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advocating for herself therefore she thought the consultant idea may be a good idea should <br /> Council choose to pursue it. The change would require some investment in terms of educating • <br /> the public about what it would mean,the impact on the Council and their decisions, the impact <br /> on the community and the impact on how business was conducted. <br /> Councilmember Larson stated that the Council needed to put more trust in staff and more trust in <br /> acting as leaders and establishing visions. He voiced that he liked the broadness of the plan and <br /> the level at which it was drafted. There were different ways to bring fruition to some of the <br /> things in the plan. Staff should take this list of planned activities and come back to Council with <br /> recommendations of how to bring these things forward. Councilmember Larson further stated <br /> that that he thought if the Council was doing their job as Council members they should not be <br /> dealing in the detail since that was not what they we were elected to do. <br /> Councilmember Grant stated that he was concerned with the medium sized businesses that would <br /> want to relocate. Larger companies like Land O'Lakes or Boston Scientific could be acquired or <br /> their business downturns and they would likely have several plants across the country to <br /> consider. Small businesses, consisting of two employees or a mom and dad in their garage <br /> would move for whatever reason they choose and it will be hard to retain them. <br /> Ms. Wolfe stated that this related back to what Mr. Kunkel said about being strategic in <br /> determining where it makes most sense to target our efforts. Perhaps for business retention <br /> purposes, certain aspects make more sense to target medium sized businesses, versus small and <br /> large businesses. The underlying thing was a strategic approach,but first the information must <br /> be available. • <br /> Mr. Kunkel stated that the City needed to be prepared to deal in the global economy,but if a <br /> decision was made to close Boston Scientific or Land O'Lakes,he believed that the Economic <br /> Development Commission would want us to be strategic. We would not be able to influence the <br /> decision makers of those companies regarding whether or not be keep those offices/operations <br /> here,but we would have a role in who we would want to bring in. That was where we would <br /> need to think strategically and this acquired knowledge would help us accomplish that. <br /> Councilmember Grant stated that the plan timeline was 15 years. If that was put up against the <br /> TCAAP schedule,would TCAAP benefit as a result? Would it be reasonable for TCAAP and <br /> the developers to be partners with this economic client since they would also be recipients of the <br /> benefit? <br /> Mayor Aplikowski stated it could be entirely possible. One reason for this plan coming together <br /> was because the EDC did not want a north and south Arden Hills. The intent was to blend the <br /> two sections. Everything in the plan would eventually benefit not only current business,but also <br /> future businesses. <br /> Ms. Barton stated that ultimately, when looking at this in relation to TCAAP, our efforts would <br /> benefit the developer,but would also benefit the City as well since we would be in a proactive <br /> situation as oppose to reactive. We would have more influence on what businesses are attracted <br /> here as opposed to waiting to see who would show up. <br /> 4 <br />