04/02/15 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Motion carried. Voting Yes: Members Hardin, Riley, and Williams. Voting No: None. Absent: Members Brunt, Burandt, and Steffen. Abstain: Vice Chairperson Skaff. Vice Chairperson Skaff abstained from the vote as he was not at the last meeting. 4. EDA BUSINESS 4.01: Introduce New Anoka County Open to Business Program Economic Development Manager /Assistant City Administrator Brama introduced Kathleen DuChene, Business Advisor with Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers. He stated that this program was reviewed briefly at the last EDA meeting. He stated that he will be asking a question regarding additional marketing for this initiative at the end of the presentation. He also stated that staff is generally in support of the program the County has put together. It fills the gap of expertise that City staff does not have and staff thinks it is a valuable resource for the City's businesses. Ms. DuChene stated that she is the Business Advisor for Anoka County and works for MCCD. MCCD has a contract with Anoka County under the HRA department. It has been around for almost 30 years. It is a community -based organization that deals with affordable housing, public policy and the Open to Business Program. The Open to Business Program started about five years ago in the City of Brooklyn Park and is now in 67 communities. It is rolling out in Anoka County and will be opening in Washington County towards the end of the year. The Open to Business Program is an extension of the City's economic development efforts. They would like the program to be the City of Ramsey's program and to use MCCD's brand and information. They are asking the City to advertise and market the program. If the cities don't do that in Anoka County, MCCD cannot effectively evaluate the program. Anoka County's funding of the program will be discussed at an April 8th meeting in Coon Rapids. The cities' marketing of the program, the cost and who will pay for next year will be discussed. Ms. DuChene explained Matt Brown from Coon Rapids came to MCCD and asked them to start the program in Coon Rapids. It was successful and he suggested rolling it out in Anoka County. Ms. DuChene explained that she has set up office hours in seven communities and spends 2 '/2 hours each month working with walk -in clients or scheduled appointments. Ms. DuChene provided an overview of the program. She explained that the program can provide assistance with cash flow projections, financial information, bookkeeping; and writing a business plan, or clients can be directed to other professionals such as accountants and attorneys. She explained her own background. For the last 14 years, she has owned companies with her husband that were successful and prior to that she worked for Target in human resources, store operations and finance for about 13 years. She joined MCCD in February of 2015, but is not new to small business and feels she can effectively coach small businesses. She stated that the program asks a lot of questions of clients to coach and counsel them. Success may mean the business is not feasible and that is also considered a success. She stated that the program does offer a financing option for businesses and provided Board members with a handout explaining their loan products. The loan products are similar to a bank, but the program considers itself an exception lender. The loans the program provides may get a business owner ready to get an Economic Development Authority /April 2, 2015 Page 2 of 9