Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission marks 50 years of building rural counties

Jul. 29—APPLETON

— Dawn Hegland has been with the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission for nearly 30 years, but admits she still has no 30-second elevator speech to describe its role when asked what it's all about.

Neither does Ben Bothun, a

Lac qui Parle County

Commissioner and current chair of the commission's board of directors. But he has a speedy explanation for why he's willing to spend so much of his time in support of the RDC, and why it's so important.

"It's because of my kids," said Bothun. He was speaking at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission at its offices in Appleton on July 25. Population decline is the biggest problem facing the counties of

Big Stone

,

Chippewa

, Lac qui Parle, Swift and Yellow Medicine that are served by the commission, he told his audience.

Bothun and his wife, Chelsie, moved back to the region after a successful start in life in the Twin Cities. After the birth of their two sons, they realized that the region where they grew up was the best place to raise their sons. It also led them to ask: "I wonder where my kids are going to live when they grow up and start having families?"

Bothun wants to give his children the same opportunity to make the counties of the Upper Minnesota Valley their home. That requires doing all those things needed to help the region thrive, meaning building infrastructure, providing career opportunities, housing, child care, and parks and recreation to attract and retain people, he explained.

Those are all roles the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission has been playing since its start. Much of that work takes place behind the scenes.

It provides townships and local government units with expertise on an as needed basis for planning, grant writing and managing state and federal funds for a wide range of special projects.

Whether it is to support the

Meander Arts Crawl

, win state or federal funds for a small town water or sewer project, or promote the region through the cooperative marketing venture known as western Minnesota's

Prairie Waters

, the fingerprints behind it all belong to the RDC.

It has also managed a revolving loan fund that provided almost $9 million in gap financing to help new and existing businesses create and retain more than 3,000 jobs.

This is a very rural area, with small governments that operate lean and mean with limited staff of their own, Hegland pointed out. There are 37 communities in the region, and 70 percent of them have a population of 500 or less. Montevideo, with just over 5,000 people, is the largest.

"We have to work for our money," said Hegland. She explained that roughly three-quarters of the RDC's budget is derived from fee-for-services to local units of government. A region-wide levy provides about 25 to 30 percent of its budget.

Its current staff of 10 is similar in size to what it's been through much of the 50 years. Looking back at its start, Hegland said staff have been tackling many of the same issues through those years.

* Housing

* Land use

* Manpower needs

* Transportation

* Open and safe recreation

That lineup of needs is from 1974. Add child care, broadband and change "manpower" to workforce, and today's agenda is nearly identical.

A 1969 state statute provided the authority for regional development authorities. In the earlier days, state and federal grants drove much of the agenda, according to Paul Michaelson, who served as the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission's director from 1985 through 2009.

The RDC came to the public's attention as it played important roles in the recoveries that followed flooding and even a major tornado in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he said.

All the same, "a lot of people don't actually realize what you do," said Gary Johnson, a retired

Yellow Medicine County

Commissioner who served on the RDC's board from 1993 through 2022. "This organization has always pulled it together," he said of its role to serve the region.

Its board of directors, as required by state statute, includes a representative from each of the county boards of commissioners, along with city council, township and at-large members.

The idea of regionalism was not always popular when the RDC was created, according to Hegland. There were some who worried that the agency would usurp the role of local governments.

Yet many came to realize, and more so today than ever, how important it is for this rural area to work together to accomplish its goals, explained Gary Hendrickx, a

Swift County

Commissioner who is serving his 22nd year on the RDC board of directors. He especially appreciates his role on the board for this reason: "You are a voice for regional development," he said.

The RDC is, in fact, a forum for ongoing regional discussions. Each month's meeting brings together voices from around the region to share news of their successes and their needs. "It's the only regular place where they cross-pollinate, have regular discussions," said Hegland.

Pointing out all that has been accomplished, Hegland told the audience at the 50th anniversary celebration "that none of this work would have been possible" were it not for the elected officials who braved public criticism to create the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission all those years ago. "No doubt at that time there was skepticism about what this might do and how it might impact on other units of government," she said.

Today, Bothun sees the RDC as essential to those local units of government and the very future of this region and especially, its youth who might make it their life home.