10-18-2016 EDC Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Economic Development Commission Minutes October 18,2016 Page 2 of 4 of our population in town living in rental property. Commissioner Lindholm stated he sees this with his student population. The transient, unstable households are saturated in Pequot Lakes, with a few in Breezy Point and Crosslake. Thirty percent of the student body are in poverty. A renter could be an older individual who has lived in the area for a long time. He further stated that we need to support those individuals who live in the apartments because their lifestyles will be different. Sheila Haverkamp has the statistics outlining the number of people who are renters that work in our community and will supply that information at an upcoming meeting. Chair Jurchen pointed out that we have a transient work force which makes it difficult to integrate and engage our community. Commissioner Lindholm stated as a community,we need to look at the families in the apartments. If they are working 2 jobs raising a family, what is it that they need to be successful? What is it they do when he is at home mowing his lawn? How do we support that? Commissioner Rieck stated it is interesting that Pequot Lakes is not representative of communities across the United States. Chair Jurchen stated Pequot Lakes is unique as we have a strong economic segment, a diverse population. Commissioner Lindholm reported the secondary level enrollment increased by 50 students. There have been increases in Brainerd, Crosby and Crosslake, also. Regarding the employment graph, Chair Jurchen stated he would like a synopsis of employment in Pequot Lakes. Landis+ Gyr and TDS have approximately 300 employees in the information technology field. Commissioner Lindholm stated the graph indicates residents and their employment,not employers. The graph indicates a number of residents drive to Crosby Hospital and Essentia to work. A lot of our population are commuters to work. Chair Jurchen stated the EDC needs to know what jobs are in this community now. Sheila Haverkamp stated the information is available and BLAEDC has a DEED Analyst, Chad Bodeen, and he can gather whatever information we like. The EDC is looking for actual jobs in Pequot otherwise we will do a survey. The City's Business Inventory needs to be updated. Knowing this information would be helpful recruiting new businesses, listing what we have and what we may be short on. It would be helpful to know who has job openings to fill and where they are filled from. Chair Jurchen further stated some small towns with empty storefronts are allowing them to become residential units and shops, changing their zoning and integrating housing into their downtowns. Dawn Bittner stated that Pequot Lakes has changed their zoning and encourage