September 2015

A PUBLICATION OF THE DICKINSON AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Month-at-a-Glance

Jerry Cole Meet Our Executive Director

+ Business After Hours Recap

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Director Welcome

Ribbon Cuttings Member News Event Recap

Chamber Events

Board of Directors | Committee Chairs | Staff

Board of Directors Christian Kostelecky (President) …………………... 6th Year

Lisa Roers (President-Elect)………………………….. 5th Year

Zach Keller (Treasurer)………………………………….2nd Year

Carter Fong……………………………………………………3rd Year

Suzi Sobolik………………………………………………….. 2nd Year

Haylee Cripe…………………………………………………. 2nd Year

Robbin Schwindt…………………………………………... 3rd Year

JoAnn Hoff……………………………………………………. 3rd Year

Travis Hande…………………………………………………1st Year

Lisa Dolezal………………………………………………….. 1st Year

Ty Orton………………………………………………………. 1st Year

Shane Yoder…………………………………………………. 1st Year

Committee Chairs Agriculture ............................................ Tyson Bren

Ambassador .......................................... Nancy Caine

Education ............................................... Carter Fong

Governmental Affairs ....................... Chris Johnson

Promotions and Retail ..................... Betty Jo Noe

Officials ................................................... Nicolas Grant

Staff Jerry Cole ................................................ Executive Director

Megan Klassen ..................................... Office Coordinator

Cheryl Schreindl ................................ Events Coordinator

Published monthly by the Dickinson Area Chamber of Commerce.

Dickinson Area Chamber of Commerce members receive Chamberline newsletter quarterly in January, April, July, and October.

Advertising Coordination

Advertising rates and data available upon request.

Deadline: 3rd Thursday of the month (copy and advertising)

Dickinson Area Chamber of Commerce 314 3rd Ave. W · P.O. Box C

Dickinson, ND 58602

Phone: 701-225-5115 · Fax: 701-225-5116

E-mail: team@dickinsonchamber.org

Board of Directors monthly meeting minutes and annual financial statements are available to

Chamber members.

inside

ABOUT OUR PUBLICATION

Dickinsonchamber.org

Welcome

I am proud to be writing you today to introduce myself as your next Executive Director of

the Dickinson Area Chamber of Commerce. There is no greater honor than to have the opportunity

to work in partnership and on behalf of businesses in the Dickinson area. As I learn more about the details

behind the work of the Chamber of Commerce, I feel as though the leaders of the past have placed us in a

position to take a major step in our evolution to the future. You should take pride in the achievements that

your chamber has accomplished and I hope when you look back you say to yourself that you want to

remain involved with the chamber in the future.

Now a little bit about myself. I have spent approximately 30 years involved in various aspects of public

service work including non-profit, and public sector. The bulk of my professional life has been spent in

public parks and recreation field, working on increasing quality of life of the communities where I lived,

worked and played. I have found that my experience in parks and recreation field is invaluable when

working as a chamber executive. The two disciplines are more similar that one would imagine especially

when dealing with quality of life issues. When I am away from work I enjoy spending my time mountain

biking, climbing mountains and pheasant hunting.

While I have only been in Dickinson a few days now and have met some of

you, I look forward to meeting more of you and learning about your

businesses and goals for the community. Since the news broke that the

search committee had recommended that I be the next Executive Director

for the Chamber, I have received many supportive emails from area

businesses and citizens, sharing words of encouragement. I want thank you

all for your hospitality and willingness to allow me be part of this

community.

I’ll end by saying that I am excited and anxious to take the lead role for the

Dickinson Area Chamber of Commerce.

Sincerely, Jerry W. Cole Executive Director Dickinson Area Chamber of Commerce

R i b b o n C u t t i n g s Ribbon cuttings are led by our Ambassadors Committee, a group of dedicated

volunteers who help chamber members celebrate their business.

Contact us today for more information or to schedule your Ribbon Cutting event!

