and participate in board meetings (as a nonvoting

guest).

Next Steps:

Research how youth can be involved on non-profit boards Have the Board make a decision as to the appropriate role If we do move forward, work with the business teacher to develop a process for

identifying students

Set up parameters, role description, and mentoring

I suggest that if the Board is open to exploring these ideas, I work with the Executive Committee

and bring back more thoughts on this topic to the Board.