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County Parmers. This would help to keep the project in Anoka County. Also, Anoka County <br />Partners would send an alert out to cities in the parmership regarding projects it receives. <br /> <br />Member Elvig stated this parmership is a great idea, but he has concerns with the competitive <br />side of this. He expressed concern that the County will be in a predicament at times as to who <br />gets the leadership role from a community standpoint and who will get first stab at a project. He <br />stated although the City would like to be in the spirit of cooperation, Ramsey has not done well <br />historically against its neighbors and being politically powerful. Ramsey lost a mil site, and they <br />are having a difficult time on their road accesses. Only now is the City looking at CMAQ funds, <br />which is one of the first regional accomplishments in a number of years. <br /> <br />Member Kiefer inquired how competing cities would be arbitrated. Mr. Piggott replied no <br />community would receive first crack at a project; everyone would get the same chance at the <br />same time. As far as arbitrating, the client decides where they want to go. He explained in the <br />past, as a project comes to a community and if that community is not able to get the project done, <br />it has ended up in another region. From the perspective of Anoka County Partners as a regional <br />group, their focus is that projects remain in Anoka County. <br /> <br />Economic Development Coordinator Sullivan requested Mr. Piggott discuss the information that <br />Ramsey would not receive if they were to choose not to become a member. Mr. Piggott replied <br />if Ramsey determined not to be a member, their data would still be included in County <br />information that is distributed; however, by being a member there will be times when Ramsey is <br />featured on the web page and featured in the literature. <br /> <br />Member Kiefer stated a lot of things are happening in Ramsey, and there will be things that will <br />happen to make it an ideal location for a Fortune 500 company once the bridge is in and <br />Highway 10 is expanded. He inquired about Mr. Piggott's success rate with organizations he has <br />been involved in with bringing Fortune 500 companies to the table. Mr. Piggott replied with his <br />previous job they were able to bring Target to Virginia. He has had national and international <br />experience dealing with Fortune 500 companies. He explained Anoka County Partners has been <br />taken down to ground zero, and is currently starting up administratively. He advised it is not <br />cheap for the City to get in front of Fortune 500 companies. The City needs to go to these <br />companies time and time again, which involves a lot of travel and contact. <br /> <br />Economic Development Coordinator Sullivan commented image will be a key thing to work on, <br />and will play a large role with companies considering Anoka County. For example there are <br />traffic segments on the radio that refer to the log jam in Coon Rapids as the Redneck Bottleneck. <br />He asked if Anoka County Parmers will work with organizations to try to clean up this type of <br />image. Mr. Piggott responded in the affirmative and explained public relations will be a part of <br />the partnership's overall strategy. <br /> <br />Economic Development Consultant Mulrooney advised regional organizations can tackle some <br />of these issues, and a city by itself will not change this type of perception. Also, a city can be <br />impacted by the success of an adjacent city. Statistics show that of every suburban community <br />in the metro area, 30% of the Iow and moderate income population is located in Anoka County. <br /> <br />Economic Development Authority / February 8, 2006 <br /> Page 3 of 8 <br /> <br /> <br />