Meet Your Match - Expand the St. Cloud Civic Center

St. Cloud Civic Center - We're In the Governor's Bill!

2008-04-07T13:34:00.001-07:00

Congratulations and Many Thanks!

Governor Pawlenty released details of the 2008 bonding bill earlier this afternoon and we are happy to report that $2 million for expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center was included in the final bill!

Special thanks to Governor Pawlenty for inclusion of the St. Cloud Civic Center expansion. With local matching dollars, this project will get underway in the coming weeks, creating new jobs and immediate economic value to the entire region.

Our thanks also go out to the St. Cloud area Legislative delegation for their leadership in ensuring that this project continue to move forward. Countless hours were spent negotiating on behalf of the St. Cloud Civic Center!

And finally, many many thanks to the more than 200 grassroots volunteers, supporters, and local businesses. Your calls, emails, letters to the editor, and personal legislative visits kept this initiative front and center. You truly made a difference!! We can now break ground!!

2008-03-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

The House and Senate have agreed to a bill that would spend $925 million and are working out differences in their positions. Each of the respective bills contain $2 million for expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center and we remain hopeful that the Civic Center will be included in the final bill.

The total bonding amount is currently at $925 million and the Governor’s position remains the same at $825 million. We believe that the House and Senate will bring forth their latest version for the Governor’s signature within the next few days.

Civic Center now in both bills!

2008-03-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Meet Your Match Volunteers,

Thank you for your continued efforts on the St. Cloud Civic Center expansion. In an unexpected, yet very positive move on Thursday morning, the Senate Finance Committee moved forward a new bonding bill for consideration. The new bill reduces the Senate’s bonding amount from $980 million to $925 million. The Governor’s position remains at $825m and while the two bills are still not together, they are moving closer.

Despite the financial reduction, the St. Cloud Civic Center expansion is now included in the Senate bill at $2 million. This is a very positive development for our efforts. As you recall, the original Senate bill did not include the Civic Center; however we are now in both the House and Senate Bills for equal dollar amounts. Private conversations continue among House and Senate leadership but for the most part public discussions on the bonding bills have been quiet today. We expect further action to take place next week.

All of this, of course, is very positive. However, we are still far from a final victory. We intend to continue to keep you up-to-date on the latest news coming out of the Capitol. If you have a moment, please continue to contact our legislative leaders so that expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center remains top of mind!

2008-03-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

The bonding bill moved quickly through the House and the Senate and now goes forward to a conference committee. The committee will likely begin meeting on Monday morning and they have given themselves a deadline of March 15 to finalize a comprise bill that will go back to the full House and Senate and then on to the Governor.

Conference Committee members include:
House: Hausman, Wagenius, Solberg, Scalze, Tingelstad
Senate: Langseth; Pappas; Tomassoni; Scheid; Koering

2008-03-04T06:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an important day for our efforts related to expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center. The House Bonding bill included $2 million for the project and provides for further discussion and consideration among legislative leadership in the coming days and weeks.

We’re very pleased and appreciate the leadership that members of the St. Cloud area legislative delegation demonstrated and that they were able to effectively advocate for inclusion in the House bonding bill among their colleagues. It is a major step forward for this project. We hope that discussions within the conference committee and any revision to the Governor's proposed bonding bill are favorable to our expansion efforts.

The House and the Senate will likely see their respective bonding bills later this week and a conference committee will then be established to put forth one bonding bill for the Governor's review and approval.

2008-03-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

The House Capital Investment Committee is scheduled to meet today at 10:00 a.m. and will reconvene this evening at 6:00 p.m. if necessary. It is our understanding that our request for bonding on behalf of the St. Cloud Civic Center in the House bill is under strong consideration. We will keep you posted.

Action Required Now!

2008-02-28T09:02:00.000-08:00

MANY THANKS to all of you that joined us yesterday during our legislative visits and St. Cloud Evening at the Capitol. We are extremely pleased by the number of legislators from key leadership positions that stopped by the reception.

As our email mentioned yesterday, we continue to advocate for expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center. The House Capital Investment Committee is scheduled to meet on Monday, March 3 at 10:00 a.m. and we plan to have a small delegation present at the committee meeting. It is our understanding that St. Cloud’s request for inclusion in the House bill is under strong consideration.

Things continue to move quickly and based on our knowledge of next week’s legislative activities, the most important thing you can do over the next few days is call or email members of the St. Cloud Area House Delegation. The delegation must ask the House leadership to include the St. Cloud Civic Center expansion in the bonding bill. Following is their respective contact information:

Representative Bruce Anderson, 19A (R) 651.296.5063 rep.bruce.anderson@house.mn
Representative Al Doty, 12B (DFL) 651.296.4247 rep.al.doty@house.mn
Representative Sondra Erickson, 16A (R) 651.296.6746 rep.sondra.erickson@house.mn
Representative Steve Gottwalt, 15A (R) 651.296.6316 rep.steve.gottwalt@house.mn
Representative Larry Haws, 15B (DFL) 651.296.6612 rep.larry.haws@house.mn
Representative Bud Heidgerken, 13A (R) 651.296.4317 rep.bud.heidgerken@house.mn
Representative Larry Hosch, 14B (DFL) 651.296.4373 rep.larry.hosch@house.mn
Representative Mark Olson, 16B (R) 651.296.4237 rep.mark.olson@house.mn
Representative Mary Ellen Otremba, 11B (DFL) 651.296.3201 rep.maryellen.otremba@house.mn
Representative Dan Severson, 14A (R) 651.296.7808 rep.dan.severson@house.mn
Representative Ron Shimanski, 18A (R) 651.296.7808 rep.ron.shimanski@house.mn
Representative Torrey Westrom, 11A (R) 651.296.1534 rep.torrey.westrom@house.mn

$32.4 million in annually!
270 new jobs!
We’re ready to break ground now!

Your calls and email have been invaluable to the overall effort and continued awareness can truly makes a difference in the final outcome.

2008-02-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

As many of you may have already heard, the Senate bonding bill was passed to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, the St. Cloud Civic Center was not included. While this is a setback, there are still more than two months left in the legislative session and we will continue to advocate for project funding until the end of session.

Advocacy for the project has benefited from great community support and that support should continue if not be heightened. All legislators have received the Meet Your Match materials and key legislators have received several e-mail and phone contacts from citizens in the St. Cloud area. As important, the St. Cloud area legislative delegation continues to work together to win approval for the project. We’re very pleased by the commitment we’ve seen by all of our area legislators.

Our time and energy is now focused on efforts to ensure that state bonding for expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center is included in the House bonding bill. We expect to hear more details of the House bonding bill early next week. It’s not uncommon for local public assembly projects to take more than one legislative session to win approval. In the minds of many state appropriators, the Civic Center project was re-launched during this funding cycle, and it’s reasonable to think of this as “year one” in our advocacy effort.

We will continue to keep you informed of the legislative decisions made at the Capitol as time allows. However, we also ask that you continue your support through contact to all legislators across the state with a focus on members of the Capital Improvement Committees in the House and Senate.

2008-02-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

Several meetings were held yesterday with key legislators regarding the St. Cloud Civic Center expansion. Support of the initiative is growing each day. Thanks to Senators Metzen, Koering, and Wergin as well as staff members of the Governor's office for agreeing to meet and learn how expansion of the Civic Center will create 270 new jobs and generate more than $32.4 million annually.

Tomorrow is St. Cloud Evening at the Capitol from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Kelly Inn. We hope to see you there!

2008-02-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to our Meet Your Match volunteers for sending letters and emails this past weekend to several legislators asking for their support of expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center through the 2008 bonding bill. Remember to sign up for St. Cloud Evening at the Capitol, Wednesday, February 27 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Kelly Inn in Saint Paul by contacting shenry@stcloudareachamber.com.

2008-02-22T06:27:00.000-08:00

Support of Meet Your Match Expand the St. Cloud Civic Center continues to increase each day. The week of February 25 is a busy one. St. Cloud Day at the Capitol is scheduled for Wednesday, February 27 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Kelly Inn in Saint Paul. If you are interested in attending please contact shenry@stcloudareachamber.com for more information.

Additional legislative visits are also scheduled for next week and a letter campaign commences.

Finally, here's an example that was submitted to Representative Hausman, committee chair of the House Capital Investment Committee. Our thanks to Wayne Hurley!

My name is Wayne Hurley and I reside in Fergus Falls. I am writing to you in support of HF2692, providing for the expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center. This project has statewide significance and should be strongly considered for inclusion in this year's bonding bill.

While my views on this topic are my personal opinions and not representative of any other organization, they are formed from my work over the last decade as a regional planner in west central Minnesota. In that capacity, I have been involved with a number of statewide organizations and associations. One thing that most of them have in common is that they hold conferences, workshops and other large-scale gatherings on a regular basis. As these entities are statewide in nature, there is a strong desire to hold these events in a location that is convenient for participants from across the state.

St. Cloud is often selected as a desirable meeting location for exactly this reason. It is centrally located for most of Greater Minnesota residents and is easily accessible from the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Some of the events that are organized by these statewide groups are outgrowing or have outgrown the capacity of the St. Cloud Civic Center. By providing the resources necessary for the expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center, the Legislature will be facilitating the efficiencies of providing a central meeting location for these statewide groups. Many of the members of these organizations and associations are employees of local and state government, thus creating these efficiencies will result ultimately in cost savings to taxpayers across the state.

It should be noted that I personally have nothing to gain from the expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center other than having access to a central meeting location in the state. I should also note that I have been intentionally vague with regard to the organizations and associations that I have been involved with, so as not to misrepresent my opinions as those of any other entity.

2008-02-21T06:41:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was a productive day at the State Capitol for Meet Your Match! St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis, Teresa Bohnen, president of the St. Cloud Area Chamber, and Dick Anfang, MN Building Trades and Construction Trade provided testimony to committees in the House and Senate. The respective St. Cloud Civic Center Expansion bills now move to the Capital Investment Committees for consideration. Thanks to Representative Gottwalt and Senator Clark for their leadership on this important regional economic issue.

Additionally, many thanks to the St. Cloud area volunteers that spent the day visiting with legislators and promoting the civic center expansion.

2008-02-20T06:14:00.000-08:00

Testimony will be heard today at the State Capitol regarding the benefits for expansion of the St. Cloud Civic Center. Hearings are scheduled in the House at 12:30 p.m. and the Senate at 3:00 p.m. Representatives from the City, business, and labor will join together to speak about creating 270 new jobs and $32.4 million annually to the St. Cloud region through this expasion.

2008-02-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

St. Cloud Civic Center Volunteer Rally scheduled for Wednesday, February 20 at Noon, Capitol Room 125. Supporters interested should contact shenry@stcloudareachamber.com for further information.