Northwest Regional Planning Commission

Northwest Regional Planning Commission held its Executive Committee Meeting at their Spooner Office on Wednesday, January 27^th, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

Chairman Doug Finn welcomed the Board of Director’s and special guests Tom Beekman and Brent Pickard with the WI DOT. Colene Frye and Karen Johnson, Planner’s with the St. Croix Chippewa Tribe were also in attendance.  Minutes of the October 28, 2009 Meeting, Vouchers, Contract List and sponsorship for Superior Days were all approved by the Board.  The 4^th Quarter Financial Report and Executive Director’s Report was given along with a County Issues Roundtable discussion.

A PowerPoint presentation was given by Tom Beekman of the WI DOT Northern Region. The DOT Northern Region services 20 counties, including 8 of the 10 Counties NWRPC serves. The presentation was a breakdown of funding distribution and a look at local projects taking place over the next 2-3 years. Please visit www.dot.wisconsin.gov for more information.

Mark O’Connell, Executive Director of the WI Counties Association called into the meeting for a brief explanation of Senate Bill 440. For more information please visit www.legis.state.wi.us or to reach Mr. O’Connell, please visit www.wicounties.org.

Section Report updates from Planning & Housing (Sheldon Johnson), Financial (John Stroschine) and Business Development/Enterprise Centers (Rick Roeser) were presented to the Board. Dave Dumke with ITBEC also provided an update. For more information regarding ITBEC, please visit www.northwestwisconsin.com.

The meeting adjourned around 12:30 p.m. The next meeting of the NWRPC Executive Committee, will be on Wednesday, March 17^th, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. at the NWRPC office in Spooner. Please note that there is no February meeting due to Superior Days (www.superiordays.com). Therefore, the March meeting will be moved up to the 3^rd Wednesday of the month instead of the last Wednesday of the month as usual.

Northwest Regional Planning Commission held its Executive Committee Semi-Annual Meeting on Wednesday, December 2^nd, 2009 at The Conference Center at Grand Pines Resort in Hayward, WI. Chairman Doug Finn (representing Douglas County) welcomed everyone and thanked everybody from the various counties, partnerships, and private sectors for joining us and making this a great region to live in and work in.

Myron Schuster, Executive Director of NWRPC gave the guests in attendance a State of the Commission report. Minutes of the Annual Meeting, Vouchers, and the 2010 NWRPC Operating Budget were all approved by the full commission members in attendance.

Federal and State representatives updated the group on happenings at the State and Federal levels. Representatives included Karen Graff – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, Marjorie Bunce – U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, Matt Rudig – Congressman Dave Obey and Bill Smith – WI DNR.

Guest Speaker for the day was Ken Buehler, Executive Director of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. Mr. Buehler gave a PowerPoint presentation on Northern Lights Express (NLX) passenger rail service. For more information please visit www.NorthernLightsExpress.org.

Keynote Speaker was Jack Price, Economic Development Administration (EDA) Regional Representative for the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Gail Towers MacAskill representing EDA as well. The two gave a presentation on cooperation and collaboration amongst businesses, educational institutions and others to form partnerships to maximize regional strengths. For more information on EDA, please visit www.eda.gov.

The meeting adjourned at noon with a luncheon that followed. The next meeting of the NWRPC Executive Committee, will be a regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. at the NWRPC office in Spooner.