I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
July 30, 1996
By Devlyn Brooks
Staff Writer
Leaders in the Bemidji economic development community and city government agree the recent sale of the Fergus Falls-based Telnet Systems Inc. will have a major impact on the Bemidji area. However, they say only time will tell just how big of an impact the sale will have.
Last week the president of Touch 1, the company that purchased Telnet, announced he would like to expand the current employment of 235 people a the Telnet center in Bemidji to more than 900 people just as soon as he feasibly could, maybe as soon as five to six months. This would make Telnet the largest employer in Beltrami County.
Dave Hengle, economic development director for the Headwaters Regional Development Commission, said although the sale raises many questions for Bemidji, the answers will only be found with time.
The first and foremost question to be answered is where 700 more employees for the company would be found, and no one seems too sure about the answer. Hengle said he admits finding 700 employees will be difficult, but the company is offering a good benefit package which should attract people.
"Not to say it's impossible," he said. "The company itself thinks they can do it, and they have the same access to all the employment numbers we do. They must have done their own assessment and think it is possible."
Seven hundred people is a sizable piece of the Bemidji job market and with three other large employers in Bemidji -- the Bemidji School District, North Country Regional Hospital and Bemidji State University -- it is certain people would have to be attracted to Bemidji to fill some of the positions, officials said.
Larry Young, director of the Joint Economic Development Commission, said two of the possible places Touch 1 could find additional employees is attracting people from farther out of the area -- even as much as an hour away -- and from a shift in the labor force that might occur, meaning employees working elsewhere will move to Touch 1.
At last week's press conference announcing the sale, Touch 1 President Jim Corman said he would not transfer people into the Bemidji center from other branches of his company. Hengle said this leaves him to believe future employees will all be local people or people attracted to Bemidji for the job openings.
"If it attracts folks to town, so be it," he said. "They're (Touch 1) open to having less than 900 employees. They're just saying it's possible to have 900."
Another possibility is that Telnet will work with the local, state Job Services and Training office. They have in the past and will more than likely do so in the future, said Russ Dahlke, a Job Service representative.
He said the Job Service does not see the purchase as having any negative impact on the job market, and it might even stabilize unemployment in the area. "We are confident we have the labor supply to meet their needs."
Being that Bemidji's economy depends tremendously on seasonal employment such as tourism, agriculture and logging, which makes the winter unemployment rate higher than other seasons, Hengle said the stabilized jobs Touch 1 intends to provide would be welcomed.
Economic development and city officials agree the diversity in the economy brought upon by several hundred stable jobs would greatly benefit Bemidji. Other businesses would also see the impact of 700, $8-per-hour jobs, Hengle said. "I guess there will be an impact on everyone, but it's hard to quantify."
The officials also agree the enticement of a good-paying, good-benefits job will create competition in the Bemidji job market. They said current employers will have to be aware of the fact that positions with Telnet look promising. Hengle said he is "positive" that job competition is going to increase.
As for other questions associated with the sale -- such as housing for more people in an already tight housing market, transportation problems and city utilities usage -- Hengle said the HRDC does not have any magic answers because it depends on whether Touch 1 really hires 700 more employees.
Only time will tell.
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