CONTACT US >

Dickinson Meadows Apartments

Sullivan Apartments

Prairie Winds Apartments

Badlands Storage

Midcontinent Communications

HIGHTLIGHTING MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

MEMBER

NEWS

Dickinsonchamber.org

Affordable Housing Projects Showcased in Dickinson

Disabled Individuals and Essential Service Workers Benefit

Sullivan Construction and Roers Development Inc. showcased Dickinson’s newest affordable housing projects today. The developments provide disabled individuals with apartments designed specifically to

meet their needs and will offer the first essential service worker housing in the community.

“Sullivan Apartments and Prairie Winds Apartments are great examples of public-private partnerships promoted by the Housing Incentive Fund (HIF) to address North Dakota’s affordable housing needs,” said Governor Jack Dalrymple. “Creating affordable housing is important as we continue to enhance the livability of our communities.”

The HIF program provides funding to developers of housing projects that allows income-restricted units to rent for below market rates.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission, consisting of Dalrymple as chairman, Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, oversees North Dakota Housing Finance Agency (NDHFA), the administrator of the HIF. Lt. Governor Drew Wrigley attended the event on the Commission’s behalf.

“To have healthy communities, we must have affordable housing for essential service workers like state and local government employees and hospital and nursing home staff,” said Jolene Kline, NDHFA executive director. “And, being able to provide the housing needed by fixed-income households like the disabled individuals that receive services from ABLE Inc. makes Dickinson a socially well-rounded community.”

Nine of the 30 units at Sullivan Apartments are reserved for individuals supported by the not-for-profit agency. The developer of the $4.8 million project, Sullivan Construction, was awarded $1.4 million from HIF in 2013.

“We are very thankful for the assistance that Sullivan Apartments received,” said Mary Anderson ABLE Inc. executive director. “The HIF program allowed us to create better housing opportunities for people with disabilities.”

HIF relies on taxpayer support to provide low-cost financing to developers of affordable multifamily housing.

“We are thrilled at the opportunity to give back to the Dickinson community by providing high quality affordable hous-ing for essential community employees,” says Larry Nygard, Vice President of Roers Development Inc. Cntd >

August 2015

Roers Development submitted a HIF application this spring to reserve half of the units in its $6 million Prairie Winds Apartments for essential service workers. The project was awarded a $1.5 million conditional commitment from NDHFA in July. The developer has secured about one-third of the HIF contributions needed.

“We are eager to having this project fully capitalized, so it can provide the housing Dickinson needs to attract and re-tain a quality workforce“,” said Dickinson Mayor Dennis Johnson.

The Roers project is one of 24 developments that were awarded conditional commitments this summer. To honor the commitments made, NDHFA must raise $30 million by Dec. 31, 2016.

“We look forward to hearing from past contributors and encourage new businesses and individuals to support HIF so we can move all of our new projects forward,” said Kline.

HIF contributions can be targeted to a specific project or designated for general use in a community or region. Individu-als and businesses that contribute to the program receive a dollar-for-dollar state tax credit. More information on HIF is available online at www.ndhousingincentivefund.org.

NDHFA is a self-supporting state agency that finances the creation and rehabilitation of affordable housing across North Dakota.

> Cntd

Choice Financial Donates to ND Housing Finance Agency

Choice Financial recently contributed $300,000 to the North Dakota Housing Incentive Fund (HIF), with $100,000 supporting Prairie Winds, a 36 unit multi-family complex in Dickinson.

“Choice Financial is proud to support the Housing Incentive Fund to fulfill a need for affordable and sustainable housing throughout North Dakota,” said Brian L. Johnson, Choice Financial CEO. “This contribution provides our North Dakota communities a chance to grow by providing affordable housing that is suitable to their individual needs.”

Capitalized by contributions from state taxpayers, HIF offers low-cost financing to developers of affordable rental housing when they set aside units for essential service workers and low-to moderate-income households. The North Dakota Housing Finance Agency (NDHFA) administers the program.

