PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Contact: Noel LaBine 763-477-3086

State of the Cities event held at Albertville City Hall

 

The Wright County Economic Development Partnership held a State of the Cities event at the City of Albertville Community Center on June 10 th . The cities of Albertville , Buffalo , Clearwater , Hanover , Monticello , and St. Michael presented. There was a buffet lunch that was served at 11:30a.m.; about 50 people were in attendance.

Short, Elliot & Hendrickson (S.E.H.), an engineering firm, was the sponsor for this event and George Tourville made some opening remarks about the variety of projects their firm has done with cities throughout the region.

Marc Weigle, Chairman of the Partnership for 2010, welcomed everyone, also.

Mayor Ron Klecker from the City of Albertville also welcomed everyone to the City of Albertville and proceeded to talk about Albertville . They have a “shovel ready” industrial park with six empty lots, which vary in size up to 3 acres. There is a concerted effort at this time to find local match dollars for the $5 million federal government contribution to the construction of additional ramps at the I-94 and Co. Rd. 19 intersection. This project will support the existing retail establishments at the Outlets of Albertville, and also support more growth along the County Road 19 corridor, which would support this infrastructure and the local community.

Mayor lee Monk from the City of Clearwater talked about the positive developments in their community. Clearwater has been blessed with a $670,000 grant for a new lift station and forced main updated. Now that it is completed it can handle 740,000 gallons a day, which is triple their former capacity. Their was an old gas station off of State Highway 24 just south of I-94, which has been demolished and the site is now shovel ready for a new user. The newest business in town is a kayaking and canoe rental company, which is also an outfitter for equipment needs as diverse as that needed for the Boundary Waters. So far this year, the city of Clearwater has issued three new building permits.

Megan Barnett gave the presentation about the development activity in Monticello . There has been some activity with 9 new homes built in 2009, the opening of the new Pet Smart store, and a few other new tenants in some of the retail strip malls. Moreover, Dahlheimer Distributing is looking into increasing the size of their facility in the Monticello Industrial park . The FiberNet Monticello project is now about 45% complete with 60% of the customers along the newly installed lines subscribing to the city service. The installation is moving along at a pace that expects completion in the fall of this year. Currently a Zoning Code rewrite is underway that will reorganize the code and reduce its size and allow it to be accessible on the website. Also, the community is undergoing a BR&E program through the University of Minnesota Extension service and the results of that effort will be revealed at a public meeting in the fall. In the downtown area a major improvement will occur at the intersection of Highway 25 and County Road 75 (Broadway) where both road improvements and the demolition of some old buildings will make way for a new Walgreens Pharmacy. The Downtown Redevelopment and Revitalization effort will include a study and a steering committee to initiate some positive actions.

Marc Weigle presented for the City of St. Michael and pointed out that although the community has continued to grow and currently has about 15,500 residents, the number of new residential buildings has gone from 430 in 2002 to 18 in 2009. However, other new additions are occurring with two major new additions in the New Town Center . That includes a newly opened 72 unit assisted living facility called, The Legacy of St. Michael. Also, a new St. Michael City Center will be completed at the end of the year and will include a new city hall, library, and senior center. In the old downtown area there soon will be a new Walgreen's Pharmacy and a new apartment called Cornerstone Village . New companies that have moved to town include Cinch Systems, which now has 14 employees. Cinch Systems started in St. Michael last April as a result of the efforts of the Wright County Economic Development Partnership (WCEDP) and the deal was made possible with loans from the City EDA, WCEDP, the Initiative Foundation, and the Great Northern Bank. Another new company that recently closed on their acquisition of the 47,000 square foot former Plymouth Plumbing building is U.S. Water Services, which will be bringing over 50 new jobs in corporate administration, engineering, and sales.

Dan Buchholtz, city administrator for the City of Hanover , talked about their recent development activity. He announced the $500,000 grant for the Beebe Lake Regional Trail with the City of St. Michael , which is being installed this year. Also, progress will be made on the Historic Bridge to Lake Independence Park Trail, which is being funded primarily with funds from the Met Council and Hennepin County . A local Business & Retention Survey has recently been done in the community to assess the reaction of the local businesses to the recent recession. Another local effort called “The Hanover Beautification Project” involves an active group of community leaders, who are making plans to improve the impression of the community. There also is a Marketing and Branding committee, which has started this year. Finally, Buchholtz put in a pitch for the annual Hanover Harvest Festival, which takes place in August.

Buffalo Mayor Fred Naaktgeboren started out by explaining that his last name means “born naked” and also explained that you never should call off a parade. He told a story of how that had happened in Buffalo years ago, because there had been a tornado spotted in Annandale . The parade was called off, but the bad weather never came. Since then one of his mottos has been, “If it looks like rain, make them march anyway.” Then the Mayor of Buffalo talked about some of the issues in his community. For one thing they have a 35% vacancy rate in the retail stores in downtown Buffalo . There have been a number of grandiose plans with no money and they continue to search for ideas to stimulate the downtown area. Another issue is the fast growth in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 forced the city to expand their sewer and water infrastructure. This new infrastructure is taking a considerable amount of money each year for debt service, which was originally had been planned to be paid with from the continued addition of new building. Unfortunately, the building slowed down considerably and the city had had to make cuts in other areas to make the bond payments. On top of that insult, the state government has reneged on its promise of Local Government Aid (LGA), so the city has taken a $1.3 million shortfall of funds in one year alone and almost $3 million in the last three years. This has created many problems with trying to balance the budget.

Nevertheless, the City of Buffalo is able to make its mandatory obligations and also realize some improvements within its boundaries. The recent work being done to expand the airport runway and add a taxi lane is being paid primarily with federal funds. This work has been badly needed and will create future economic opportunities for the airport industries and the City of Buffalo . Also, the addition to the birthing Center at the hospital is planning to open in August with 5 labor and delivery rooms and 14 post partem rooms. This new state of the art addition will attract more young mothers. The only way Allina would agree to this addition was if the local community could raise $1 million. With the leadership of Karla Heeter, the local foundation has raise $850,000 so far. This has been due in large part because of the generosity of the Allina Clinic and local doctors, who started the drive off with a $250,000 contribution.

 

   The Partnership exists to enhance the business climate of Wright County and to help create more jobs in Wright County . The strategies the Partnership uses to achieve its mission include being an information resource and finding technical assistance; aiding business development through Business Retention & Expansion visits, providing financing resources, and providing business information and training through seminars and workshops. Also, the Partnership markets Wright County to business site locators, and maintains an excellent website, which includes a listing of commercial and industrial property available in Wright County (see www.wrightpartnership.org ). The Partnership also assists with Workforce Development and has gathered economic statistical information, which is available on its website.