Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Celebrating a Victory Within City Hall
It is important that individuals and communities celebrate their accomplishments and victories. A victory has occurred within City Hall. The Duluth Building Safety Office has been revitalized. The office has transitioned into a positive and enabling resource for citizens, and the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce celebrates the revitalization. The office is responsible for issuing building permits and reviewing construction plans. When it comes to building something in Duluth, all paths lead to the Building Safety Office. This office is where Duluthians hoping to build, expand or otherwise improve a structure, must first seek and gain approval.
Prior to this recent revitalization, the office was viewed by many in the business community as a primary source of aggravation and frustration. When a person's money, time, energy and, sometimes, livelihood is placed at risk to build, expand or improve a building, that person wants to enter a predictable and enabling review and approval process. Oftentimes, the office was neither predictable nor enabling.
Mayor Ness made the revitalization of the Building Safety Office one of his initial priorities. The Chamber encouraged him to do exactly that. Moreover, the Chamber encouraged every candidate running for mayor and for the city council to commit to improving operations within the Building Safety Office. In an effort to keep our elected officials attention focused on the safety office, we held public forums on the issue. We wrote several editorials and blogs which encouraged service improvements within the office. Additionally, the Chamber encouraged the local media to keep the issue at a high profile within our beloved community.
The Chamber also facilitated a fundraising effort which generated private funding for a professional operational assessment of the office. The assessment led to many of the positive changes that have occurred within the office.
Yet, in the end, it was Mayor Ness and his administration that had the authority and the conviction to make the necessary improvement to the office. Mayor Ness was the one who, months ago, placed Deputy Fire Chief Bryan Bushey in charge of the office. Bryan Bushey has been a positive, powerful instrument of change for the office. Mayor Ness was the one who had the insight to contract with an operations expert to evaluate the office and make recommendations for efficiencies. Most importantly, the hard working and dedicated city employees working in the office embraced the challenge of bringing additional efficiency and improved service to the office.
The Chamber applauds the improvement within the City's Building Safety Office. We celebrate the accomplishments realized within this vital community resource. We congratulate Mayor Ness, Bryan Bushey and his colleagues working in the office as they are bringing heightened service and efficiency to the office.
It is an exciting time to be a part of our business community within our Emerald City on the Hill.
In support and advocacy,
David RossPresident & CEO
posted by David Ross at
Monday, August 25, 2008
Is Your City Councilor Helping or Hindering the Mayor?
Mayor Ness displays courage as he sets out to balance the City of Duluth's budget prior to the end of the year. He has risen to the challenge of effectively addressing the City's compounding difficulties. Thankfully, he has not become discouraged. Instead, Ness demonstrates a resolve that is more powerful than outside circumstances, including intense opposition from the City's largest employees union: the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). In doing so, he exhibits the kind of leadership we elected him to provide our beloved community. We are fortunate that Mayor Ness is leading this bold effort to balance the City's operating expenses with its annual income. Balancing the budget is simply what thousands of Duluth business owners do every year. To do otherwise is not sustainable, nor responsible to those involved in the business. Yet, it appears AFSCME's leadership finds the mayor's budget balancing initiatives nothing short of "ultimatums." They have publicly labeled the mayor's recent actions as "threatening and irresponsible." Mayor Ness rightly called the question: "Will the relationship (city and union) follow that all-too-predictable path of conflict to the point of breaking down discussion, or can we set a new model in which we set forth our positions and our interests and our needs, and at times agree to disagree?" Let us, as community members, hope for a new and less predictable response from AFSCME's representatives. Let us, as well, call for stronger and more decisive leadership from our city councilors. Thus far, only a few of the councilors have displayed the courage necessary to stand with Mayor Ness and do what needs to be done. Regrettably, Councilor Greg Gilbert has gone so far as to publicly label Mayor Ness' staffing reductions "unnecessary and unwise." Councilor Gilbert called the financial crisis that Mayor Ness has portrayed as "rhetoric." Gilbert's comments and position are frightening. I am scared. You should be, too. If Councilor Gilbert's view on this seminal issue is shared by the majority of city councilors, we are in serious trouble. We can assume the councilors and the mayor are receiving candid feedback on this issue from those interested in blocking the mayor's budget repair initiative. It is time these same elected officials heard from those of us who applaud and support the mayor's efforts. The councilors can be reached at council@duluthmn.gov. The mayor can be reached at dness@duluthmn.gov. Please make your voice heard on this critically important issue.
