The Economic Development Plan Review Committee heard on Jan. 10 that the city's contract with Retail Coach expired about 10 days earlier and that the city is rebidding retail recruitment services.

Brian, city staff member, told the committee, "it expired about 10 days ago. It was for $27,000 annually for retail recruitment services for the city of Minot." He said the city issued an RFQ and will interview a respondent in about two weeks and urged members to review the Retail Coach community retail dashboard available at www.retail360.us/minot.

The committee heard that the contract previously purchased data access and analytics used for site selection and market-area analysis. "It's the access to the Esri data, which is your credit card and cell phone data that they pay for and have access, and then they do analytics," said a staff member involved in procurement. Staff and partners said that access to the data is the primary value, while the post-data "legwork" of contacting retailers and following up on leads has been inconsistent.

Mark, a chamber representative, and Brecka, a chamber representative, described how the Minot Area Chamber EDC and other partners use the data to show service-area populations and leakage patterns to retailers and investors. Mark said the database lets users manipulate trade-area radii "to talk about the benefits," and that the service area extends into parts of eastern Montana and Canada.

Committee members debated who should carry the outreach and recruitment follow-through if procurement selects only a data provider. Alderman Paul Pittner said the city likely needs a staff member or an ongoing committee to perform the "cold calling" and maintain momentum. "We pay for a study, we pay for information, and then we do nothing with it," he said.

Harold, the city manager, said the city has not consistently dedicated staff time to follow-up and that the city is not getting the strongest return on investment until someone is assigned to use the data continually. "It's good for us to have the data, but I don't know that we're getting our biggest return on investment because we haven't been able to dedicate the resources to someone to follow through with that resource," he said.

Committee members discussed options including: (1) renewing a contract with a consultant that both provides data and performs outreach; (2) rebidding for a data-only vendor while assigning outreach to a staff position or a standing committee; or (3) continuing the current, lighter-touch model. Several members and chamber representatives noted confidentiality concerns for some recruitment leads and urged a balance between public committees and private, confidential conversations with prospective investors.

The committee agreed to capture several next steps for staff: circulate the notes from this meeting; have the finance director present an overview of economic-development funding at the next meeting; and schedule presentations by the chamber and contract partners on program results and metrics. City staff said they will return with procurement options and candidate interviews for the RFQ in the coming weeks.

"Anytime that I've been at ICSC and I've had a chance to sit down and they're like, 'oh, you're from the city,' that's a big statement," said a city staff member describing the value of city representation at the International Council of Shopping Centers conference. The committee did not vote on procurement direction at this meeting.