Bismarck-Mandan Economic Development News

Annual report to the Mandan City Commission – At the March 16th Mandan City Commission meeting Brian, Richard and Russ presented a summary of the BMDA’s support for the City of Mandan during the past year. This is one of several progress reports the BMDA provides each member City or County Commission. The current report to the Mandan City Commission included a wide summary report from Russ and then more detailed reports related to both the Retail and Service Sector Business Retention & Expansion Report by Richard and the Primary Sector Business Retention & Expansion by Brian. This BRE process involves annual visits by the respective BMDA staff member to discuss a list of business-related questions. The results of all of the BRE visits in both retail and primary sectors are then consolidated to develop a community wide response. Over succeeding years this allows the BMDA to identify any trends or issues (positive or negative) which the community may need to react to. The Retail Sector BRE surveys done by Richard involving 25 retail businesses (to be increased to 50 in 2010) are only done in the Mandan business community. The Primary Sector BRE surveys done by Brian include 100 businesses in both cities.



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Joint NPCC marketing efforts - On Wednesday, Judy, Brian and Russ met with Cathy Spencer, the Mallory Alexander managing agent of the Northern Plains Commerce Centre, to begin to develop a joint strategy to market some of the non-rail served sites in the NPCC. These are sites which, because of their location in the NPCC, can not be rail-served but do have access to the transload center should they have either in-bound or out-bound freight needs. It is hoped that by combining the efforts of the BMDA and Mallory Alexander, we will be able to substantially enhance the exposure and availability of these sites to potential users.



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Young Professionals Network - This week Russ, Brian and Judy met with Bismarck-Mandan Young Professionals Network representatives Jerry Haas and Patty Teagle. BMDA will be making a presentation to the YP Network to make its members more aware of the history of BMDA and what we do in the community.



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Great Plains Young Professional Summit - The Bismarck-Mandan Young Professionals Network will be hosting the first ever Great Plains Young Professionals Summit June 3-5, 2010 in Bismarck. Nationally and internationally recognized speakers are lined up to share their expertise with attendees of the Summit.



The summit provides local businesses an opportunity for their employees to attend a regional event at home in Bismarck. The event will bring together young professionals from throughout the Midwest to focus on personal and professional development, enhancing one's leadership skills, and the importance of giving back to our communities.



The cost to attend the Summit is $79 until May 3rd. After May 3rd, the cost will be $99.



For more information about the event, or to register for the Summit, visit the Great Plains Young Professionals Summit website at www.GPYPsummit.com. If your business would like more information about sponsoring the event, please contact the Summit’s Chairman, Jerry Haas at 701.255.5668.



We’ll have more information about the Great Plains Young Professionals Summit in future BMDA Highlights.



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BMDA Executive Committee and Board of Directors meetings - A regular BMDA Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for 3:30 PM, March 23 and the Full Board will meet 7:30 AM March 24.



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Bismarck Vision Fund meeting - The Bismarck Vision Fund has scheduled a regular meeting for 3:00 p.m. March 23rd. The new business agenda for the Vision Fund Meeting is fairly short with only two items. Included is review and consideration of the BMDA’s full 2010 application to the Vision Fund. The second new business item is the consideration of the Vision Fund 2009 Annual Grantor Report.



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Assistance to small business - This week, the BMDA was contacted by a Bismarck-based small business looking for potential assistance and financing programs that could be utilized in expanding its operations. Brian met with a representative from the company to learn more about the business and to explain the financing programs available for expanding small businesses and other ways the BMDA could assist. While business attraction is a part of the BMDA's overall mission to expand the community's economic base, the retention and expansion of existing businesses is equally important and the BMDA stands ready to assist all businesses looking to expand their operations here in Bismarck-Mandan. If you have any questions or would like to discuss ways in which you might expand your business, please contact the BMDA at (701) 222-5530 or info@bmda.org



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BMDA hosts leadership webinar - During the past week BMDA hosted its third in a series of five webinars put on by the Heartland Center for Leadership Development and the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. This session was titled “Plowing New Ground: Refreshed Leadership Development of Revitalized Economies.” Increasing the numbers of leaders is often difficult for smaller communities. The key take away from this session was 10 Ideas for Recruiting New Leaders. The 10 ideas are:



Ask the question, “Who is not here?”
Look for skills, not names
Try involvement by degrees
Appeal to self-interests
Use wide angle lens
Define the task
Use current leaders to recruit new leaders
Create a history of peoples efficient use of time
Offer membership premiums
Market your wares.


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Hebron Renaissance Zone Development Committee - On Thursday, Richard met with members of the Hebron Renaissance Zone Committee to continue the review of the draft Renaissance Zone application. A third draft of the application will be sent to committee members based upon the input received during the meeting. The group is on target to have the final application turned in and approved by the North Dakota Department of Commerce by June 2010.



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Social media – Judy and Richard sat in on a webinar about the use of social media by economic development organizations. One of the presenters is the head of an ED organization in Illinois that uses social media extensively. He was able to provide first-hand information about his experience with the various social media applications and how to best use each in the economic development arena.



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New member – BMDA welcomes the following new member:



Liberty Financial Systems, Inc.

2385 Vermont Ave.

Suite E

Bismarck, ND 58504

Contact: Kevin Lacher



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Jobs available in the oil patch - If you are interested in the jobs in the oil patch, whether just out of curiosity or because you might know someone who might be looking for a job, this week’s list of openings can be viewed HERE. For these and other employment opportunities in Bismarck-Mandan and throughout the state, go to www.jobsnd.com.



This week the number of active oil rigs in North Dakota is 103. The Wall Street Journal crude oil price for today (3/19/10) is $82.20.



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