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MEMORANDUM DATE:EDC Agenda Item 5.B February 6, 2013 TO: Economic Development Commission Chair and Commissioners FROM: Jill Hutmacher, Community Development Director SUBJECT: Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) On January 17, 2013, Councilmember Werner, Commissioner Huninghake, and the Community Development Director attended a Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) meeting hosted by Greater MSP, the regional public-private economic development partnership. The purpose of the meeting was to coordinate business visits by Greater MSP, Chambers of Commerce, cities, and other economic development entities. Some businesses receive multiple meeting requests over the course of the year, and have suggested that business visits could be better coordinated. Greater MSP also suggested that information from business visits could be better shared between economic development entities, and that coordinated business visits could provide better access to some businesses and provide businesses with a broader array of services and assistance. Subsequent to the January 17 meeting, staff met with the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce to discuss joint business visits. It was agreed that the Chamber and City, with assistance from Greater MSP as needed, would work together to identify a contact within Boston Scientific and schedule a joint business visit. Both the Chamber and the City have had difficulty scheduling a business visit with Boston Scientific. The City will work to schedule business visits with Smiths Medical, Exos Medical (which was recently sold to an out-of-state company), and another Arden Hills business which Greater MSP identified as a priority for a BRE visit. City of Arden Hills Economic Development Commission February 6, 2013 11 Page of