More information on HIF is available online at www.ndhousingincentivefun.org or by contacting NDHFA at (800) 292-

8621 or hfainfo@nd.gov.

Choice Financial is a forward-thinking financial services organization that remains locally owned and built around long-term customer

relationships, well-rounded products and services, and authentic community banking.

JLG Architects moves up on annual national architecture firm ranking JLG Architects has been named #87 on the Architectural Record Top 300 Firms list,

which ranks architecture and architecture/engineering firms headquartered in the United States by annual revenue. JLG was #158 in 2014, and is the only firm from North Dakota to have ever made this ranking.

Named to Inc. 5000 for second year in a row

JLG Architects has been named #1316 on the Inc. Magazine 5000 list, which ranks the fastest-growing private companies in America. JLG is #1 on the list of all North Dakota companies, and is the highest-ranked architecture firm on the entire list. JLG was #2547 in 2014. JLG has been named to several national business rankings in 2015 in addition to the Inc. 5000 list, including #38 of the Building Design+Construction Giants 300 Design Firms, #5 of the Zweig Group Hot Firms, #5 of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal Top 25 Architecture Firms, #89 of the Architectur-al Record Top 300 Architecture Firms and #386 of the Engineering News-Record Top 500 Design Firms. JLG has also been selected as a Best Place to Work by Prairie Business and the Zweig Group.

Named top 25 Best Place to Work JLG Architects has been named to the top 25 large employers on the “50 Best Places to Work” list by Prairie Business Magazine. It is JLG’s second year in a row on the list, and the firm’s third Best Place to Work honor in 2015. JLG has also been recognized by The Zweig Group and the GGF Young Profession-als. Now in the second year of hosting the Best Places to Work contest, Prairie Business received nearly 2,500 surveys nominating more than 140 companies. Companies were nominated through an anonymous employee satisfaction survey and rated in areas including work environment, employee benefits and employee happiness. Consideration was also given to the number of nominations received per company. The top 25 small for-profit companies (99 or fewer full-time employees) and the top 25 large for-profit companies (100+ employees) are honored in the magazine, which is available now on www.prairiebizmag.com.

“People want to be happy at work. It's just that simple,” said Korrie Wenzel, publisher. “The businesses that truly care -- about their people as well as the future of the business itself -- need to understand that. As the region's unemployment level plunges, businesses are quickly realizing that they have to work harder to recruit and retain the best workers.”

WESTWOOD RECOGNIZED AS A TOP 150 WORKPLACE Westwood Professional Services, Inc. Westwood is pleased to announce that it has been se-lected as a 2015 StarTribune Top Workplace.

Published by the StarTribune for six years, the evaluation for the top workplaces is based solely on employee feedback through a survey conducted by Workplace Dynamics, LLC. More than 2,100 organizations were invited to participate in the survey.

Westwood is a 350-person firm headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with multiple U.S. offices. The company works nationally, providing surveying, engineering, environmental, and planning services to support residential and commercial development, wind and solar energy, power delivery, and oil and gas pipeline projects.

Daniel Parks, PE oversees Westwood’s Minneapolis operations and has worked with the firm since 2002. Parks attributes the StarTribune recognition as a testament to the firm’s commitment to attracting, recruiting, and retaining the best employees. He says, “As a professional services firm, our employees are our greatest asset. Knowing this, we strive to ensure they have the tools they need to do their best work for our clients and the support they need to be the best they can be in their chosen careers. We’ve been told that it is difficult to achieve ranking on the Top Workplace list on a company’s first try, so being selected validates our efforts.”

St. Cloud Office Leader, Nate Carlson, says the firm entered the competition to gauge their success and gather data for continual improvement, “The feedback we’ve received from our employees through the survey will help us identify gaps and enhance our workplace even more in the years ahead.”

