Minutes - Council - 02/22/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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they are paying for. She felt it was a waste of tax payer money because there are no tangible results so she wouldn’t be supporting this. Mr. Turok replied the manufactural cohort is regional and goes beyond the bounds of the Chamber. He responded to the comment about Ramsey getting less money by stating there are a lot of businesses that don’t have the time and resources to put people in a position to do the grants because it a tremendous amount of work. He stated Ramsey businesses are benefitting from that. He explained Mr. LeTourneau didn’t need to be present tonight as he is the contracted employee who is the director of manufacturing. As the president of the Chamber, Mr. Turok wanted to be present to represent the cohort. Councilmember Musgrove thanked the Councilmembers who had thoughtful questions and the staff who have provided the answers. She stated before them was a work plan for 2021-2022 that is much like previous work plans where the Council has asked for more objective information. She referenced the regional training center mentioned in the staff report and stated that the Anoka- Hennepin District is already a training center with regard to the area that Ramsey has influenced in their STEM program, which is expanding in the school with several of the things he had mentioned. She noted that will happen without this manufacturers cohort and Ramsey is already paying for that within the school district budgets. She stated that Mr. Turok and Mr. LeTourneau were asked about meeting locations and how businesses could find out about meetings and Mr. Turok had stated that meetings were not listed on the Chamber site; she felt they should be. She questioned the lack of transparency regarding meetings, memberships, recipients of the grants limited by leadership of the cohort, Mr. LeTourneau, or the Chamber. She suggested to the Council that they are not getting full disclosure about what this program is about. She asked if any of the 18 grants went to businesses outside of the manufacturing industry. Mr. Turok replied it is a manufacturing pipeline grant so in order for a business to qualify they have to be a manufacturer. He stated there are other grants that deal with other areas. He stated that he isn’t trying to hide anything and the manufacturing group is notified of the meetings with 26 Ramsey manufacturers being part of the email list and a broader list they have. Mr. Turok stated it should be on the website and will be. He stated it is for manufacturers, by them, they set the program of what the cohort does, and their job is to engage it, which they do. Councilmember Musgrove expressed concern that the funds were awarded to entities versus directly to businesses. She stated with the awards going directly to the businesses, they receive more money spent on hiring and training. She asked if that isn’t what is wanted. She stated the pipeline grant website states that with the tax payers money that go to the Chamber, there isn’t as much transparency and when going to the pipeline website, every business that got the award and Anoka Chamber of Commerce. She stated an email was received on which cities received grants, not businesses. She felt that would have been an objective piece of information to include in the cohort plan to give to the Council. She stated she finds it disgusting that year after year, Mr. LeTourneau is asking for money from the cities of Ramsey and Anoka but there wasn’t evidence that other Chamber cities are formally asked in the same way to share the burden of the tax payers. She stated she would not be supporting this request. City Council / February 22, 2022 Page 6 of 34