Talk of the Town-March 2013

Tourism Director Lisa Havelka discusses the busy spring with many shows and conventions in Owatonna

Member Guest: Holly Sobrack, Westbrack Marketing

Talk of the Town-February 2013

Interim President Rhonda Guthier shares the OACCT's latest news and updates.

Talk of the Town-January 2013

Latest news and happenings from OACCT President Brad Meier.

Member Guest: Robyn from Big Brothers/Big Sisters

Talk of the Town-December 2012

MainStreet Director Melanie Blanchette shares MainStreet goals and initiatives for 2013.

Local & State Business Expansion Results

Bill Blazar with the Minnesota Chamber shares
our local, regional and statewide
business results. 

Chamber members learned about local, as well as state wide, business retention and expansion survey results at a GrowMN! Luncheon event today.  GrowMN! is a program of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.


The recap from was significant giving us a pulse of how Owatonna and the region compare to the state on many different subjects.  The local interviews were conducted in the spring and summer of 2012 before the fiscal cliff gridlock plastered the news.  The discussion revolved around accomplishments, challenges, workforce and community strengths and weaknesses.

Local business leader panelists include (from left to right):
Scott Kubicek, Advantage Cabinets; Jeff Graby, Truth Hardware;
Tim Bush, Pro-Pet

A few interesting takeaways from the local survey of 37 businesses included electricity and power costs in our area appear to be lower than other parts of the state.  Higher education is a local concern that we need to improve more that other areas.  It was also noted that employers have difficulty recruiting skilled employees.  Fewer workers have the proficiency needed to fill jobs when there are jobs available.  Regional health care costs were mentioned as being higher in the area than other parts of the state.

One major manufacturing company no longer has the local clinic as part of their network.   Finally, shifting taxes from home owners to businesses was also a negative in our area.  We ranked higher than the state in keeping/remaining/maintaining expansion and businesses in our area compared to the state.

Locally the interviews portrayed businesses as healthy and with more optimism than previous years.  There have been expansions and unemployment is lower.  We need to foster employee learning and leadership to keep our region vibrant.

November 2012 Talk of the Town

Completing Highway 14

Completing the four-lane expansion of Highway 14 between Owatonna and Dodge Center is critical to our region’s economic success.  Not only does this dangerous stretch of road have a fatality rate nearly double the statewide average, but traffic volumes are expected to more than double by 2030.  Owatonna’s population and economy are growing, but employees’ ability to get to work and businesses’ ability to move their products and provide their services are being hampered by this insufficient two-lane road.

Four-lane expansion is needed to position Highway 14 for the future.  Right now, MnDOT is developing its 20-year state highway investment plan, which will establish the highway projects that will be funded in the next two decades.  We must ensure that Highway 14 is included in plan, or we risk the loss of additional lives and economic opportunity.   Please sign up here to receive updates on Highway 14 and learn about ways you can help get this project done!

http://ushighway14.com/sign-up-to-support-highway-14/