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FAIRMONT-- The Martin County Economic Development Authority (EDA) put time into its priority plan for focus areas moving forward at its meeting on Monday.
There are six areas of focus: broadband, childcare, housing, EDA marketing, business retention and expansion (BR&E) and community development.
Broadband and BR&E are both listed as high priority moving forward. Broadband initiatives include Federated REA partnerships and their Broadband Advisory Committee. For BR&E, the focus is on conducting business visits, hosting business workshops and recruiting businesses through programs like The Retail Coach.
Housing, EDA marketing and community development are listed as medium priority. Housing initiatives include the local housing trust fund and supporting small communities in Martin County with city-owned lots; EDA marketing includes maintaining the EDA website and promoting EDA initiatives on Facebook; and community development includes downtown improvement, regional marketing, and outreach to communities.
CEDA Specialist Amber Patten said this was the approved plan for 2026. Before December’s meeting, where they go more in-depth, they wanted to establish some baseline information.
“Do we want to keep it the same?” Patten asked. “Do you want to delete things? Do you want to add things? Any ideas? If you want to discuss that now, by all means, we are open. Danielle [Hayter-Johnson] and I will bring our ideas to next month’s meeting, but I thought it was a good idea just to show you guys at the November meeting.
Board President Tim Terfehr said manufacturing jobs should be prioritized moving forward. Board Member James Kloeckner mentioned that he did not like seeing low as the priority next to childcare, and fellow members Richard Koons and Billeye Rabbe agreed.
Under EDA Marketing, Terfehr said they should make sure they are getting out and actually marketing to people instead of focusing on social media.
“Once a month the Chamber does a Bureau 14 meeting, which is mostly Fairmont businesses,” he said. “But under business retention and expansion, they have 'conduct business visits', and that overlaps into marketing. This would be a way to visit with 15 business members instead of one. Just at least go introduce ourselves once in a while.”
The next question was regarding The Retail Coach and its inclusion moving forward. Concern has begun to creep in about not having enough results coming to the area.
“I have a hard time with paying and not seeing faster results than they are,” Koons said. “Part of the reason we’re not seeing results faster than we are is because you have to have living wage jobs, i.e., manufacturing, i.e., the hard skills there. It’s part of the reason we’ve had trouble solidifying retail, getting them here, and for what we pay them.”
Patten said she has also had these concerns.
“I also talked to Ned [Koppen] about my concern because I had the exact same concern,” she said. “Ned said he has the funds to go ahead and renew it, but he doesn’t know if he should either.”
Koons also said he was concerned because the bill is split 50/50 between the city and the county, and most of The Retail Coach’s attention is spent in Fairmont. Secretary/Treasurer Elizabeth Miller said it would have been a lot more expensive if it had included the entire county.
Terfehr asked for more focus to be put on industry, specifically agriculture manufacturing, for attracting businesses moving forward. He also asked that the county inquire whether a service similar to The Retail Coach exists, with connections that can reach out to industrial and manufacturing businesses that could come to Fairmont.
In other news:
-- A grant for $10,000 was received by the Martin County EDA, which will be used for a community garden.
-- Martin County EDA staff met with the Housing Department of Martin Faribault County Human Services to see if they can work together on assisting people who need housing. The meeting resulted in an agreement for a representative to present at a Local Housing Trust Fund meeting.