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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, March 3,2014 Page 7 Regarding the commuting information, Mr. Darger advised that the survey indi- cated that 63% of the businesses came from within a Y2 hour drive of Roseville, with over 1/3 from Y2 hour or more away, and a limited number from further away than that. Noting the education o employment process indicated from previous data, Mr. Darger recognized the 54% of workers are only required to have a high school or GED credential. At their February 18, 2014 retreat, Mr. Darger advised that the task force spent 2- 1/2 hours reviewing the data, and broke into small groups to nominate ideas, us- ing "dot democracy." Mr. Darger noted that Ms. Kelsey had the full print-out of those ideas; but he highlighted four project ideas or strategies receiving the high- est support from the task force. Those four ideas were: 1) Establish a business liaison position for the City, plus a Roseville initiative to connect businesses to outside assistance (Research Report #'s 1.5 and 14 — pages 14-15); 2) Sponsor business planning workshops at a basic or advance level; 3) Provide a"Welcome"package for new businesses in the community; and 4) Study a transportation shuttle idea for within Roseville (e.g. Nice Ride Minne- sota) (Research Report 1.5, Tab 3,page 16) Mr. Darger reviewed other strategies receiving significant interest, including mak- ing businesses aware of current opportunities (e.g. Roseville Business Council meeting the fourth Wednesday of each month at Affinity Credit Union); creation of a database of businesses in Roseville and applicable licensing information to allow easier networking among those businesses; and provide examples of suc- cesses in other communities and exposing school students to area job mentoring programs (Research Report 3.8, Tab 3,page 27). Additional strategies were provided in a bench handout and sorted by the number of votes from the task force for further discussion and potential implementation to the HRA Board. Mayor Roe suggested feedback from the HRA to the City Council on what strate- gies stood out and made sense for the community to undertake and work through the BR & E program. Discussion among Mr. Darger, HRA Board Members and Councilmembers ensued. On behalf of the HRA Board, Chair Maschka highlighted page 14 of Attachment A from the February 18, 2014 retreat, opining that he found merit in recommen- dations 1.2 and 1.3 related to business planning and expansion. With this era of the Internet and available technologies worldwide, Chair Maschka admitted that he found it fascinating that businesses were unable to connect with other and re- sources locally; and suggested this may be a great opportunity for the City to fa-