The Minnesota Star Tribune published the complete list of Top Workplaces on June 14. For more information about the Top Workplaces lists and Workplace Dynamics, please visit www.topworkplaces.com and www.workplacedynamics.com.

About Westwood (Westwood)

Westwood Professional Services, Inc. (Westwood) provides multi-disciplined surveying and engineering services for commercial and residential development, renewable energy, power delivery, and oil and gas projects. The firm was established in 1972 and serves clients across the nation from multiple U.S. offices. Westwood was recently recog-nized on the 2014 Zweig Letter Hot Firm List as number six on the top 100 fastest-growing architecture, engineering, planning and environmental consulting firms in the United States and Canada.

Dickinsonchamber.org

TR Center to publish images from Arizona Historical Society

The Theodore Roosevelt Center (TR Center) at Dickinson State University is publishing online images from the Arizona Historical Society. Materials in this collection include correspondence from Gutzon

Borglum regarding the creation of Mount Rushmore, letters examining national politics, and items relating to the history of the Rough Riders. Letters in the collection highlight the value Roosevelt and his family placed on developing and preserving relationships. “When Theodore Roosevelt wrote to friends like Patty Selmes and John Greenway, he wrote in a personal and evocative way that humanizes him. Reading these letters brings him to life in a way not possible through his more formal correspondence,” said TR Center digital library coordinator and archivist Pamela Pierce. “In these letters, he took the time to reflect on prairie grass and winding rivers.” Visit the Arizona Historical Society items related to TR at www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Collections/Arizona-Historical-Society.aspx or search the full digital library at www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org. The Theodore Roosevelt Center is dedicated to preserving the legacy of America’s 26th president. The Center has under-taken the monumental task of creating a presidential digital library that will serve as a repository for all Roosevelt-related documents, photographs and ephemera, providing instant access via the Internet in a well-organized, compre-hensible manner. The Center also hosts an annual Theodore Roosevelt Symposium as well as special Roosevelt-related events, promotes Roosevelt scholarship and offers student internships.

Accreditation of Dickinson State University affirmed

Dickinson State University (DSU) received a formal notification Aug. 5, 2015, that the Institutional

Actions Council (IAC) of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) has continued its accreditation of the institution with the next Reaffirmation of Accreditation in 2024-25. At its meeting July 27, 2015, the IAC took action to continue the accreditation of DSU with the HLC and in conjunction with this action, required interim monitoring. The monitoring will include a visit in year four focused on general educa-tion assessment, enrollment management, retention, and program integrity. “The affirmation and continued accreditation of DSU reflects the commitment of the faculty and staff to the university core values of integrity and excellence in education and process,” said D.C. Coston, president. For more information on the HLC or accreditation please visit www.hlcommission.org.

Dickinsonchamber.org

Key partner of the Strom Center, Doerr, receives SBDC 2015 State Star Award

Executive Director for the Bowman County Development Corporation (BCDC), Teran Doerr, recently received the Small Business

Development Center’s (SBDC) 2015 State Star Award. According to America’s SBDC website, “State Stars” are employees exhibiting exemplary performance and making a significant contribution to their state or region. She is the first non-regional director to receive the State Star Award, and will accept her award at the National ASBDC Annual Conference held in San Francisco this September. Doerr plays an important role in the partnership between the BCDC and the SBDC’s regional office based out of the Strom Center of Dickinson. This award is a direct reflection of those efforts. Doerr’s SBDC Regional Director, Ray Ann Kilen, praised Doerr as “an innovative leader in her community and her commitment to serving Bowman County is truly

evidenced by her stellar performance supporting small businesses.” Her ability to view a comprehensive picture for the future of Bowman County and its economy is a key element in her ability to assist in progressively moving the county forward. The Strom Center was created to assist in the revitalization of community economies by encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs and fostering an entrepreneurial spirit. The Strom Center actively promotes regional partnerships and offers entrepreneurs, emerging businesses and communities a network of professionals who provide support and assistance with business startup, technical assistance, business consulting, marketing resources, community capacity building and applied research and technology.