posted by David Ross at
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Monday, June 30, 2008
Applauding Mayor Ness' Leadership
Mayor Ness is immersed in a valuable educational growth experience. He can appreciate and take comfort in former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's view that, "Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater." There is no education like adversity. In his first six months as mayor, Don Ness has been buffeted by the City's unfolding and compounding financial and operational challenges. The most recent of which is the realization that, unless he takes immediate corrective action, the City's will experience an operating deficit in 2008 of $4.4 million. To his credit, Mayor Ness quickly developed, and is implementing, a comprehensive budget repair strategy to eliminate the deficit within the next six months. It includes 120 different strategies, from closing city departments, eliminating staffing, cutting services and finding operational efficiencies. It is a bold, ambitious - and necessary - plan. Here is where we, as chamber members and citizens of our beloved Zenith City, would do well to support Mayor Ness and his plan - all of it. Our community can overcome this challenge if we have the courage and the discipline to allow our mayor and city councilors to implement the budget repair strategies. Our most effective call to action may well be to not take action against the repair plan, and to allow the mayor to proceed with his repair strategies. Ideally, we will also articulate to the mayor that we look with favor upon his bold beginning. Mayor Ness can be reached at dness@ci.duluth.mn.us. Mayor Ness would be delighted if we simply allow him to do the work we elected and entrusted him to do. He is challenging the status quo. He is rising to meet the City's multiple challenges. I, for one, support and applaud him. I encourage you to do the same. Seeing opportunity in this challenge, David Ross
posted by David Ross at
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Help Us Ignite the Fuse
Our young people are a precious community resource - and too many of them are leaving the area. When other communities are the recipients of our highly educated and ambitious family members, our community loses. This self-defeating situation has gone on far too long. Someone had to do something about it. The Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce accepted the challenge. The Chamber's young professional initiative, called Fuse Duluth, has evolved over the last three years into a thriving group of individuals who are motivated to attract and retain young people within our beloved Emerald City on the Hill. The word "Fuse" has two meanings: 1) to blend or mix (young people into our business community); and 2) to ignite (young talent's interest in remaining in our Zenith City). Moreover, the Chamber is reaching beyond our current citizenry to those Duluthians who have sought and found work elsewhere. An encouraging number of those individuals wish to return to this panoramic city they consider "home." The Chamber is working to make their return more likely. Creating attractive jobs is one way we can retain our young people and facilitate the return of former Duluthians. Yet, creating jobs is no longer enough to meet our goals. We must also determine, embrace and articulate what makes Duluth unique. Doing so will allow us to identify and market what gives Duluth its competitive advantage. Our success in this effort will enable our Port City to attract and retain the best of the generation that is now entering the workforce. Fortunately for Duluth, a recent national study pertaining to our nation's new economy confirmed that amenities and environmental quality are paramount in attracting talent to a community. "Quality-of-Place" is a new term used to represent the natural, recreational, and lifestyle amenities vital to attracting talent. The report contends that quality of place is as important as traditional economic factors such as jobs and career opportunities. The Chamber is transitioning with the times. We get it. We are on it. We have come to understand and appreciate that Duluth's competitive advantage is increasingly contingent upon the quality of recreational amenities we offer, safety, clean air and accessibility to clean water for consumption and recreation. How fortunate we are to be on the shores of the Greatest of the Great Lakes. We also understand that our attractiveness as a community will increase as we cultivate our arts and music scenes and as we embrace our increasing diversity. With this new insight in mind, the Chamber is actively looking to partner with our elected officials and other groups and organizations to make quality of place enhancements and the creation of jobs a combined, Fused, and powerful initiative. We welcome you sharing your ideas and suggestions with us by contacting Breanne DeFoe, director of Fuse Duluth, at bdefoe@duluthchamber.com or 740-3758.These collaborative efforts will allow our Christmas City of the North to protect and enhance the things that make Duluth unique and compelling, including its pool of young talent.
posted by David Ross at
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Having Our Voice Heard at the Capitol
Duluth and Saint Louis County at the Capitol remains the largest, boldest and most effective community gathering at the State Capitol. The largest citizen lobbying event in Minnesota, Duluth and St. Louis County at the Capitol brings more than six hundred voters to the Capitol annually, voters who advocate for initiatives and capital projects that will improve the quality of life for residents of our region.
Started in 1997 as a vehicle to focus state legislators' attention on our region's needs, the annual event requires months of planning; financial support from dozens of local businesses and organizations; and the energy and enthusiasm of hundreds of Duluth and Saint Louis County residents. Duluth and St. Louis County at the Capitol is one of only a few Minnesota lobbying events that is successful in bringing together a coalition of business and labor leaders, city councilors, county commissioners, school board members and private citizens in a coordinated advocacy effort.
Months of planning, at the local level, have allowed us to generate a list of 2008 Minnesota State Legislative Funding Priorities for our region. We will advocate for the funding of these priorities when we gather at the Capitol on February 25 and 26.
Our funding requests include: the DECC Arena at $40 million; the UMD Civil Engineering Building at $10 million; the WLSSD Sanitary Sewer Overflow Storage Basins at $12.7 million; the Airport Authority's New Airport Terminal at $5.7 million; Lake Superior College's New Health and Science Building at $11 million; St. Louis County Water Line and Sewer improvements at $2.5 million; and the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College's Land Acquisition at $1.8 million.
We have our work cut out for us. Many other communities are also asking the State of Minnesota to fund their proposed building projects. There is over $3.4 billion in state bonding requests this year. In response to these funding requests, Governor Pawlenty recently announced a $965 million bonding proposal, which would fund only 23% of the requests.
Our success in gaining State funding for our projects will depend on: the efficacy of our area elected officials; the health of the State's economy; the Governor's advocacy for our projects; and our efficacy in making our collective voice heard at the Capitol. Be assured, the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce will continue to partner with our brothers and sisters in labor, education, government and business to advance our region's funding requests at the State's 2008 Legislative Session. I encourage you to take an active interest in the growth and development of our region by joining us at Duluth & St. Louis County at the Capitol and helping our collective voice be heard. For additional information or to register for the event go to www.duluthandstlouiscounty.com.
posted by David Ross at
Monday, December 17, 2007
Let's Rebuild the Building Safety Office
The Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce works to identify business-related issues and trends. Once these issues are identified, we seek to advocate for business-friendly trends and change the course of trends that will impact business negatively. With the best interest of business as motivation, the Chamber is strongly advocating for improvement in how the City of Duluth's Building Safety Office handles its approval and permitting process.
When it comes to building something in Duluth, all paths lead to the Building Safety Office. It is where Duluthians, hoping to build, expand, or otherwise improve and change a structure, must seek and gain approval.
Our community's shared challenge is simple: the demand for service has outstripped the office's ability to meet the demand. At a recently held Forvm, a Chamber of Commerce member meeting, eighty interested business persons discussed the Building Safety Office's status. Duane Lasley, who leads the office, made it plain: his office is struggling to keep up with the vastly increased amount of permit requests. He shared how the amount of construction in Duluth has increased from $69 million in 1996 to $233 million in 2006.
During this same time period, the Building Safety Office appears to have suffered from a lack of adequate resources necessary to match the demand. The office suffers with an ancient computer system, and, Duane Lasley contends, understaffing. In preparation for The Forvm, Chamber staff members researched other building safety offices from similar sized communities. We found that other offices have utilized technology to a far greater degree than has Duluth. In Rochester, MN, you can apply for a permit online at any time, thus avoiding finding a parking spot in front of City Hall and standing in line at the desk of the Building Safety Office. This is one of several examples of how technology has made the permitting process most customer-friendly and more efficient.
Duluth's Building Safety Office is woefully behind the times in utilizing technology to smooth the permit process. Yet, technology takes money. The City of Duluth is broke. Herein lies the problem. The new mayor will have to reallocate existing resources, from elsewhere within City Hall, to the Building Safety Office. Will it be easy. No. Can it be done. Yes – if Mayor-Elect Ness makes doing so a priority.
Don Ness has indicated he will make the tackling of this chronic concern a priority. I believe he has the volition, the energy and the talent to provide the Building Safety Office the direction and support it needs to improve the office's customer service while concurrently making the office more efficient.
When the pressure is on, great leaders are at their best. Let's encourage Mayor-elect Don Ness and Building Safety Office Leader, Duane Lasley, to be great leaders by keeping the pressure on.
Yours in advocacy,
David Ross
President & CEO
posted by David Ross at
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Monday, September 10, 2007
Participate in the Primary
The stage is set. The Chamber has done what it promised to do…provide you credible and timely information regarding the candidates and their positions on business-related issues. It is time we, as business community members, did our part by voting in the Tuesday, September 11 primary election. Your September issue of the Chamber's Xpress Newsletter included a 12 page special supplement called Election 2007. It contained a comprehensive presentation of the candidates' positions related to economic development within our community. Election 2007 also included a presentation of the survey results generated by the 299 members who chose to make their voices heard within the survey. Additionally, throughout last week, the Chamber hosted several forums called Candid Conversations with Candidates. These conversations enabled the Chamber to record the candidates' thoughts on issues facing our business community. These conversations are available via the web at www.duluthchamber.com/community/government.htm. Please use the Election 2007 insert or the Candid Conversations web presentations as a resource when deciding who you will support. The Chamber's Board of Directors and staff members respectfully encourage the Chamber's 1,259 members to vote in this primary. Voting is a privilege and a hard earned right which we honor when we take the time to cast our vote. Make sure your voice is heard. Yours in support, David Ross
posted by David Ross at
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