Gary Beatty, a member of the Community Resources and Tourism Committee, gave an update on county economic development activity and highlighted work by county economic development staff member Adam.

Beatty said Adam has pursued grants and has been appointed as one of Dunn County's representatives to the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and to its executive committee. Beatty said Adam has been engaging village and township leaders and working with the development corporation on outreach to entrepreneurs.

Beatty described an application concept submitted to the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) that, if selected, would start with attendance at a national upward-mobility conference and six months of technical assistance, followed by a $20,000 grant to implement the work. The proposed project would map property within the county's seven villages that is available for development and produce marketing "sales sheets" for those parcels to assist villages and developers.

"So I'm really hopeful that they get that grant because I think that would be a really cool process, project and in great way to engage the villages," Beatty said.

Beatty also noted Adam and Dan Dunbar collaborated on the ICMA application and that Adam presented the county's work to contiguous townships and to the Greater Menomonie Development Corporation.

When asked about a specific piece of property tied to a nursing-home-related discussion, Beatty said the county still owns the property and would consider a new offer if the city finds another developer.

Ending: No formal county action was taken; Beatty encouraged the committee to monitor the grant application and development mapping effort.