PBNovember 2009 by Prairie Business Magazine

The first and only magazine covering the Dakotas and Minnesota

November 2009

Rural Development

Smaller communities search for ways to attract business growth

South Dakota researchers look deeper into rural population trends Gambling bet pays off for Deadwood, SD CHANGE SERVICE SERVICE REQUESTED REQUESTED CHANGE PRAIRIE BUSINESS BUSINESS MAGAZINE MAGAZINE PRAIRIE PO BOX BOX 6008 6008 PO GRAND FORKS, FORKS, ND ND 58206-6008 58206-6008 GRAND

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Our North Dakota roots are strong, and their reach is long. MDU Resources Group’s diversified businesses operate across most of the United States, helping build a strong American infrastructure. • We provide natural gas, oil and electricity that power business, industry and our daily lives. • We provide pipes and wires that connect our homes, factories, offices and stores to bring them to life. • We build the transportation network of roads, highways and airports that keeps our economy moving. At No. 473 on the Fortune 500 list of U.S. businesses, we are proud to be the largest publicly traded company headquartered in the four-state region of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

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Mike Jacobs, Publisher Ryan Schuster, Editor Scott Deutsch, Sales Manager Tina Chisholm, Production Manager Jen Braaten, Marketing Coordinator Beth Bohlman, Circulation Manager Kris Wolff, Layout Design, Ad Design NATIONAL ACCOUNT SALES/SALES MANAGER: Scott Deutsch: 701.478.1139 Grand Forks Fargo/Moorhead SALES: Rick Killion: 701.232.8893 Sioux Falls Fargo/Moorhead Lin Smithwick: 701.280.9386 Fargo/Moorhead Brad Boyd: 800.641.0683 Bismarck western ND/SD EDITORIAL: Ryan Schuster: 701.780.1107 Editor rschuster@prairiebizmag.com Editorial Advisors: Ann Reich, North Dakota Bankers Association, Bismarck; Hiram Drache, Historian-In-Residence, Concordia College - Moorhead; James Ferragut, Vice President, First International Bank Fargo,ND; Tom Shorma, President, WCCO Belting - Wahpeton; Karen Froelich, Professor, College of Business Administration, NDSU - Fargo; Bruce Gjovig, Director, Center for Innovation, UND - Grand Forks; Steve Rendahl, Associate Professor, UND School of Communication - Grand Forks; Matthew Mohr, president/CEO, Dacotah Paper Company - Fargo; Julie Fedorchak, Communications Manager, North Dakota Department of Commerce - Bismarck, ND; Mary Batcheller Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation, Fargo, ND; Jeff Hanson, Director of Public Relations, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls; Megan Olson, President/CEO, Watertown (SD) Area Chamber of Commerce

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Prairie People Staff Report

24 Women managers Q&A series Staff Report 28 Cover Story: Rural communities search for ways to attract business growth By Ryan Schuster 36 Researchers draw lessons about population loss from persistent rural communities By Janie Franz 38 Prairie Pillar: BankWest By Alan Van Ormer

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Address corrections: Prairie Business magazine PO Box 6008 Grand Forks, ND 58206-6008 bbohlman@gfherald.com

42 Historic preservation aids downtown redevelopment David Shultz 44 Gambling bet pays off for Deadwood, SD By Loretta Sorensen

Next Month

The December issue will include a look at some successful businesses and business leaders in the Northern Great Plains and what has helped them become successful. The issue will include the magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20 under 40 list of young professionals and a look at the growth and diversification of the Sioux Falls economy.

46 Central Minnesota looks to incubator facility to create jobs By Nancy Leasman 48 Industry Progress: Higher Education Staff Report

On The Air

A look at downtown Madison, SD (photo courtesy of Lake Area Improvement Corporation).

18 Community profile: Grand Forks, ND / East Grand Forks, MN By Ryan Schuster

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On The Cover

Stability equals strength Matthew Mohr

14 Minnesota movie theater chain provides personal touch By Ryan Schuster

Prairie Business magazine is published monthly by the Grand Forks Herald and Forum Communications Company with offices at 808 3rd Ave. S., Ste. 400, Fargo, ND 58103. Qualifying subscriptions are available free of charge. Back issue quantities are limited and subject to availability ($2/copy prepaid). The opinions of writers featured in Prairie Business are their own. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork are encouraged but will not be returned without a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Join Ryan Schuster and host Merrill Piepkorn on Tuesday, November 10 at 3 p.m. on any Prairie Public radio station to hear a discussion about rural economic development efforts. To hear past Prairie Business radio shows, visit www.prairiepublic.org/radio/hear-it-now.

Volume 10 No. 11

52 The economy's new normal Jack Geller

54 Prairie Air Lin Smithwick Prairie Business

Stability = strength

By Matthew Mohr

trong organizations tend to have stability in revenue, profits, employment, benefits and other factors over time. Variability in revenue or profits in the public sector generally creates wide swings in a stockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market price. Swings in the price of a stock, in comparison to the overall market, causes the stock to be considered more risky. When a financial institution sees wide swings in the cash flow of a business, it is much less likely to loan the business money and will generally demand better collateral or higher interest to compensate for the greater risk. Employees want a level of security in regards to their pay, benefits and employment. Constant adjustments in pay, benefits, working conditions and staffing levels will foster uncertainty and a much less productive work force. One of the great benefits of private enterprise is the ability of management and ownership to keep wages, benefits and employment stable during trying economic times. Large corporations have in part created the reputation of not caring for their employees because of their ease in cutting wages, benefits and employees during downturns. Such practices lead to poor attitudes and a much less success-oriented work environment. Business owners who work with their employees over time tend to outlast those who are quick to cut when times get tough. Mohr is president and CEO of Dacotah Paper Company, a 100-year-old Fargo-based business. He writes occasional articles for the Federal Reserve bank, has authored several books and is a self-avowed angel investor. Mohr can be reached at mmohr@dacotahpaper.com.

Expires November 30, 2009

November 2009

Expires November 30, 2009

PRAIRIE people

(Editor's Note:Prairie People is intended for short clips and photos of recent events in ND, SD and Western MN. Please e-mail your photos and information for consideration to rschuster@prairiebizmag.com.)

(1) American Airlines adding Chicago flights in Sioux Falls, Fargo, Rapid City

American Airlines recently announced that it will begin daily flights to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport from Sioux Falls, Fargo and Rapid City in 2010 on regional carrier American Eagle. American will add three daily roundtrip flights to Chicago from Sioux Falls and Fargo and two seasonal daily flights to Chicago from Rapid City during the summer.

South Dakota leads nation in business tax climate

The Tax Foundation’s 2010 State Business Tax Climate Index found that South Dakota once again had the nation’s most business-friendly tax system. The index measures the competitiveness of the tax systems in the 50 states and ranks states according to corporate income, individual income, sales, property and unemployment insurance taxes. Wyoming was second and Montana was sixth in the rankings. North Dakota was 25th and Minnesota was 43rd, three spots ahead of Iowa.

(2) North Dakota State’s Chapman to resign as president

Joseph Chapman, the president of North Dakota State University, announced his resignation in mid October. Chapman’s resignation will take effect on January 2. Chapman has been NDSU’s president for 11 years and has been credited with helping to increase research spending, boosting enrollment, helping to lead the school’s move to Division I athletics and increasing fundraising efforts. Chapman said he had originally planned to retire in the spring. But he said he announced his retirement earlier than planned after questions about cost overruns on NDSU’s new president’s house, compensation and benefits and the use of university foundation funds created distractions that he said made it difficult to do his job effectively.

Bismarck, Fargo, Rapid City, Sioux Falls ranked among top cities

Four cities in the region were ranked in the top five in a national list of the best smaller metropolitan areas for small business startups. Bismarck was second, Fargo was third, Rapid City was fourth and Sioux Falls was fifth in a recent FORTUNE Small Business magazine ranking of the best places in the nation to start a business. Grand Forks, ND, was also 13th in the rankings.

(3) Fargo’s downtown named one of nation’s best neighborhoods

Downtown Fargo has been named one of the country’s top 10 neighborhoods by the American Planning Association. The organization mentioned the historic character of downtown Fargo and successful revitalization efforts as reasons for the city making the list. Fargo’s downtown has been transformed with the help of more than $100 million in public and private investment, renovating and restoring older buildings and creating a vibrant downtown community.

Minnesota Small Business Administration office approves $431 million in loans

The U.S. Small Business Administration district office in Minnesota had approved 1,235 7(a) and 504 loans supporting $431 million in loans in the state as of October 13 since the Recovery Act was signed into law. Since March, Minnesota’s average weekly loan volume had increased by 120 percent in dollar volume compared to January and February volumes. Minnesota’s SBA office ranked seventh in the nation in the number of 504 Certified Development Company loans approved with 230 loans worth $115 million in fiscal year 2009.

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(4) Forbes speaks at Sioux Falls chamber’s annual meeting

Steve Forbes, the chairman and CEO of Forbes Media and the editor in chief of Forbes magazine, was the featured speaker at the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting on October 20. Forbes addressed chamber members and guests during the chamber’s 103rd annual meeting at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Forbes spoke about how to navigate the current economy, grow a business and be successful.

North Dakota leads nation in personal income growth

A strong agriculture industry helped North Dakota lead the nation in personal income growth during the second quarter of 2009. North Dakota’s personal income increased by 1.5 percent in April, May and June, according to estimates released last month by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The national average was a 0.2 percent growth rate, the first national personal income growth in a year, although the U.S. average’s increase was offset by inflation.

November 2009

(5) North Dakota Heritage Center expansion planned in Bismarck

A future 97,000-square-foot addition will nearly double the size of the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck. The expansion project, which is expected to start in the summer of 2010 and be completed by 2012, will increase its exhibit and collection space, add state-of-the-art research technology, improve public amenities and add additional office and support space. The addition will also move the main entrance to a prominent corner location and will feature a limestone exterior. The North Dakota Heritage Center’s expansion has been designed by Minneapolis-based HGA Architects and Engineers in partnership with Lightowler Johnson Associates, which has offices in Fargo and Bismarck. (continued on page 10)

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South Dakota communities, state recruit medical device companies

The South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development has joined forces with 11 communities across South Dakota to help bring more businesses to the state and has specifically targeted medical device manufacturers as one of their top priorities. Leaders from the 11 communities and the governor’s economic development office attended the Medical Design and Manufacturing trade show in Minneapolis in late October as a unified group. Representatives from the cities of Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Brookings, Aberdeen, Madison, Mitchell, Pierre, Vermillion, Watertown, Yankton and North Sioux City attended the trade show as well as economic development officials from Lincoln and Minnehaha counties in the Sioux Falls area.

(6) University of North Dakota launches nation’s first UAS program

The University of North Dakota’s John Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences has become the nation’s first educational institution to offer an undergraduate major in Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations. The university’s new program that was launched in August, addresses increasing demand for qualified pilots and sensor operators in the UAS field of aircraft that are controlled remotely by personnel on the ground.

Brainerd, MN, site receives DEED shovel-ready certification

The 34-acre Brainerd Industrial Park in Brainerd became one of the first three communities in Minnesota to achieve Shovel Ready Certification from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) last month for new business and industry development sites. Shovel-ready sites refer to commercial and industrial sites that have completed all the planning, zoning, surveys, title work, environmental studies, soils analysis and public infrastructure engineering before offering the site for sale. The sites also must be under the legal control of a community or in partnership with a third party to qualify.

(7) South Dakota’s Herseth Sandlin hosts Vilsack for rural issues forum

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (right), a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota, hosted U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (left) for a rural issues forum at a farm near Bath, SD, in October. An estimated crowd of 300 attended the forum, which touched on issues ranging from Farm Bill implementation and economic issues impacting livestock producers to biofuels production and ethanol regulations.

Sanford USD Medical Center, MeritCare named top hospitals

Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls and Fargo’s MeritCare Medical Center were recognized as two of the nation’s top hospitals when they were named 2009/2010 Consumer Choice Award selections for the fourth year in a row by the National Research Corporation last month. The list identifies hospitals chosen by consumers as exhibiting the highest in quality and image in more than 300 U.S. markets. A total of 3,200 hospitals were identified by consumers in the survey that polled more than 250,000 households representing 450,000 health care consumers in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia. The winning hospitals ranked the highest in Core Based Statistical Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.

(8) New North Dakota Trade Office location dedicated in Fargo

Governor John Hoeven participated in a dedication ceremony early last month to mark the opening of the North Dakota Trade Office’s new office in Fargo. The trade office’s headquarters is located in North Dakota State University’s Richard H. Barry Hall. The North Dakota Trade Office is also a partner in North Dakota State’s Center for Global Initiatives and Leadership, which will leverage the resources of the trade office and university in an attempt to expand the state’s international business opportunities and better prepare students for the global marketplace.

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November 2009

Additions and renovations planned for Fosston, MN, medical facility

The First Care Medical facility in Fosston, MN, will undergo renovations to integrate the existing clinic with the hospital. The 18-month phased project is currently in the pre-construction phase and full construction is expected to begin in the spring. The project will include adding a new surgery suite, changes to the registration area for the combined clinic and hospital, relocating and expanding labs and relocating the medical records area. The Bemidji, MN, office of the Kraus-Anderson Construction Company is providing master planning assistance and general contracting services for the project.

(9) New Target retail store opens in Sioux Falls

Minneapolis-based Target Corporation opened its second retail store in Sioux Falls last month. The new Target is located in the Shoppes at Dawley Farm development on the city’s east side near the intersection of highways 42 and 11. Kohl’s, Subway and Famous Footwear have also committed to join the retail development. The new Target has nearly 135,000 square feet and includes a pharmacy, photo department, grocery aisles and a Starbucks coffee shop inside the store. The new Sioux Falls location is one of 26 new Target stores that held grand opening celebrations on October 11. (continued on page 12)

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(10) Williston State College breaks ground on new technical education facility

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A groundbreaking ceremony was held in late October for the new Career and Technical Education building on the Williston State College campus. The facility will be used as the center for a number of trade technology programs, including welding and diesel technology. It will also house new programs like residential construction that are currently not available in the Williston area. All programs at the facility will also be available to high schools in northwest North Dakota as dual credit. The $6 million construction project will be funded with $5 million from the Permanent Oil Tax Trust Fund and $1 million in local funds. EAPC Architects Engineers is the architect for the project. The building is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2010 fall semester.

AE2S ranked among best civil engineering firms to work for in survey

Grand Forks, ND-based Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services was recently ranked sixth overall in a listing of the “Best Civil Engineering Firm to Work For” by management consulting and research firm ZweigWhite and engineering media specialists Stagnito Media. AE2S was also ranked as the second-best civil engineering firm to work for in the small firm category, which includes companies of fewer than 100 employees. AE2S, which has locations in Grand Forks, Bismarck, Fargo, Williston, ND, Moorhead, MN, Minneapolis, Great Falls, MT, and Kalispell, MT, was the only Midwestern firm represented in the “Top Ten Civil Engineering” category.

(11) Construction begins on Sanford Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls-based Sanford Health broke ground for a new heart hospital in Sioux Falls in early October. The 205,000-square-foot Sanford Heart Hospital will have 58 inpatient beds, cardiovascular operating rooms, catheterization labs and clinic and outpatient services. The new heart hospital will also include physician offices, surgical services, and consultation services. The goal of the new facility is to make heart care more easily accessible to patients with a number of services offered in one location.

South Dakota’s newest nursing home under construction

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A groundbreaking was held in mid October for the Sanford Mid-Dakota Medical Center in Chamberlain, SD. The facility will be the first nursing home built in South Dakota since 2001. The Sanford Mid-Dakota Medical Center, which will have room for 44 residents, is expected to be completed by late 2010. Total investment in the project is more than $5 million, including nearly $850,000 raised from a local capital campaign.

(12) Quin Wind opens office in Sioux Falls

Quin Wind, a general contractor for wind energy projects, has opened up an office at the South Dakota Technology Business Center in Sioux Falls. Quin Wind recently announced its first project — a $40 million project for Idaho Wind Energy, LLC that will be located near Hagerman, ID. The project is expected to be completed in May 2010. Quin Wind will oversee construction on the project. Tim Schut (12), the company’s chief operating officer, has been visiting with national wind project developers in an attempt to drum up additional business.

Williston, ND, ranked among the best places to retire

USA Weekend Magazine has ranked Williston, ND, 13th on a national listing of the top 20 cities to retire. The listings examined the benefits of smaller towns that displayed great value. The rankings were based on recreation, weather, health resources, crime and cost of living.

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(13) Senator Dorgan hosts research corridor summit in Fargo

Jill Tarter (right), the director of the Center for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, was the keynote speaker at the Milestones & Horizons conference on October 12 in Fargo. The conference was hosted by U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (left) of North Dakota and was designed to create, innovate and celebrate the progress made in the Red River Valley Research Corridor initiative. The Red River Valley Research Corridor has helped to attract more than $586 million in federal research since Dorgan initiated it nearly seven years ago. Dorgan said North Dakota was ranked third by the National Science Foundation in growth for federal research funds between 2003 and 2007. North Dakota was also the third-fastest growing state in federal obligations for science and engineering from fiscal year 2002 to fiscal year 2006.

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(14) Ottertail, MN, building project gains LEED silver certification

An operations center in Ottertail, MN, recently earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for using sustainable building principles. Fargo’s Shultz & Associates served as project architect on the project that also won a Green Building of America Award. The operations center serves as a centrally-located command post for the sheriff ’s department and as an emergency operations center for disaster recovery.

Minnesota mom and pop movie theater chain focuses on personal touch Owner Bob Moore at Moore Family Theatres' East Grand Forks, MN, location

By Ryan Schuster

hen Bob Moore offered to turn a former craft store in the Riverwalk Centre mall in downtown East Grand Forks, MN, into a first-run movie theater, city leaders were hopeful, but didn’t know exactly what to expect. The River Cinema 12 movie theater has been a rousing success, driving more foot traffic downtown and helping lead to the opening of an Italian restaurant in the enclosed mall. In September, the 12-screen movie theater welcomed its 700,000th customer in less than two years of operation. The theater has averaged about 1,400 customers a day this year — roughly double its owners’ conservative attendance estimates before it opened. “The theater has been a big surprise,” says East Grand Forks Mayor Lynn Stauss. “It brings people from all over the region.” The movie theater has been so successful that owner Bob Moore plans to add an additional three to four screens within the mall and says he might eventually turn the entire mall into one giant theater after he purchases the mall from the city in the future. “The theater is one of the better uses of that facility,” says Jim Richter, executive director of the East Grand Forks Economic Development and Housing Authority, which owns the mall. “These guys had a good background in theaters and entertainment. They did it right. It’s been a draw and it’s helped bring more focus to our redeveloped downtown.” The East Grand Forks movie theater is the most recent addition to the family-run Moore Family Theatres chain that also includes one-screen theaters in Fosston, MN, Blackduck, MN, and the two-screen Grand Theatre in Crookston, MN. Unlike most chains, the theaters are run like a collection of mom-and-pop businesses with the family seemingly more concerned with providing an affordable, enjoyable night at the movies and continuously reinvesting profits than pocketing a hefty profit.

Reinvesting profits

The family spent more than $2 million converting a former Ben Franklin Crafts store in the East Grand Forks mall into a movie theater and has sunk thousands into major renovations at the chain’s other theaters.

November 2009

“You’ve got to keep reinvesting and putting it back in,” Moore says. “Customers deserve that. We just take a living and put the rest back into the business. That’s what we’ve always done. That’s what separates us.” Stadium seating was added to the Grand Theatre in downtown Crookston that Moore refers to as “the money pit.” The former opera house’s balcony was also removed, the lobby was reconfigured to add a concession stand and insulation was added to the century-old building. “It was crazy,” says Moore’s son, Brian, the manager of the Grand Theatre. “We put a ton of work into it. We spent five weeks just removing the balcony. It’s a whole new theater. It has new seats, stadium seating, everything. But it still has that old-time feeling. It’s very unique. The ceilings are 30-feet high. There is horsehair plaster everywhere.” But care was taken in the renovation of the Grand Theatre and other theatres retain the history of the buildings. The renovation of the circa 1949 Fosston theater, which was overhauled from top to bottom before reopening in 2001, preserved unique Disney paintings on the walls of the theater while soundproofing the room. The Crookston theater, which the family claims is the nation’s oldest continuously operating movie theater, was kept open during renovations to keep its streak alive. “It’s fun to try to preserve history,” Bob Moore says. “You feel like you’re part of the community. That’s where we differ from the big boxes that make them all the same and are just boxes showing movies.” The opening of the River Cinema 12 in East Grand Forks with cheaper admission prices and added amenities two years ago led the Carmike Cinemas national chain to match River Cinema’s ticket prices at its two Grand Forks theaters. Carmike’s Columbia 4 theater in Grand Forks switched from a first-run to a dollar theater format after River Cinema 12 entered the market, before the Columbia 4 was eventually forced out of business. The Moore Family Theatres are the opposite of corporate. Family members and employees personally greet customers. The theaters are cleaned after every movie, the bathrooms kept tidy. Ticket prices are affordable, ranging from $3.50 to $4.50 for matinees and from $4.50 to $6.50 for evening shows. Instead of buying tickets before entering the (continued on page 16)

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Grand Theatre, Crookston, MN

Grand Theatre, Crookston, MN (continued from page 14)

theater, patrons purchase movie tickets at the counter at the same time they buy popcorn and can get free refills at a separate soda dispenser instead of having to wait in line again in the middle of a movie. “We’re personal,” Bob Moore says. “We treat you like you’re in our home. People don’t like lines. We do everything we can to get you in and get you seated. We try to go beyond what everyone else does. We care. That’s where I think we’re different.” Wood paneling adorns the lobbies of the East Grand Forks, Fosston and Blackduck theaters. Inside comfortable reclining seats, stadium seating and digital sound and pictures greets customers. Moore says he is looking into adding more features to the East Grand Forks location to make customers feel like they are part of the movie. The possible new features could include changes in temperature, adding artificial scents and shaking seats that correspond with parts of the movie as well as specialty speakers that would give the illusion of an airplane flying overhead or footsteps behind them, for example. “It would be so real it would almost make you want to look up or look behind you,” Moore says. “We’re never going to be done putting new stuff in,” he says. “There’s constantly new technology coming out. I love new stuff.”

Family affair

Moore, 60, and his wife, Jan, who co-own the business, were living in Blackduck when they decided to buy and revive the town’s movie theater in 1981. “I’d like to say there was a lot of thought behind it,” Moore says with a laugh. “But we just drove by and saw the for sale sign in the window. I called the owner and thought it sounded like a fun thing to do.” Moore used his construction background to gut the building, renovate the theater and build a restaurant right in front of the theater that served home-cooked pizza. “We’ve been running it ever since,” Moore says. “If you can make a little one-screen, first-run theater work seven days a week in a 560population town, you can make it work anywhere.” Moore says for the theater’s first 15 or 20 years in business it charged between $1 and $1.50 for tickets. The focus on personal attention combined with the relaxed atmosphere of a northwoods cabin and affordable prices did what many told Moore couldn’t be done – lure moviegoers to tiny Blackduck from more populous areas. “It became very popular,” Moore says. “My thought was even if it was in a small town people from Bemidji would drive north. Everyone goes 16

November 2009

River Cinema 12, East Grand Forks, MN

to Bemidji for everything. If you make it a value, families would drive north to see us. It worked very well.” The family repeated the process by buying and rehabbing theaters in Fosston, Crookston and East Grand Forks, smaller cities between Grand Forks, Thief River Falls, MN, and Bemidji, MN. The couple’s children all grew up working in the family’s theater and other assorted businesses. “We had a lot of businesses growing up,” Brian Moore says. “We had two restaurants, a video store, a couple bars. My dad was always into buying stuff, fixing it, making a business work. The theater is where we all started.” After the children grew up they moved into higher positions within the chain. Sons Brian and Kevin manage the Crookston and Fosston theaters, respectively. Daughter Penny Stai manages the East Grand Forks theater and daughter Robin Mistic manages the original Blackduck theater. Two of Moore’s high school-aged grandchildren also help out at the Blackduck theater. Bob and Jan Moore have begun handing over more and more control of the day-to-day operations of their theaters and have started to travel more, of course taking in a movie while on vacation, both for the enjoyment and to see what others in the field are doing. “We all enjoy what we do,” Moore says. “It’s in our blood. I’m handing over more and more control. But I’ll probably be involved until the day I die.”

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Grand Forks, ND / East Grand Forks, MN

Border community

transformed after flood By Ryan Schuster

tall pointed stone monument in downtown Grand Forks marks the height reached by floodwaters throughout the northeastern North Dakota community’s history. No marks are higher than the 54 feet registered by the 1997 flood. The monument stands beside the city’s flowing Greenway of grass-lined walking and bicycle paths surrounded by scenic views of the downtowns of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, MN, connected by the Sorlie Bridge. The flood caused billions of dollars of damage, destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses and led to a long, arduous rebuilding process. But an influx of federal funding aided in the building of a new flood protection system and helped both cities rebuild and make needed infrastructure improvements. “What we have done downtown would have taken 25 years or longer had we not had the flood,” says Hal Gershman, president of the Grand Forks City Council and a local businessman. “There would have been one project here, another one there. The waters kind of washed away all the silt so we could see what was there and all the possibilities. We didn’t have a choice. We had damage, we had to repair it.” Many businesses moved out of downtown following the flood. New apartment and condo buildings have sprung up in their place alongside a growing number of bars and restaurants in downtown Grand Forks. Across the river, the flood cleared the way for a boardwalk of restaurants in East Grand Forks, a nearby Cabela’s outdoors outfitter store and a popular movie theater. Grand Forks has experienced a building boom in the last decade, including the opening of the Alerus Center events center, the attached Canad Inns hotel complex, the Ralph Engelstad Arena and a number of hotels and big box stores on the city’s south side. Since the flood, the Grand Forks Industrial Park has added an LM Glasfiber wind turbine blade manufacturing plant, a Cirrus Design Corporation aircraft manufacturing facility and an Amazon.com customer support center — three of the city’s largest employers. The recession has had an impact on the community, forcing a long-term plan to develop more than 500 acres on the south end of Grand Forks into commercial, retail and housing within 20 years to be scaled back and delayed. But there are still plenty of signs of growth. “The Grand Forks area has pretty much sat out this recession,” says Barry Wilfahrt, president and CEO of The Chamber of Grand Forks and 18

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Grand Forks, ND

Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History!

www.amazon.com/careers Prairie Business

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East Grand Forks.“You can point to agriculture, the Canadian retail trade, the University of North Dakota, the oil boom in the western part of the state and the state’s relative financial health. Throughout the recession Grand Forks has stayed aggressive in its outlook towards major projects and the economy. Commercial building projects that have been on the drawing board are still happening here, while in other parts of the country they have been shelved.”

Continued growth

Julie Rygg (above), executive director, Greater Grand Forks Convention and Visitors Bureau

Barry Wilfahrt (right), president and CEO, The Chamber of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks

A new airport terminal under construction at the Grand Forks International Airport is expected to open in 2011. The new two-story, 48,000-square-foot terminal will be more than twice the size of the current facility and carries a price tag of between $21 million and $22 million. “This will be a jewel of a front door to the community,” says Patrick Dame, who took over as executive director of the Grand Forks Regional Airport Authority in March. “It will provide a wow factor for people when they get off the airplane that a community of this size can provide such a nice facility.” The airport, which is served by daily round trip flights to and from Minneapolis on Delta Air Lines, added Allegiant Air direct flights to and from Las Vegas a year ago and this month will begin service to PhoenixMesa Gateway Airport. An additional 129 acres have also been acquired to expand Grand Forks’ industrial park to the south. “It provides an opportunity to be more responsive to opportunities, rather than having to broker a deal for land whenever a company is interested,” says Keith Lund, vice president of the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corporation. “Now we have the land.” East Grand Forks’ industrial park is also nearly full and could be expanded in the future. The Philadelphia Macaroni Company pasta plant in Grand Forks announced expansion plans earlier this year. The University of North Dakota recently opened a new student housing complex and is going ahead with planned construction and renovation projects. The university is also exploring the possibility of adding a presence in downtown Grand Forks.

East Grand Forks economy remains strong

Hal Gershman, president, Grand Forks City Council

Reduced state funding has had an impact on East Grand Forks, but city leaders say there are many bright spots as well. There are a lot of good things going on here,” says Jim Richter, executive director of East Grand Forks’ Economic Development and Housing Authority. “Canadian trade has been very healthy for us. We have a steady workforce that shows up for work and works hard. Agriculture is very strong. Our banks have been insulated from the economic downturn.” The Cabela’s and new River Cinema 12 movie theater have continued to be big draws, bringing more traffic downtown. “Cabela’s draws from quite a distance,” says East Grand Forks Mayor Lynn Stauss. “They have increased in sales every year. The theater has been a good draw for our community. We also have the restaurants there so people can have a night of eating out and watching a movie. We have the state campground and the trails on the Greenway. It just adds to the enjoyment.” Northland Community and Technical College’s East Grand Forks campus was recently transformed during a $9 million expansion and renovation project. “We have completely redone our campus to look to the future, to be more collegiate, to focus more on students,” says Kent Hanson, Northland College’s vice president of academic affairs and student services. “It’s a modern facility.” East Grand Forks-based Ideal Aerosmith recently added a research and development location at the University of North Dakota and is in the process to adding an additional 20,000-square feet of space in a former carpet store in Grand Forks. “We think there’s more room for us to grow,” says John Mohn, the company’s executive vice president. “We plan to grow the business significantly in the next five years. We want East Grand Forks and Grand Forks to be the core of that business. There is a very good workforce here.”

Steady economy

The area’s economy is helped by the steadying influence of the

November 2009

(continued on page 22)

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Klaus Thiessen (above), president and CEO, Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corporation Robert Kelley (below), president, University of North Dakota

University of North Dakota, the Grand Forks Air Force Base, Altru Health System and the region’s strong agricultural and manufacturing bases. The cities have also continued to diversify their economies in recent years. “Our community has many of the benefits of a thriving community without the ill effects of larger cities,” says Dave Molmen, CEO of Grand Forks-based Altru Health System, which employs more than 3,500 in a service area that covers parts of northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. “What we have to offer for our size is amazing without a lot of the hassle and danger that people face in some parts of the country.” The University of North Dakota is one of the region’s largest employers and its more than 13,000 students have a significant impact. “The university is a major economic engine, not just for the cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, but for the state of North Dakota and the region,” says Robert Kelley, the university’s president. The Grand Forks-East Grand Forks area has long been a regional shopping draw for residents in smaller towns in northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. A favorable exchange rate the last few years has led to the return of Canadians coming to Grand Forks and East Grand Forks to shop. “The Canadian dollar is strong right now,” says Julie Rygg, executive director of the Greater Grand Forks Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’re trying to figure out how to continue to develop our retail and services industry so they stay here longer and shop more.” The Grand Forks Air Force Base is transitioning from an air refueling tanker base to one that specializes in unmanned aircraft systems. The change in missions has led to a decline in personnel at the base during the transition, but staffing is expected to increase in the future. Local officials are also optimistic about the possibilities for UAS-related spin off businesses. The University of North Dakota, which has a strong aerospace program, is adding more research and technology in UAS applications. “UAS long-term have significant potential from a business standpoint,” says Klaus Thiessen, president and CEO of the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corporation. “There is a real opportunity down the road, but the real issue is air space.” The Empire Arts Center, weekend farmers markets, art and wine walks and events like Blues on the Red, the Grand Cities Art Fest, Cats Incredible and Heritage Days have also helped create a more vibrant arts community in the two cities. Kristi Magnuson-Nelson, who leads the Grand Forks-based Hugo’s grocery store chain, says the area has been a good place for the familyowned business, which has grown to 900 employees and eight locations in Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, Crookston, MN, Thief River Falls, MN, and Jamestown, ND. “Grand Forks is our hometown,” she says. “My grandparents started this business 70 years ago in a small building in downtown Grand Forks. We plan to remain in Grand Forks for many years to come.”

Grand Forks, ND / East Grand Forks, MN U.S. Census Bureau 2008 population estimates: Grand Forks (51,313), East Grand Forks (7,812) On the web: www.grandforksgov.com www.ci.east-grand-forks.mn.us www.grandforks.org www.visitgrandforks.com

November 2009

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Prairie Business

Women at the

top

J H

oani Nielson — Founding partner and chief operating officer, Tastefully Simple Inc. (Alexandria, MN, 360 employees, 75 additional seasonal employees during peak season), 14 years with organization / 10 years in current position.

ow does the Tastefully Simple direct sales business model work? Our easy to prepare food products are sold by more than 28,000 independent Tastefully Simple consultants. They are selling primarily through home taste-testing parties nationwide. A client will invite friends and family into their home and the consultant will host the taste-testing party. These consultants may also hold fundraisers, participate in expos and have the opportunity to recruit others to begin their own Tastefully Simple business. Some of our top consultants have grown into leadership and have as many as 400 people on their team. ou’ve been there from the start with co-founder and CEO Jill Blashack Strahan. Can you describe the company’s growth? With our rapid growth it has been exhilarating, rewarding and a lot of hard work. We have gone from 410 consultants in 1990 to over 28,000 today and from $4 million in sales to $114 million in sales. Our company grew incredibly fast, but we stayed true to the commitment of our core business model and have built a very solid team. We truly have an incredible group of talented people supporting us. re some people surprised to learn that a national company with a household name like Tastefully Simple is based in Alexandria, MN? Why not Alexandria? Alexandria is a wonderful place to live. It has all the infrastructure we need. As a Jefferson High School alum, I think more people are surprised that I haven’t left Alexandria. Jill and I are both from the area and we both have a very strong commitment to support this community. hat did you learn from helping to start Tastefully Simple that could benefit other aspiring entrepreneurs? The philosophies for being successful in business are also the philosophies for being successful and having a fulfilling life. Follow your heart, identify and follow your purpose in life. Stay true to your values and surround yourself with forward-focused individuals. o you have any other advice about how to become successful in business? Success begins with dreaming. The difference between a dream and a business is a business is a dream that has been executed. Take those dreams and turn them into reality. Trust your intuition and go for it.

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November 2009

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uzie Tolzin — Account Manager, SilverStone Group (Sioux Falls, about 200 employees companywide, 9 employees in Sioux Falls office), 2 1/2 years with organization / all in same position. hat does the SilverStone Group do? SilverStone Group is a full-service resource management company. We offer customized services for business and private clients. hat are your primary job duties? I am the lead consulting account manager in the employee benefits department of our Sioux Falls branch. I work with our larger clients in overall management of the employee benefits they provide for their employees. I position my clients within the insurance marketplace and also negotiate with the carriers or third party administrators for each of my clients. ow has the economy affected insurance consulting? It is really tough right now with health care insurance reform at the forefront of every media outlet. With cutbacks and layoffs, our clients need us more than ever. They are short staffed and many times administrative positions or middle management is the first to go. If that is the case, our services and resources can help fill the void. ow can companies keep insurance costs down? The key in my mind is to really educate your employees. Give plenty of lead time and really communicate changes in advance. Many companies have to raise their deductibles or change benefits to keep up with medical trends and inflation. The biggest financial losses come from employees not knowing how to use their benefits. They go to XYZ hospital and they should have gone to ABC instead and now they have a huge bill from the hospital and the employers cost is also higher because the claims were paid at billed charge versus a discounted amount. ow important are disease management and wellness programs? They are very important. Individuals with chronic conditions need help in managing their illnesses. They are juggling their job, family and the added stress of a health condition. They need resources and someone who can be their advocate. Wellness in the workplace is essential as well. We need goals to help us live healthy. Some of the best programs are those that have financial rewards if you do all the things you need to do to live and be healthy. For instance, at SilverStone Group we have a wellness program and if we meet our goals or points we get our health insurance contributions reduced each paycheck.

November 2009

J W

ill Berg — Owner and president, Spherion Staffing franchise in North Dakota and west central Minnesota (Fargo and Bismarck offices, 14 employees), 15 years as local franchisee, B.A. degree in General Studies with an emphasis in Psychology from Ambassador University (Pasadena, CA). hat does Spherion Staffing do? We match great employees with great companies. We are in the staffing and recruiting business, specializing in temporary staffing and direct hire placement in clerical, accounting, sales, light industrial, IT, engineering and executive search. If you are looking for a sales representative in Fargo and give us the specific technical skills you require, we will conduct a search to identify candidates, screen them, present the most qualified candidates and charge a fee for the process. n this economy is there a lot of demand for staffing firms? There is. Companies are looking for top talent to add strength to their organization. As the economy gets tighter, individual contribution gets more important. They have to make sure everyone is a top performer and is bringing critical skills to the table. As an applicant, people come to our agency and get a plethora of opportunities instead of beating the pavement to find companies who are actually hiring. hat are employers looking for in a worker? They are looking for problem solving, communication, critical thinking and technical skills and a can-do attitude. ow can employees work their way up to the top? The most important thing you need to do if you want to get to the top of the organization is to be constantly reinventing yourself. You need to stay on top of technology, listen to your customers, constantly evaluate how you do things and strive for professional and personal improvement. It is not the same business environment now that it was 90 days ago and we need to be constantly reassessing how we conduct business because that’s how quickly things are changing. ave you noticed changes in your clients’ needs as a result of the economy? I think their expectations are different. The perception is there are more people out there to interview. That is true, but the right talents and cultural fit is still difficult to find. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, but now the haystack is four times as big. We are getting flooded with candidates. However, about one or two out of every 10 people who knock on our door get hired for a position as the others don’t meet our client’s criteria. The time and resources we spend screening and interviewing all the potential applicants frees up our clients to focus on their core business and profitability.

W H

Prairie Business

Rural development By Ryan Schuster

Smaller communities search for ways to stand out

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ayne McFarland heard plenty of jokes about working in a cornfield from his Los Angeles-area colleagues five years ago when he moved his company’s sales and technical support operations to tiny Milbank, SD. McFarland, the CEO of Santa Clarita, CAbased Link It Software Corporation, decided to move the company’s marketing and technical support to a smaller Midwestern community with low costs and a strong workforce as the company expanded. The success of Link It Software’s small tech support and customer service operations in Milbank led the company to add a call center in Milbank to market its software throughout the United States and Canada. The new business-to-business call center was so effective that it helped increase Link It Software’s business by 40 percent. The strong demand for its products has led the company to open five additional call centers in the South Dakota communities of Watertown, Arlington, Eureka, Britton and Roslyn. “Nobody’s laughing now,” McFarland says. Larger cities throughout the Northern Great Plains like Sioux Falls, Fargo and Bismarck continue to grab headlines for their

relative economic strength in the midst of a recession. But a number of companies with major national and international operations like Tastefully Simple of Alexandria, MN, Killdeer Mountain Manufacturing in Killdeer, ND and Willmar, MN-based Jennie-O Turkey Store have set up shop and stayed in smaller communities throughout the region. Recent research has indicated that a growing number of employers and workers are considering leaving congested major population centers in search of a simpler life in smaller communities with less crime and shorter commute times. “Small towns will become increasingly important in corporate site selection in the next decade,” says Dennis Donovan, a principal in the Bridgewater, NJ-based Wadley Donovan Gutshaw Consulting corporate site selection firm. “Communities that show well and are fully prepared for business will do well. Many companies want to be in smaller communities with lower costs and better labor market conditions.” Smaller, more out-of-the-way cities generally fly under the radar of site selectors, but there are benefits for businesses looking to locate in smaller areas. “There definitely are advantages of smaller

communities,” says Dan Johanneck, executive director of the Crookston (MN) Housing and Economic Development Authority. “Cities like Crookston have some excellent opportunities without the higher business costs of larger communities.”

Rural advantages

McFarland says Link It Software was attracted to rural South Dakota by the cheaper business costs, strong workforce and less turnover found in smaller towns. “Our strategy has been to open up offices in smaller towns,” says McFarland, who says his company’s call centers offer starting pay that is 70 to 100 percent higher than minimum wage. “We’d rather be in a smaller community where our jobs are treasured.” In addition to cheaper costs, smaller communities are often more flexible and more responsive to a company’s needs. Eagle Creek Software Services opened a business intelligence facility in Pierre, SD, a year and a half ago after the city’s development corporation spent more than $4 million constructing a new building that the company leases. Eagle Creek Software currently has 45 workers in Pierre and expects to increase employment to 200 within four years.

Prairie Business

“A lot of companies like to be a bigger fish in terms of how the community and local government respond to their needs and support the business,” says Jim Protexter, executive director of the Pierre Economic Development Corporation. “You get that type of attention in smaller communities.” Economic development experts say smaller communities need to concentrate on their strengths as well as workforce development, strategic planning and creating partnerships between key stakeholders like cities, economic development groups, colleges and major

Eagle Creek Software Services, Pierre, SD

employers. “You really have to be targeted and understand what you are looking for and what you want to develop,” says Kevin McKinnon, director of business development with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. “Then you need to become ready for development and have the right facility or site. You need to listen to local employers, know their needs and be aware of the larger needs of the local community. The local college or university should be engaged in making sure a trained workforce is available and all the resources should be available to help companies grow, including being plugged into larger regional efforts.” McKinnon mentioned Alexandria, MN, Worthington, MN, Willmar, MN, and Morris, MN, as a few examples of smaller communities in the state that have had recent success in community-wide economic development efforts. The University of Minnesota is opening a new

biosciences center on a privately-owned technology campus in Willmar where students can help companies with research and engineering. “That’s an example of understanding local employers, seeing an opportunity and leveraging the resources that are available to facilitate the type of development they are interested in seeing,” McKinnon says. “It’s not

Kevin McKinnon, director of business development, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

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just economic development. It’s also workforce development.”

Shovel-ready development

Donovan of the Wadley Donovan Gutshaw Consulting site selection firm says in order to attract primary-sector businesses from outside the area, communities generally need a trained available workforce and some type of physical infrastructure like suitable existing buildings, an industrial park or fully-prepared lots with utilities already in place. “A number of companies will only go into a community if there is an available building,” Donovan says. “One big mistake some communities make is they think you don’t need sites ready to go with buildings. This is a market-driven business. Nothing is a sure thing. You have to do the right marketing for it. The No. 1 goal of building a shell building is to get traffic and get companies that wouldn’t have considered your community before to take a look. The second goal is to fill it.” Mark Hanson, the economic development director with the City of Marshall, MN, says communities need to be ready for development so they can respond when a company is ready to move on a tight timeline. “You really want to be ready today, not in

six months,” Hanson says. “There’s no point in including low business costs and an expedited saying, ‘We have some cornfields that can be permitting process, are important. He says ready in a year.’” offering something unique that most The community of Madison, SD, recently communities don’t — like dual filled a 10,000-square-foot spec technology telecommunications feeds, dual power feeds or building and data center that was built in 2006. connections to two separate electrical The facility was developed in collaboration substations — can help a community stand with Dakota State University and has created out to site selectors. 40 local jobs in the IT industry. “We needed to build that partnership,” says Dwaine Chapel, Challenges executive director of the Madison-based Lake Many rural areas and small cities have built in Area Improvement Corporation. “We already economic development hurdles like more had a workforce in place. The students were isolated locations away from major graduating from Dakota State and going all over the country. We decided to see if we could bring in businesses in those fields to keep them in the area.” But economic development officials caution smaller communities to do their research, target an industry their community has a competitive advantage in and calculate the risks before putting up a spec building for a company that may never come. Donovan also says having a favorable business climate, Heartland Technology Center, Madison, SD

Prairie Business

transportation infrastructure and daily air service, a smaller workforce and a lack of existing facilities capable of housing certain operations. “The big four cities in North Dakota have a big advantage in economic development smokestack chasing,” says Gaylon Baker, executive vice president of the Dickinson, NDbased Stark Development Corporation. “To attract bigger facilities you need daily jet service and a major university and they are also looking for a deep labor pool. Most of these are production facilities that require blue collar workers. Few communities in North Dakota

can do that unless they are adjacent to larger cities.” Amy Wobbema, executive director of the New Rockford (ND) Area Community Betterment Corporation, says smaller communities start out at a disadvantage because of their size. “If they are looking to add 100 employees, we probably don’t have the workforce to support that,” she says. “But some of those companies that have five employees and are looking to add 10 or 15 more, that’s where we have an opportunity with smaller early-stage companies.”

Technology adoption

Rural communities aren’t always thought of as tech savvy, but advances in technology have actually helped remote areas become more competitive. Extensive fiber optic networks throughout North Dakota and South Dakota have made it possible for many companies to set up shop in rural communities.

“With current technology, a lot of businesses can be located anywhere,” says Protexter of the Pierre Economic Development Corporation. “Why wouldn’t you choose blue skies, fresh air and all the recreation opportunities offered by a smaller community?” Instead of operating one large 100-person customer support and sales center in a larger city, Link It Software employs about 100 in six smaller offices throughout South Dakota that are all linked by fiber optic cables, allowing for videoconferencing between the state’s call center offices and its California headquarters. “For years I have been hearing about the possibilities of be anywhere, work everywhere,” McFarland says. “By and large it has not been true. Until now the bandwidth hasn’t been there. But with the bandwidth available in South Dakota, we can set up offices in a number of cities and we truly can work together out of the same system. This would not have been possible five or 10 years ago.” Richard Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto and the author of The Rise of the Creative Class, says technology and innovation will play greater roles in communities’ economic future.

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November 2009

Marshall, MN, are using the web and social interaction websites like Facebook and Twitter to help market themselves. “Cities like Marshall don’t have a lot of money to spend on marketing and advertising,” Hanson says. “We have to find the best ways to spend what we have. We have decided to stop printing brochures. The website is less expensive and we can continuously update it.”

can offer the jobs and amenities of a decentsized college town. “Micropolitan communities probably have an easier time of it than really small towns because they have turned themselves into regional centers, making it easier to recruit industry in,” says Jack Schultz, the author of

Shifting demographics

Richard Florida, director, Martin Prosperity Institute, University of Toronto

“To be successful, communities and organizations must have the avenues for transferring research, ideas and innovation into marketable and sustainable products,” Florida says. A growing number of communities like

Despite moderate population gains in mostly larger metro areas in the region, rural America continues to shrink, providing challenges for small towns with declining population bases. Recent research suggests that less than half of the country is still defined as “rural.” More than half of the land area in the continental United States is now made up of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, which are anchored by cities of 50,000 or more, or Micropolitan Statistical Areas that are centered by cities of between 10,000 and 49,999. Much of the region’s future population growth is anticipated to be in metropolitan areas like Fargo and Sioux Falls, one-stepdown sized metros like Grand Forks, ND, and micropolitans similar to Brookings, SD, that

Jack Schultz, CEO, Boomtown Institute

Prairie Business

the Boomtown USA book and the CEO of the Effingham, IL-based Boomtown Institute that fosters investment in rural areas. “They have shopping and entertainment.” Schultz says he is seeing some people move

back to their hometowns from more populated areas, but adds, “if you were born and raised in New York City, you’re probably not going to move to Rugby, ND.” Joel Kotkin, a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University in California and a senior consultant with the Grand Forks-based Praxis Strategy Group, says larger cities like Bismarck, Sioux Falls, Fargo and Grand Forks and smaller communities within a 50-mile radius look to be well positioned for the future. But he adds that the farther away you get from air service and key infrastructure, the more challenging the situation becomes for rural communities. “There will be centers in predominantly rural areas,” Kotkin says. “In areas where there used to be 10 communities, there may be three doing very well and others that will shrink.”

Developing homegrown businesses

Joel Kotkin, senior consultant, Praxis Strategy Group

Many smaller communities depend more on retaining and growing existing small businesses and helping aspiring entrepreneurs than attempting to attract new employers from outside the area. “Our No. 1 economic development strategy is to build upon the businesses that are already here, which is where historically 80 to 90

percent of new jobs and development comes from,” says Baker, of the Stark Development Corporation. “Many of our businesses were created by community-minded entrepreneurs who have decided to stay. Some of them have been offered very lucrative relocation opportunities outside of North Dakota. You have to constantly make sure that you have a good business environment that encourages business leaders to stay.” Beth Davis, president of the Sioux Fallsbased South Dakota Rural Enterprise, says attracting primary sector businesses is still important, but smaller communities need to alter the way they look at economic development. So much focus on economic development is on attracting a 30-person manufacturer that will provide great wages and build a daycare center on the side,” she says. “But the foundation of economic development is small businesses that are already located in small communities. This is essential to the survival of small towns. If we aren’t keeping the businesses we have, there isn’t going to be anything left.” The Dakota Rising pilot program is underway at four sites in South Dakota, helping to cultivate entrepreneurs, strengthen

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Prairie Business

draw lessons from persistent

South Dakota researchers

rural communities

By Janie Janie Franz Franz By

group of South Dakota State University researchers took a different route while investigating rural population trends in the Northern Great Plains. Instead of following the common research path concerning rural depopulation in the plains states that grew out of the Great Depression and asked why people were leaving, the researchers asked why people were staying in rural communities. “There is depopulation in rural areas,” says Gary Aguiar, an associate professor of political science at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD, one of four researchers taking part in the study examining life in deep rural communities. “We take that as a given.” For decades young people have been moving away from the farms and small towns they grew up in, seeking job opportunities, better pay and benefits and more amenities in midsized and larger cities. The Northern Great Plains have experienced moderate population gains in recent years, but some rural areas, small towns and cities within the region continue to see population declines. The number of North Dakota and South Dakota residents of retirement age is projected to grow by about 60 percent each in the next two decades. The number of Minnesotans turning 62 is also forecasted to jump by 30 percent in the next year. The impact is expected to be more severe in rural areas that require a certain critical mass of residents and businesses to survive. Despite the dire projections, the researchers say their findings offer some encouraging signs. “We look at the projections that have been given in the past and our question is: How can anyone still be here?” asked Meredith Redlin, a professor of rural sociology at South Dakota State. “By all of these population loss projections, we’re supposed to be empty by now.” The study by Redlin, Aguiar and economics professors George Langelett and Gerald Warmann called “Why Are You Still Out There? Persistence among Deep Rural Communities in the Northern Plains” will be published in the Online Journal of Rural Research & Policy. The data for these rural communities still 36

November 2009

appears to be rather bleak. “But we happened to notice some bright stars,” Aguiar says. “That’s what we’re calling rural persistence. There are some communities that are not growing or thriving, but they are surviving.” As the researchers examined the data, patterns began to emerge within the communities that pointed to specific factors that kept people in small towns. Economic factors played a part, but they weren’t the only indicators of why people remained, residents returned or new people moved to the towns. “It’s not just jobs,” Aguiar says. “Yes, people need to work and make a living. But it’s a whole confluence of social, political and economic reasons that lead to people to stay or to come back.” The study examined communities in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana with less than 50,000 people and excluded high-amenity areas like the Black Hills area of South Dakota as well as tribal lands because of differences in funding and governance. Those left lived between one and three hours from major metropolitan areas, according to Aguiar. Despite the study’s rural geography, the definition of rural and urban varies depending on government definitions. “The problem is the definition of urban is skewed in this country. If you’re a town that has 2,500 people, that’s considered urban by the Census Bureau,” Aguiar says. “If you’re an incorporated or non-incorporated municipality that is just over 500 people living in a population density, you’re urban. That’s why when they report 85 percent of Americans are urbanites, I just throw that number out. That’s worthless.” With the proliferation of more spread out geographic trade areas, the definition of rural continues to evolve. “What we’re finding is a lot of the counties that are scoring the highest within our statistical model are those counties that have some sort of urban island,” Redlin says. “The networks of small towns form a sort of trade center for a more metropolitan area.” While economic factors are at the heart of most research on successful communities, Redlin says there is more to the equation.

“These sustainable communities, aside from the economics, also have social capital, this sense of community networking, community volunteerism,” she says. “That kind of association doesn’t serve a political organizational end or an economic end, but builds and supports the sense of a group and community working together. It’s not unique to the Northern Great Plains, but it is a real strength of the culture of predominately rural places.” The researchers say their work has barely scratched the surface and they plan to find out more about why and how some rural communities are surviving while others are not. Once the factors are identified and specific strategies are devised, a sustainable development model will be developed for rural communities throughout the region. “What we’re looking for is a way to effectively build a development model for medium and low population levels, which is more likely to be the status of the Northern Great Plains region,” Redlin says. “That’s why we want to look at who is still there.” Franz is a Grand Forks, ND-based freelance writer. She can be reached at janie_58201@yahoo.com.

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PRAIRIE pillar

BankWest

Bank

expands its footprint

By Alan Van Ormer

in South Dakota

ankWest has been a mainstay in the region even before South Dakota became a state. Pierre National Bank opened its doors in September 1889, two months before South Dakota gained its statehood. The bank has undergone a number of changes in the last 120 years, including changing its name to BankWest in 1980. The Pierre, SD-based bank has grown from three employees when it first opened to 220 full-time employees in 15 offices throughout South Dakota today. BankWest’s $726 million in banking assets ranks among South Dakota’s top 10 banking institutions, according to Curt Everson, president of the South Dakota Bankers Association. Charles Burke, a member of the real estate firm of Baird, Burke and Brown that was the bank’s first customer, became a director for Pierre National Bank in 1915 and served as the bank’s vice president from 1930 to 1945. Since then the Burke family has provided a strong foundation for the bank. Family members have been involved in the bank’s dayto-day operations, have served on the bank’s board of directors and have also been active members of South Dakota Bancshares, the bank’s holding company. “All of us have been involved in the bank in some shape or form,” says Charles Burke III, the bank’s president and CEO and a fourth-generation family member of the bank. “We care passionately about our customers, communities and our employees that take care of them.”

Advances through the years

In the last century plus, the bank has witnessed the economic

November 2009

prosperity of the railroad boom, the Great Depression and transferring from a national to state banking charter. Throughout the years the company has come up with such innovative ideas as car loans in the early 1920s, federally backed home loans in the 1930s and the first drive-up teller with an electronically-controlled received drawer in the 1950s. In the 1970s, new products were brought to customers like the Individual Retirement Account and the start of an expansion of the bank’s locations in South Dakota. The next decade saw the addition of a full-service brokerage and trust department, automated teller machines, electronic payment and deposit services. In the 1990s, BankWest added On Call Banking and BankWest Web Banking, allowing customers to access their accounts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Two years ago BankWest began offering web-based cash management services to business customers, as well as a remote deposit service, which allows businesses to deposit incoming checks electronically from their own computers. “It is not hard to learn from success,” Burke says. “I have done nothing different but modernize.”

Community involvement

BankWest focuses on a four-point plan that includes first taking care of customers, then taking care of the communities it serves, making sure all employees are taken care of with benefits and education and then allowing shareholders to reap the rewards of the bank’s success. Team BankWest employee teams perform volunteer work in the community. One team recently scraped and repainted an elderly (continued on page 40)

Prairie Business

Crowds lined up to view the bank's new building in 1957. The new building featured the first drive-up teller window in central South Dakota and the first electronically-controlled vault door in the state.

Original Pierre National Bank building that was built in 1890. (continued from page 38)

woman’s home. Others have helped refurbish local parks, collected supplies for the local food pantry and presented financial education to youth groups. The teams spend hundreds of hours each year helping members in the communities, outside of other community service involvement, according to Burke. BankWest has also established the non-profit 501(c)(3) Oahe Foundation that houses 182 funds, manages $12.7 million and distributes more than $1 million to local causes each year. The foundation was created to help individuals provide gifts for those without means. Donors have chosen beneficiaries for their funds like the Girl Scouts, Oahe Family YMCA, Capital University Center, the Rotary club, Rawlins Municipal Library, American Legion baseball, Pierre, SD, schools and several churches across the state. Everson of the South Dakota Bankers Association says BankWest has had a significant banking presence in South Dakota for a long time. He says what makes the bank so successful is sticking to the business it knows. “There is a long-term commitment on the part of the Burke family to the business of banking,” Everson says. “They really epitomize commitment to the communities. Any community they are in, their people are involved in the services of civic groups and make significant contributions to charitable causes.”

Future plans

Any future expansions will depend on the national economy, according to BankWest officials. BankWest has continued branching out into new communities in the last few years. Rapid City and Mitchell, SD, are the bank’s two newest locations. Continued technological advances also figure to influence BankWest’s future. 40

November 2009

Charles Burke III, president/CEO

“We are constantly looking for new ways of using technology,” Burke says. BankWest recently introduced ePlus, a program that rewards customers with a high rate of interest on deposits, which Burke says “encourages customers to use debit cards and electronic statements as opposed to paper statements.” Burke says the company is primarily concentrating on maintaining and serving its customer base in the current economic climate. “With the environment tough nationally, we are working harder to maintain the relationship we have, while expanding in areas that will be productive for us in the future,” Burke says.

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Prairie Business

Historic preservation

aids downtown redevelopment

By David Shultz What makes a downtown area a vital community center that draws people to live, work and play there and drives successful downtown redevelopment? The answer is multi-faceted, but it begins with the heritage that historic buildings bring to each urban centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique character. Historic downtowns provide an important connection to the past. They are rich in detail, eclectic in style and form the backdrop for the activity that happens in and around them. The 1960s and 1970s were difficult on downtown neighborhoods. First, the Urban Renewal movement promoted the idea that new was better, obliterating entire downtown neighborhoods. The new modernist replacements didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t revitalize downtowns, but instead created environments that were often intolerable. At the same time the movement to the suburbs started with new housing and retail moving farther out, emptying many urban centers. Today downtowns are once again attracting young adults and emptynesters alike. Residents are giving new life and vitality to these urban environments. The rehabilitation of historic properties, many that had been under utilized for the previous three decades, form the foundation of this new development. The most successful downtowns offer variety like shopping, restaurants, offices, education, entertainment, affordable apartments and luxury housing. Just as the mix of architectural styles creates interest and a unique backdrop in the historic downtown, the variety of functions provides a dynamic environment of rich interaction. Many historic buildings have been in use for more than a century, but they are capable of supporting new functions and continuing to serve well into the future. The rehabilitation of historic structures takes special care to maintain historic integrity, while adding longevity. The design and execution of construction details make all the difference between a structure that needs only occasional maintenance and one that requires constant attention. Rehabilitation is also a sustainable green building practice that uses less energy and creates less waste than building new. The following guiding principles of historic preservation offer a glimpse of how historic preservation is maintaining important links to the past in downtown areas and throughout cities and small towns:

Preservation of history and community

Historic structures are a tangible connection to our history, worthy of rehabilitation in most instances. Not only do they have their own connection to the past, but they also contribute to the broader urban fabric of the street and community they reside in and the history of the place. Historic structures are assets worthy of ongoing investments.

Adaptive reuse

Some purists would argue that preservation is only accomplished when a structure is restored to its original condition and continues to serve the purpose for which it was constructed. That is a wonderful goal, but it is most often not achievable. Instead, we must view historic structures as dynamic and capable of evolving with the changing times by serving new uses. The adaptation of structures provides unique design opportunities that can draw on the 42

November 2009

The Pelican Rapids Historic City Hall in Pelican Rapids, MN, underwent extensive interior and exterior work to restore the circa 1900 building to its former glory. The Fargo-based Shultz & Associates firm researched historic photos and documents in an attempt to closely match the original building and capture its historic character. (Photo courtesy of Shultz & Associates)

past while being applied in new and creative ways.

Architectural integrity

As modifications are made to historic structures, it is vital that the integrity of the original construction be maintained. Most historic buildings use and express materials in an honest, straightforward and robust manner. Whenever possible, these architectural elements should be restored to their original condition. When modifications are required to serve new uses, the modifications should draw from the existing architecture and be executed with the same honesty and integrity as though they were part of the original design.

Technical longevity

Periodic rehabilitation further serves to maintain and update the technical aspects of structures that could otherwise lead to their demise. Through the study of the performance of details executed over time the architect can develop details that enhance the longevity of building systems and components, while accurately replicating original components. Explore the city you live in and discover the history and charm of that old building you drive by every day. Our downtowns hold a crucial key to understanding the history of our communities. Historic rehabilitation is a powerful tool for keeping downtowns vital and preserving buildings for future productive use. David Shultz is the president of Fargo-based Shultz & Associates, Ltd. Shultz is a commissioner on the Fargo Historic Preservation Commission. He can be reached at david@TheArchitectFirm.com.

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Deadwood’s bet on gambling

pays off

November 2009

Month 2002

By Loretta Sorensen

n the 1980s the historic city of Deadwood appeared to be dying a slow, painful death in the Black Hills of western South Dakota. The local economy, which depended heavily on mining, the timber industry, tourism and retail trade, was in decline. Many buildings in the onetime gold rush town were in disrepair and historic preservation of the structures was unaffordable. Some old buildings were demolished. Others, like the Syndicate Block, burned down in a December 1987 fire after the city’s aging water system failed to produce sufficient water pressure to adequately fight the fire. In 1989 the city rolled the dice, betting that legalized gambling would help revitalize the once rough-and-tumble outpost whose colorful figures included Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane and Wyatt Earp. This month the city is holding a series of events to commemorate the 20th anniversary of legalized gaming in Deadwood, which has transformed the look and feel of the city while helping to preserve its history. When the state approved changes to its constitution that made gaming legal in Deadwood in 1988, the new enterprise was anticipated to bring in about $100,000 a year. But a staggering $145 million was wagered during the first eight months of gaming alone, netting $13.9 million in revenue. “Gaming has proven to be successful for Deadwood and South Dakota,” says Lee Harstad, marketing director of the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce. “When limited stakes gaming was legalized in Deadwood, it was one of three locations across the country offering Free Subscriptions at www.prairiebizmag.com

gaming. The others were Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Since then more gaming facilities have sprung up around the country. Among the big advantages Deadwood has over other gaming communities are the town’s rich history and the Black Hills surroundings.” Thousands of jobs have been created by the gaming industry in the Deadwood area in the last two decades. The once sleepy streets of Deadwood are busy again and historic preservation and renovation projects have brought life back to the city that was incorporated in 1876 after the discovery of gold and named for the dead trees found in narrow Deadwood Gulch. Today, historic Main, Sherman and many other city streets have been built up the steep sides of the gulch. From late 1989 through February, gambling in Deadwood raised $1.1 billion in revenue and generated $88.6 million in tax revenue distributed to state and local governments and aided tourism promotion and historic preservation. Gaming revenue in fiscal year 2008 reached nearly $16 million, according to the South Dakota Gaming Commission. Approximately half the revenue goes to the City of Deadwood.

The remaining funds are distributed to Lawrence County, school districts and other municipalities, South Dakota’s tourism office, the state’s general fund, South Dakota’s historic preservation office, the state’s department of human services and expenses related to capital equipment and administration.

Tourism impact

Melissa Bump, director of the South Dakota Office of Tourism, says gaming taxes are a significant source of revenue for her office. “These dollars make it possible to better promote the state,” she says. “Every visitor dollar spent in South Dakota feeds into local communities.” Bump says interest in South Dakota historical sites has significantly increased in recent years. “Travelers from Germany and Japan are especially interested in our Old West, Native American, homesteading and pioneering history,” Bump says. “They seek out preserved historical sites such as Fort Sisseton, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s homestead and Deadwood.” Officials estimate each visitor to the state adds approximately $125 to South Dakota’s gross state product and generates more than $75 in wages paid directly to workers employed in the tourism industry.

“Despite the current economic climate, we’re using gaming funds to buck nationwide tourism trends,” Bump says. “In 2008 visitor spending continued to grow. Initial reports for 2009 from all regions in South Dakota indicate positive growth in visitation and spending.”

Gaming funds renovation efforts

In addition to adding tax revenue to the state’s general fund, gaming revenue has generated more than $2 million for historic renovation every year since 2002. Historic preservation projects funded by this year’s Deadwood Fund matching grant program include the Hermosa Masonic Lodge, Homestake Opera House in Lead, Mobridge’s Scherr-Howe Arena, Vermillion’s Washington Street Arts Center, Turton’s First Congregational Church and Alcester’s Star School. Deadwood Historic Preservation Officer Kevin Kuchenbecker says the continued restoration of local sites plays a key role in attracting visitors to the city. “We’ve restored a number of local buildings, the cemetery, city hall and other local sites,” he says. Sorensen is a Yankton, SD-based freelance writer. She can be reached at sorensenlms@gmail.com.

Deadwood, SD, fast facts ■ Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok are both buried in Deadwood’s Mount Moriah Cemetery. ■ After dedicating Mount Rushmore in 1927, President Calvin Coolidge participated in Deadwood’s Days of ’76 celebration. ■ In 1961 the entire town of Deadwood was declared a National Historic Landmark, becoming the first community to ever receive that designation. ■ HBO premiered the popular “Deadwood” cable TV series in 2004, introducing the world to Deadwood’s history and its colorful characters of the past. Prairie Business 45

Central Minnesota looks to incubator facility to create jobs

By Nancy Leasman

hen an industrial park filled up on the north side of Long Prairie, MN, the small central Minnesota community was left with a dilemma. I don’t necessarily agree with ‘build it and they will come,’” says Lyle Danielson of the Long Prairie Economic Development office. “But if you don’t build it, they’ll have no reason to come.” After Long Prairie native Randy Mechels expanded his Impact Technology business and built four buildings to fill up the city’s industrial park, the search was on for more space. The community responded by finding a way to make a new 64-acre industrial park a reality, including building a new business incubator. Another local resident, Steve Klick, was instrumental in making the new incubator building a reality by pledging half a million dollars towards the facility. A grant application

was submitted to the federal economic development office in Chicago, completing the rest of the funding puzzle. Submitting the grant request resulted from another serendipitous moment. Danielson, Mayor Don Rasmussen and Julie Baum, manager of the Long Prairie Chamber of Commerce, had discussed the possibility of building an incubator building with Dave Venekamp, the city administrator, when they attended an Initiative Foundation meeting in Little Falls, MN. Cheryl Lee Hills of the Region 5 Economic Development Commission was also at the meeting. “What’s the mayor of Long Prairie looking for today?” Rasmussen recalls Hills asking him that day. “Money for an incubator building,” Rasmussen boldly responded. Hills offered Region 5 assistance in writing the grant that brought in $600,000 for the project. With Klick’s half million contribution, the financing

was in place for a building many hope will add good employment opportunities not only in the immediate Long Prairie area but within a 30-to-50-mile radius as well. “Two or three years ago, we looked around and there just weren’t any buildings available for manufacturing and we had companies asking for space,” Danielson says. Local leaders scrutinized other areas of the country in addition to Long Prairie. “We’ve all been to the Blandin leadership training program,” Mayor Rasmussen says. “They told us, ‘Your city is no longer the bounds of your economy.’” Rasmussen is hopeful another newly formed organization will help in working with the new boundaries. A recently-formed county-wide mayors’ association will help promote economic development efforts throughout the county and promote collaboration between communities, among other things.

New incubator facility

From left to right: Dave Venekamp (Long Prairie city administrator), Don Rasmussen (Long Prairie mayor), Lyle Danielson (Long Prairie Economic Development office), Lee Miller (Region 5 Economic Development Commission).

November 2009

While the 15,000-square-foot incubator building, that was scheduled to be completed late last month, features tall ceilings and is designed to attract small manufacturers that will employ workers and enhance the regional economy, the burden of building and maintaining the structure rests solely with the city. “This is not a spec building. It’s never going to be for sale,” says Rasmussen. Tenants will rent from the city. The city will pay for heat and maintenance regardless of the number of tenants. “Here’s a chance to get into a new building for three years,” Rasmussen adds. If all goes well, at the end of that time the business will build its own building in the industrial park and another entrepreneur will have the opportunity to use one of the three to four spaces the building provides. The incubator also comes equipped with green building features like energy efficient

windows on the south side of the building that are raised so the sun can shine through, infloor heat, a well-insulated ceiling and a standing rib roof that is strong enough to withstand heavy loads of snow and is resistant to leakage. The facility has also been set up so it can be converted to geothermal heating in the future. In addition to space for the businesses, the building has a lunch room, rest rooms, a conference room and mechanical room that will be shared by the tenants. Officials say the building would have easily filled up three years ago, but the economy’s struggles have contributed to the facility opening without any tenants committed to moving in. The new facility does have some prospects, though. “Across the nation, there’s 73 percent occupancy of incubator buildings,” says Danielson, adding that the city wouldn’t be against securing an anchor tenant that might stay longer than three years. During its tenants’ stay, the city will encourage the development of a relationship with the business programs at Central Lakes College in Brainerd, MN. Emphasis will be placed on writing a business plan and the Small Business Administration will also be involved. David Shultz of the Fargo-based Shultz and Associates architecture firm was the building’s architect and Kevin Knott of Ulteig Engineers was the engineer. Detroit Lakes, MN-based Bob Bristlin and Son Construction Company built the incubator facility. Rasmussen remains hopeful of the future. To see the possibilities he only needs to look about 90 miles northwest to the community of Detroit Lakes. “They just built their fourth industrial park,” Rasmussen says. “They put up a spec building in each one and in a short time they were full.” Long Prairie’s first building in its new industrial park is not a spec building. The concept of an incubator building was at first unfamiliar to some local residents. “They thought we were bringing in chickens,” Danielson says with a laugh. While a hatchery is not exactly what the city has in mind, it is hoping the venture helps to grow the local economy. Leasman is a Long Prairie, MN-based freelance writer and the editor of Central Minnesota Women magazine. She can be reached at leatherwood@wisper-wireless.com.

Prairie Business

INDUSTRY progress

A compilation of news briefs from across the region

Higher Education

Surbeck Center renovated at School of Mines

New food laboratory unveiled at South Dakota State

The Faye Tyler Wade Food Laboratory at South Dakota State University was dedicated in September. The $338,000 renovation included adding modern appliances, stainless steel hoods and countertops, accent lighting, a central circular soffit and creating a more efficient floor plan. The renovation project provides students with a more modern facility and allows for more uses, including hosting courses in food principles, fine dining and catering and food product development. The lab is on the fourth floor of the SNF building in the university’s department of nutrition, food science and hospitality.

NDSU gets $1.4 million for neuroscience research

The National Institutes of Health has granted North Dakota State University more than $1.4 million for neuroscience research through the National Center for Research Resources as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The funding was distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with funds appropriated by Congress.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held in September showcasing the renovated Surbeck Center at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City. The $6 million renovation project of the college’s 71,000-square-foot student union, which opened in 1963, overhauled the dining facility, reconfigured office and meeting spaces, added more comfortable seating and additional student study and lounge areas complete with computer access. Students voted in 2007 to approve a $9.99-per-credit-hour increase in student fees for the renovation project.

