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<br />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 /> <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. Counci1member Larson further stated <br />that that he thought ifthe 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 /> <br /> <br />Counci1member 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 /> <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 /> <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 /> <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 ofthe <br />benefit? <br /> <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 /> <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 /> <br />4 <br />