Economic Development
The MDBA (Monticello Downtown Business Association) is now in its third year
of operation as a Minnesota Non-profit Corporation. Our membership remains
strong however we wanted the Monticello community to be aware of our new
direction which is a priority focus on: Economic Development for Downtown
Monticello.
The MDBA Board of Directors has been mentoring with Peg Gustafson, the
Executive Director of the Downtown St. Cloud Council which has been
operating for 22 years. They prioritize their efforts on economic
development and effective partnerships to achieve their goals and objectives
for membership.
The MDBA Board of Directors surveyed our members asking them what their
priority was for the organization and why they joined. The majority of
membership told us that having thriving businesses occupy the downtown was
the priority. This, in addition to staying on top of local city government
issues that affect downtown business and property owners.
St. Cloudıs Downtown Council has told us that while events bring people to
downtown and create visibility they also require a lot of effort and
volunteers to pull it off and this task is best achieved with organization
directly from the businesses themselves while a downtown association can
assist with promoting the event. We also have found this to be true.
Our MDBA organization is still young and growing. We have limited resources
and volunteers so we have chosen to focus on what the majority of our
members have told us is most important and what has been confirmed to us by
St. Cloudıs Downtown Council and that is "economic development."
Our association, over a year ago, made public comment to the City of
Monticello EDA (Economic Development Association) to encourage and request
that the the City utilize TIF funds to develop a Study and Plan for Downtown
Monticello. We felt the McComb Group was most qualified consultant for the
task and the EDA and the City Council selected them and invested a
significant amount of money to complete the task. The final plan has been
presented at a recent June 29 community meeting held by the city.
The next steps are to ensure that implementation and financing components of
the McComb plan are completed as indicated by the contract the City signed
with McComb Group. The MDBA believes that these two components are critical
to the success of the plan. Itıs one thing to have drawings and plans for
what the Downtown could possibly develop into but actually being able to
pull it off and make it happen require ongoing implementation, marketing,
promotion and financial incentives and/or options to assist development if
it is to occur.
As a Monticello Downtown Business Association, we believe that developing
effective partnerships will allow us to work in harmony and to be effective
for the greater good of improving the business conditions of Downtown
Monticello. This task includes effective relationships with the downtown
businesses, as well entities that affect the business conditions of downtown
such as the City of Monticello's Economic Development Authority, City
Council, Planning Commission and the Monticello Chamber of Commerce. The
MDBA serves as an advocate for our membership on local government and
business related issues.
The MDBA Board of Directors has approved a set amount of financial
allocations from our current budget to be used towards economic development
projects for downtown. It is our desire to begin discussion with our
membership and City of Monticello to see how we can best utilize those funds
for downtown businesses.
For the immediate future, the priority goal is for the MDBA to continue
dialogue with the EDA as they work through the process of implementation and
financing for the Embracing Downtown Study by the McComb Group to see how we
can create an effective partnership to form successful results to that end.
We felt it was important to communicate this statement regarding the MDBA's
priority as "Economic Development." Feel free to provide us with any
feedback or comment you have in regard to improving the business conditions
of Downtown Monticello. We're interested in your ideas!
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For more information about Downtown Monticello Business and the MDBA's role
in economic development, please CONTACT US
Note: The MDBA is an independent organization and is not affiliated with
the Monticello Chamber of Commerce or the City of Monticello.
Monticello Downtown Business Association
Administrative contact: Secretary, Lynne Dahl-Fleming: 763-295-8100
PO Box 1116, Downtown Monticello, Minnesota 55362
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