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Minot committee presses chamber-EDC on contract details and Magic Fund screening
Summary
At a committee meeting, Minot Area Chamber EDC leaders described their role and reporting to the city while council members and staff pushed for clearer accounting of the roughly $666,000 city contract, and asked for more transparency in the Magic Fund screening process used for primary-sector incentives.
The Economic Development Plan Review Committee heard a detailed briefing from Bridal Ackerman, chair of the Minot Area Chamber EDC, and staff about the chamber-EDC's responsibilities and its contract with the City of Minot. Committee members pressed for clearer accounting of public funds and for tighter, more transparent handling of Magic Fund applications for primary-sector incentives.
Bridal Ackerman, chair of the Minot Area Chamber EDC, told the committee that “we are contracted for economic development, workforce development, and military support. Those are the three.” She described ongoing touch points with city officials — monthly meetings with the city manager, monthly community development meetings, semiannual reports in July and an annual report in January — and said the organization provides quarterly business-retention-and-expansion outreach as well as monthly materials such as an “economy at a glance.”
The committee focused on money and process. City staff and the chamber-EDC said the city’s service agreement for 2024–25 is “just under $666,000.” Of that total, itemized compensation for Task Force 21 was listed in the contract as $106,250; the speakers estimated the remainder dedicated to economic-development services is roughly $550,000. Mark Lyman, economic development specialist for the Minot Area Chamber EDC, said some of the contract funds pay staff who run recruitment and site-selection activities, help prospective primary-sector firms with applications and occasionally cover travel and other costs tied to competing for projects.
Committee members and staff discussed how Magic Fund applications are vetted. The process described in the meeting has three filtration steps: 1) the chamber-EDC reviews applications and determines whether they meet primary-sector criteria and other legal requirements under the Magic Fund guidelines; 2) the Magic Fund screening committee (a community-appointed panel) reviews eligible projects from a community-priority standpoint; and 3) the city council makes the final funding decision. City staff cautioned that the first filter is important to avoid advancing requests that do not meet statutory or guideline requirements. As a city staff member said, “we have to be very careful that we follow the rules as they're set forth and that we keep things on track.”
Several committee members expressed concern about transparency and appropriate public oversight when a private nonprofit performs the initial screening. Jordan (chair, Magic Fund screening committee) said, “If you qualify for those dollars in my book, I don't wanna be the person that's playing favorites.” Harold (City Manager) told the group the screening design intentionally weeds out ineligible requests early: “We structured it so that if you don't pass phase 1, you don't get to go to phase 2,” he said, describing the intent to avoid wasting time and to comply with state requirements.
Members asked for clearer breakdowns of how the city contract funds are spent and for more consistent reporting. Mark Lyman suggested the service agreement could be simplified into fewer high-level deliverables to preserve operational flexibility while maintaining accountability. Several committee members recommended that the chamber-EDC provide a more detailed spending breakdown as part of its annual budget request to the city and that the Magic Fund screening committee be given clearer access to application histories and denials so the public record is more complete.
Other topics covered in the discussion included the Minot Area Chamber EDC’s board composition and governance, the chamber-EDC’s role in business retention and expansion (BR&E) interviews, and marketing and data needs for attracting site selectors. Lyman said the organization has formed new relationships with 13 site-selection firms in the past year and noted that many recruitment decisions now begin with online data searches. He recommended investing in a consolidated, public-facing data package to improve Minot's visibility to prospective firms.
No changes to the contract or the Magic Fund guidelines were adopted at the meeting. The committee asked staff to draft a working document summarizing the questions and suggested changes, and to return recommendations the committee can forward to city council. The meeting included routine procedural votes (approval of minutes and a motion to adjourn) but no substantive votes on funding or policy changes.
Ending
Committee members said they will continue the review and prepare a summary for formal council consideration. Staff and the chamber-EDC agreed to provide additional financial detail during the city’s upcoming budget process and to explore options for consolidating public-facing economic data and clarifying the Magic Fund screening timeline.
