9/13/2011 by Beth Bily

Gov. Mark Dayton spent today on the Iron Range listening to local economic development concerns and needs. It was a fourth stop on his regional informational gathering tour, which will culminate in a statewide jobs summit in late October. The governor already held similar events in Winona, Fergus Falls and Brainerd.

“We’re going to put Minnesota back to the forefront (of jobs creation),” Dayton told the half capacity audience gathered at Mesabi Range Technical and Community College in Virginia.

Dayton gathered much of the input from an east Iron Range panel of business people, city and state officials and educators, who relayed what they most need from the state to create jobs and keep the regional economy moving forward. Panelists said the need for quality education/jobs training and support for industry were among their top concerns.

“The workforce is running thin,” said Bud Fontana manager of P&H Mine Pro, a mining equipment supply company. He asserts the skills shortage will escalate in the next thee to five years, making the need for dedicated funding to stay on the Iron Range to support training efforts more pressing.

Later, Sue Collins, president of the Northeast Higher Education District, which includes Itasca, Hibbing, Mesabi Range, Vermilion and Rainy River community colleges, echoed concerns about the ability of the region’s educational systems to deliver quality education and training in the current budget climate. “We cannot continue to cut higher education in Minnesota and here on the Iron Range,” she said, adding her district has shouldered about $6 million in funding cuts in recent years.

While several panelists thanked the governor for his executive order (and later legislation) that expedite the permitting process, some said those measures don’t go far enough to ensure economic health for the Iron Range and the region.

Frank Ongaro, executive director of Mining Minnesota said Dayton’s administration could help his organization, which represents several proposed nonferrous mining projects slated for the Iron Range, by appointing a cabinet level nonferrous coordinator position. Such an appointment could move nonferrous projects forward and send the message that, “Minnesota is open for mineral development.”

Members of the Iron Range delegation also were given the floor during the economic development summit. Several praised Dayton for preventing a raid on $60 million in the Douglas Johnson Economic Development Trust. Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL – Cook, went further with his praise, thanking Dayton for vetoing the budget approved by a Republican controlled legislature in May – a move that eventually led to a state shutdown in July.

Bakk, however, maintained that many of those budget provisions, such as a reduction in the taconite production tax, would have been harmful to the economic health of the region.

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