To learn more about the Strom Center please visit www.stromcenter.com

Change in hours at Sanford Health Walk-in Clinic

Beginning Aug. 29, the Sanford Health Walk-in Clinic in Dickinson will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends and holidays. The walk-in clinic will continue to see patients from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Monday through Friday. Prior to this change, the weekend and holiday hours were 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information about the Sanford Health Walk-in Clinic in Dickinson, visit sanfordhealth.org keywords: Dickinson Walk-in Clinic.

About Sanford Health Sanford Health is an integrated health system headquartered in the Dakotas. It is one of the largest health systems in the nation with 43 hospitals and nearly 250 clinics in nine states and three countries. Sanford Health’s 27,000 employees, including 1,400 physicians, make it the largest employer in the Dakotas. Nearly $1 billion in gifts from philanthropist Denny Sanford have allowed for several initiatives, including global children's clinics, genomic medicine and specialized centers researching cures for type 1 diabetes, breast cancer and other diseases. For more information, visit sanfordhealth.org.

DOUG PERKINS JOINS HOUSTON ENGINEERING, INC.

Doug Perkins has joined Houston Engineering, Inc.’s team as the office manager for our Dickinson office. A Dickinson native,

he earned his degree in English from University of Utah. Doug has been in the civil engineering world since 1989, and over his career he has been in a variety of roles, including GIS project manager, general manager, and board of directors member. Most recently he has been the office manager for Civil Science, Inc. in Williston and Dickinson overseeing business development efforts targeted to land development projects as well as managing pro-jects in western North Dakota and Montana.

Houston Engineering, Inc. (HEI) provides engineering, surveying, and envi-ronmental consulting services. Established in Fargo in 1968, the company also has offices in Bismarck, Dickinson, Grand Forks, and Minot, ND, as

well as Maple Grove and Thief River Falls, MN.

@houstoneng http://www.facebook.com/houstoneng Houston Engineering, Inc.

Dickinsonchamber.org

The Chamber could not accomplish its mission without the time, effort and dedication of its many volunteers. Their work makes the large number of events run smoothly, and they are the heart and soul of the organization. We thank you chamber volunteers. If you would like to join any of our Chamber committees, contact Cheryl at 701-225-5115 or team@dickinsonchamber.org.

Agriculture Committee This group is currently planning the 2015 West River Livestock Show which also includes the “Take Your Best Shot” Amateur Photo Contest

Ambassadors Committee This committee is currently very active with welcoming new businesses to the community by conducting Ribbon Cuttings.

Education Committee This group is planning the 2015 New Educator’s Social which will be held on September 8.

Energy Committee This group is discussing potential partnerships between energy companies and Dickinson State University.

Governmental Affairs This Group will meet as needed to discuss community issues.

Professional Development This committee has interviewed and selected a great group of high school seniors to participate in the 2015/2016 Leadership Dickinson Program. They are also working on organizing the first Lunch N learn which will be held in October as well as working with the DSU Trio Program to partner with them in helping prepare the university students for the workplace after graduation.

Promotions Committee This group continues to promote ‘Shopping Local, Shop Dickinson”. They are busy planning the first Dickinson Festival of Trees as well as working on the 25

th Annual craft show.

Event Recap

Committee Updates

Kristi Schwartz Agency

Business After Hours is a social atmosphere that facilitates conversation. Join this month’s hosts for hors d’oeuvres, refreshments and socializing.

September 2015

Chamber Events

BECOME A MEMBER Chamber membership is an investment in your own

business, and in the community .

APPLY NOW

Each year the Chamber hosts great networking events. The events include monthly Business After Hours, annual New Member Social, annual Craft Show, annual Banquet and annual Livestock Show.

Dickinsonchamber.org

314 3rd Avenue W Dickinson, ND 58601

701.225.5115

team@dickinsonchamber.org

A PUBLICATION OF THE DICKINSON AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE