News

Commerce Department visits Bottineau

By Scott Wagar

05/06/2014

The North Dakota Department of Commerce (NDDC) was in Bottineau on May 7 where the department held an open public meeting and was granted a tour of some of Bottineau’s start-up and expansion businesses in the community.

Members from the commerce department included John Mittledier, Laura Willard, Jolynne Tschetter and Bottineau native, Scott Long.

PUBLIC MEETING

The NDDC’s trip to Bottineau started with the public meeting, which was attended by city and county leadership of Bottineau and Westhope, along with local business people in town.

Those at the meeting asked three major questions to the commerce delegation, which included what the commerce department offers local communities in financial assistance for economic development; concerns over progress in county for housing and the availability of people for present and future employers; and, other options in obtaining money for future projects in Bottineau County.

Mittledier and Willard, who both work in economic development for the NDDC, stated that the commerce department assists communities in the state with funding manufacturing projects, but stated, too, that in order for the NDDC to assist individuals who want to start up manufacturing in a community, an individual has to make sure the primary revenue coming into the business must come from sources outside of their community, the money cannot just be circulated around one’s city.

As an example, Mittledier, who also is an ag and energy developer for the commerce department, stated that if someone in Bottineau wanted to start a slaughter house with the intention of just doing business with local residents, the commerce could not assist the owner of the plant.

However, if the business sold its meat over the Canadian border with revenue coming back in from the outside source, the commerce department could assist the owner in the business.

When it came to housing and finding available workers for employment opportunities, Willard, who is a project manager, along with her economic development duties with the commerce department, stated that the entire state is struggling with these issues and the NDDC had little or no resources at the moment to assist people with the issues.

One issue that came up was Bottineau’s new day care center which is located on Dakota College at Bottineau’s campus. As Bottineau’s EDC was attempting to find funding resource this past year to assist in start-up cost for the day care, the NDDC was able to grant Bottineau’s EDC $187,500 through its Department of Commerce’s Child Care Grant Program to help in constructing the new day care.

Long, who is the vice president of the North Dakota Development Fund, stated that the majority of his work with the commerce department deals with funding day care centers in the state.

Outside of these issues, the local individuals from the county and the members of the commerce department discussed economic development ideas; the steps people need to take in getting economic growth moving forward; and other entities like USDA who can assist individuals with starting commerce in their communities.

TOUR
 
After the public meeting, the commerce delegation were given tours of the Bottineau childcare center at DCB, Bottineau Farmers Elevator, State Bank of Bottineau, St. Andrew’s Health Center, Cobblestone Inn and Suites, Turtle Mountain Veterinary Services and Pride Dairy where the delegates were given samples of Pride’s Thomas Jefferson Vintage Vanilla Ice Cream and its Juneberry ice cream.

Deana DeFoe, director of Bottineau’s EDC Office, was pleased with the commerce event.

“What was most meaningful for me was the conversations among those present that you could see emerging from the discussion.

When I saw this, it made me realize how important it is for each of us as citizens to have the time and space to collectively engage our thinking about important community issues,” DeFoe said.

“So often we are working alone in our offices. It is helpful to have a diversity of opinions and thoughts present in the room so that we can think together about the solutions to the issues our community is facing. Workforce development was the one that emerged yesterday, but there are many others.

“Conversation is a great foundation for strategic prioritization and action planning,” DeFoe continued to state. “I found it helpful to have the team from the Department of Commerce available as a resource for the day. Their perspective on what is happening in the rest of the state helps me analyze more thoughtfully the current reality of Bottineau and what planning may be required to continue growth at a sustainable pace.

“I would also add that it is important for community members working on projects to realize that there are a variety of programs offered at the state level, not just through the Department of Commerce,” DeFoe added. “That may assist in helping their project be successful.”

For more information on the NDDC, go to https://www.commerce.nd.gov/ or call (701) 328-5300.