Minnesota, Crookston professor hired by USDA

Charla Hollingsworth, an associate professor at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center at the University of Minnesota, Crookston, has accepted a position with the United States Department of Agriculture. Hollingsworth will serve as the National Science Program Leader for Plant Pathology and Weeds at the USDA’s Center for Plant Health, Science and Technology in Raleigh, NC.

UND’s EERC records sixth straight record year

The Energy and Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota has achieved its sixth consecutive record year of funded contracts. In its 2009 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, the EERC was awarded more than $43.9 million in funding. Total contract expenditures topped $39 million. The organization’s overall research portfolio of active contracts increased more than $10 million from the previous year to $237 million during fiscal year 2009.

Bemidji State science building addition completed

A $6.9 million science building addition at Bemidji (MN) State University was recently completed by the Kraus-Anderson Construction Company. The 26,000-square-foot renovation and addition to Sattgast Hall, which was built in 1962 and expanded in 1989, includes new science, health care and technology facilities, laboratories, classrooms and offices.

Offutt honored by Minnesota State Moorhead

Ron Offutt, Jr., the founder and chairman of the RDO Equipment Company and Offutt Farms, received Minnesota State University Moorhead’s 28th annual L.B. Hartz Professional Achievement Award in September. Offutt, a graduate of Moorhead’s Concordia College, has helped grow the business from a single John Deere dealership in Casselton, ND, to a network of 54 John Deere dealerships, two heavy truck dealerships and 2,000 employees in nine states. Offutt is in the North Dakota Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame. 48

November 2009

South Dakota State’s Rice appointed to National Science Foundation committee

Professor James Rice, the head of South Dakota State University’s department of chemistry and biochemistry, has been appointed to the Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education at the National Science Foundation. He also serves on the foundation’s Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure.

Northland College hosts education fair

The Thief River Falls, MN, campus of Northland Community and Technical College hosted the 2009 Minnesota Education Fair, one of the state’s largest college fairs, in late September. Second-year transfer students and 785 juniors and seniors from local high schools attended the fair. Representatives from 56 educational institutions from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Manitoba were also on hand to talk with the students about educational opportunities.

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normal By Jack Geller

few months ago I dedicated a column to what I described as a “bathtub recovery,” or a sharp macro-economic decline, followed by a protracted plateau, before a steady economic rise and an eventual return to previous production and economic levels. Based upon the economic data that continues to emerge, it seems like we’ll continue to bounce along the bottom of the tub a bit longer before we see the signs of a more sustained recovery. As I noted before, those who projected that the ascent to economic recovery would be as steep as the descent into recession were kidding themselves — especially as it relates to the return of more normal levels of unemployment. The length of the average work week, which includes all full- and part-time workers in the workforce, continues to decline incrementally and now stands at 33 hours per week, according to a September Bureau of Labor Statistics report. What this means is that as the overall economy recovers and both demand and production tick up, there will be ample room to increase the productivity of the existing workforce well before employers feel the need to hire new employees. As I said then — this is going to take a while. As with all recessions, we know that at some point the economy will fully recover and demand and production will both reach prerecession levels. Hopefully by then we will feel that things are back to normal. But I’m not sure it will be that simple. 52

November 2009

Since the recession began, Minnesota has shed more than 140,000 jobs, with more than 46,000 of them lost in the manufacturing sector alone. Will all of these manufacturing jobs, especially those in rural Minnesota, return when the economy fully recovers? I doubt it. As in any economic downturn, some of these jobs were lost as a result of business failures. Those jobs simply won’t return. Other firms were merged or acquired by larger firms, while still other jobs were exported to other locations, including some that have been lost overseas. For the first time in many years we are also beginning to learn that the health care industry is not completely immune to the effects of the recession. While the health care sector clearly has not taken the beating that most sectors have, there have been seen selective health care job losses. Until recently health care jobs looked like a safe harbor when economic seas got rough; but no more. As efforts to curb the costs of health care become more serious, we will no longer be able to assume that continued growth in health care jobs will be the norm. When the economy fully recovers, we will likely find that the composition of businesses in rural Minnesota and our employment opportunities will be somewhat different. It has been interesting to document many of the structural demographic changes that Minnesota has experienced since the release of 2000 Census data. Many of these changes will have major impacts on the size, shape and skill level of Minnesota’s work force of the future.

The two most significant factors are the retirement of the baby boomers and the increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the state. We have known for years that the baby boomers represent an extraordinarily large and economically-successful cohort that led the workforce and drove the economy for years. But the boomers are running out of steam as they age and will soon retire from the work force in large numbers. The leading edge of the boomers is already eligible for Social Security and will turn 65 beginning in 2011. With the average age of retirement today around 63, there’s going to be quite a few jobs to fill in the next decade. That’s where the second demographic shoe drops. Minnesota’s minority population rose from approximately 6 percent in 1990 to close to 15 percent today. Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans and people of color are the fastest growing population cohorts in Minnesota. It would be logical to look to these groups to fill the jobs that the boomers are exiting. But the fastest growing groups in Minnesota are also the ones that are experiencing the least academic success. This educational disparity will have a disproportionate impact on what types of businesses can grow and what types of jobs will be available as employers seek educated and skilled workers. Will we eventually get back to normal? Sure, but we may find out that it’s a new normal. Geller is a professor and head of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. Geller also serves as the director of the federally-funded Economic Development Administration University Center at the university. He can be reached at gelle045@umn.edu.

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PRAIRIE air

New law enforcement center at Alexandria

opens

By Lin Smithwick

Technical College

he afternoon rain tap-danced in time with its own staccato beat on the city streets just beyond the walls of the new facility. Gathered inside were several hundred law enforcement officers and personnel from throughout Minnesota along with community leaders from Alexandria, MN, and officials from Alexandria Technical College. They were there to dedicate a new $10.4 million law enforcement training center facility on the technical college’s Alexandria, MN, campus. The crowd rose to its feet when the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office Honor Guard dramatically presented the colors, walking slowly in step the length of the auditorium. Some put their hands over their hearts. A young father dressed in military camouflage lifted his little boy to his shoulders to watch the procession. Veterans in the audience saluted as the colors passed by. The brief ceremony set a tone of respect and appreciation for military and law enforcement personnel serving in our region and throughout the world. For a handful of hours on a recent Friday afternoon this fall, everyone’s attention was focused on the grand opening of Alexandria Technical College’s newest expansion. Kevin Kopischke, who has been president of the technical college for the past six years, welcomed special guests and visitors. Scott Berger, Alexandria Technical College’s law enforcement coordinator, recognized faculty and staff and other dignitaries attending the grand opening. Grant Haugen, who was an instructor at the law enforcement center from 1980 until his retirement in 2006, shared some thoughts with the audience. Haugen said he knows plenty about the program’s history and its people. Some stories he said he could share. But many others would be saved for another time and place. “I will be sharing some stories today, but obviously not all as there are some I don’t dare share,” Haugen added. Even for outsiders unfamiliar with the names and events discussed, the stories were interesting and fun. The law enforcement program began in 54

November 2009

1967 just six years after the technical college was founded. One of the first stories Haugen told involved Vern Maack, the first director of the law enforcement program, and Russ Brooberg, the first coordinator and instructor of the program. Maack and Howard Ernest, former Douglas County Sheriff, were the originators of the technical college program. According to some of the first students, Brooberg had quite a challenge during those fledgling days in 1967. There was almost no equipment to work with except some .38 caliber revolvers. The students had to purchase their own belts, holsters and handcuffs. There were no squad cars to use, so the students had to use their own vehicles. There was only one textbook that first year: “Introduction to Criminal Justice.” Firearms training took place in the basement of the old police department in Alexandria. “For advanced firearms training, Russ (Brooberg) would tell the students to take the handguns and practice shooting by walking some of the sloughs for any stray or wild critters,” Haugen said, “The stray critters killed a lot of the young pheasants. I really don’t think Vern Maack knew about this type of training assignment, but I know it probably would not fly now — at least not without a better liability insurance policy.” Laughter could be heard throughout the room as Haugen continued telling the story. “In the middle of the first quarter, Russ went to Vern Maack and told him he had taught the students all he knew and wondered what he should do next. Vern told him to go back and start all over again — saying students only remember 10 percent of what they are told anyway.” Haugen said. “This was confirmed by some of the graduates as they remembered hearing the same stories over and over.” The stories continued for a few more minutes drawing chuckles and laughter from those remembering their own anecdotes. A look around the spacious auditorium in the new 59,000-square-foot law enforcement facility amplifies the changes that have taken place in the past 42 years for a program that began with a small first graduating class of 11 students.

“That first class started with 22 students — six were booted out and five obtained early employment,” Haugen said. In those days, Haugen explained, “Anyone could be hired as a peace officer off the street without training so the law enforcement program here was a way into the profession even without completing the entire training program.” To say that things have changed in a relatively short time period is quite an understatement. Today’s new facility houses a firing range, a CSI laboratory, classrooms and many other program elements. It is the tactical warehouse that attracted much attention during the time people were allowed to conduct their own personal tours of the center. It is here that an entire city block of businesses and houses is being constructed. What makes these buildings unusual is that none of them will have roofs. A massive catwalk located near the ceiling rings the 16,000-square-foot warehouse. From that vantage point, instructors will watch as law enforcement students train in a true life street scene setting. Tim Tougas, the director of facilities for Alexandria Technical College, says the city street, being planned and built by other technical college programs, should be ready for use next spring. “This is very educational for everyone involved — the carpentry program and the masonry program are doing the work on this,” Tougas said. The excitement in Kopischke’s voice as he talks about this training experience seems as tangible as fear may be when students enter darkened doorways not knowing what waits for them. “This presents an incredible training opportunity for our students,” Kopischke says. “We believe that with this law enforcement facility, we have the premier training center in the northern plains states. It is certainly one of the signature programs here at ATC.” The afternoon rains seemed to christen the new law enforcement facility — a facility that prepares men and women to become protectors of public lives.