Jill Schramm/MDN Brekka Kramer, Minot Area Chamber EDC president, speaks to the City of Minot’s Economic Development Plan Review Committee Friday. Listening at center is Mark Lyman, economic developer for MACEDC, and at left is Brian Billingsley, Community and Economic Development director for the city.

The challenges surrounding retail recruitment generated considerable discussion as a city task force continued its review of Minot’s economic development efforts Friday.

The city has been concerned about getting the most out of data collected through a contract with its consultant, Retail Coach, City Manager Harold Stewart told the Economic Development Plan Review Committee. The city contracted with Retail Coach to not only collect data but analyze it and help follow through with potential business opportunities, he said.

“To be blunt, I don’t think they performed that, that well for us as sold and promised,” Stewart said. “We’ve been doing this for three years. I would like to be able to come back and give you greater success stories off of this than what we’re reporting now. But we have had things in the works.”

Stewart said most of the development success has been in coffee shops, fast food and carwashes because those are areas in expansion modes. However, other types of retail businesses also are investigating coming to Minot or are looking for land, he said.

An interview process to select a new retail analytics and recruitment company is scheduled in about two weeks, Stewart said.

“I’m confident that other companies can help us access and analyze this data, but I think it’s going to be on us to do that extra legwork with our staff,” Stewart said of the business recruitment piece. “We relied on Retail Coach to do that for us before, which I don’t think has worked very well.

“It takes a lot of work and effort to keep the momentum going in this arena,” he added. “I watched a lot of communities just say, ‘Well, we’re just going to sit back and when we’re healthy enough and strong enough, they’re going to come here on their own. In the retail world, that doesn’t work very well, especially in a rural area like North Dakota. We have to be very proactive in this arena.”

“We are working very hard to market the community across the board,” MACEDC President Brekka Kramer told the committee. “We know that, as a community, the more we bring in, the better off we all are, because we’re building out a broad core base.”

However, she said, MACEDC isn’t necessarily going to recruit retail.

“That’s probably not the best use of our resources,” Kramer said. “I don’t foresee us, today, going after a quick-serve restaurant that competes with our existing market, knowing that there’s workforce challenges in that space.”

However, a retail business that would attract workforce and build up the sales tax base might be the type of business whose recruitment MACEDC could support, she said. MACEDC also works with existing businesses looking to expand or add franchises.

“It’s so fun to see the businesses and individuals that are investing into our community, and then how that ecosystem is working together. We’re seeing a number of them investing in multiple things and so we don’t want to take away from that,” Kramer said.

Blessum said it is hard for him to support an active role for the government in business recruitment.

“It doesn’t — at least for me — fit my vision for what government does,” he said. On the other hand, he acknowledged it is difficult to envision how individuals in the private sector might take that on.

Stewart said economic development requires partnerships, and different partners lead at various times, depending on the issue. The city has led with regard to the retail sector, he said.

“I wouldn’t say we’re doing a Grade A job on this over the last several months. We keep it going. We keep pushing when we have time, but it’s not getting the time or attention it probably warrants,” Stewart said.

Council and committee member Paul Pitner questioned whether a permanent community economic development committee, with some city staff membership, might be created to take on the functions.

Committee member Beth Feldner with MACEDC’s board noted the expertise lies with those who work regularly on economic development issues.

“I struggle to see how a community committee could be more informed than the people who are already at the place to do that,” she said.

The review committee plans to continue its discussion at its next meeting on Friday, Jan. 24.

City to launch land developer training

An initiate to generate interest and train local land developers is scheduled to launch this spring.

The area doesn’t have many local land developers, Brian Billingsley, Minot’s Community and Economic Development director, told the city’s Economic Development Review Committee Friday. He stressed the need to train the next generation of land developers to grow Minot.

A study about two years ago found more than 1,000 platted lots that lack infrastructure for construction.

“We need these developers to pick up these slots and take them to the finish line, make them shovel ready for new house development,” Billingsley said.

At the time of the study, there were about 300 buildable lots. With new tax incentives, more than 100 of those lots have been built on since then, he said.

City council member Mike Blessum questioned whether training developers is a city responsibility and whether the training eventually should be turned over to a private sector entity.

Billingsley responded he is the only one pushing the effort at this time, but he would support another organization if one wants to step in.

“The city plays a role in this because we need to educate the development community on what they need to do,” he said. “We need to educate them on our rules and explain to them what they need to do to become successful.”