Remote chair. >> On. >> Perfect. Maybe I'll do the welcome remotely and then we'll introduce us that are here remotely and then I'll toss it over to you to do your people in person and then go forward with the agenda. Does that work? >> Works for me. >> Okay, perfect. I'm Senator Karin Housley. I represent >> progress. >> Recording is in progress. Um and don't yet have a quorum, but John, when there is, you'll announce it. So, Senator Karin Housley, again represents Stillwater, and I will go to Senator Hoffman next. >> John Hoffman, Senate District 34, Champlin, Brooklyn Park, Rapids, Dayton, and Rogers. >> Um we'll go to Amanda. >> Hi folks, Amanda Gerberding, part of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and a technical advisor to the team. >> Um Lisa. >> Hi, Lisa Haberkorn with Explore Minnesota. I am just leaving a meeting that Kate from Winona was at, so she should be joining remotely if she hasn't already. So, we're both at a different meeting, but we're tuning in virtually. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lisa. Yep, Kate is on. Kate, do you want to go? So, maybe she's in the car. Paul. >> Hi everybody, I'm Paul Hugunin, Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Thank you. >> And I think that's it for members, right? Cuz Lauren is presenting. And Andrew, you might as well introduce yourself and then I'll toss it to you, John. >> Okay. Thank you, Senator Housley. I'm Andrew George, I'm the LCC staff helping administrate the MRPC. >> Thanks. Go ahead, John. >> Well, I just say we do have one other new introduction as well. >> Yeah. Hi everyone, My name is Jessica Cartwright. Um I'll give a quick introduction so you guys know who I am. Um so I just started at MnDOT on May 4th. I've only been here about a month. Um background I grew up in Iowa state in Iowa. I went to Iowa State University, studied landscape architecture, international studies. Eventually went on to Lund University in Sweden and studied uh sustainable urban design. I'm coming most recently from Colorado um where I worked as a landscape architect there on a variety of different projects including transportation uh corridors as well. Um and then since starting MnDOT I've been working on familiarizing myself with the Great River Road Corridor Management Plan, Plan Your Trip, as well as like meeting people with like Carol, Marni, Peter, and the executive committee um that have been a big help and resource with the great wealth of knowledge. [laughter] Um and then another person uh we are wanting to introduce very quickly here at MnDOT is Sundara uh Shevon. She has been a SEEDS worker. And she actually has been helping out with one of the 10 state initiatives with understanding the signage from uh the Great River Road to the various interpretive centers. >> Oh, yes. >> So she has I have a couple examples I can pass around here that basically using Google Earth uh or Google Maps she's gone through and driven the Great River Road and then written down um the directions or confirming them with what we already had on the website and then we'll be taking the coordinates and getting all of that stuff plugged into GIS and kind of moving it forward from there. But I can pass that around and that is it. Thank you. >> you both. Thank that great and great work on the >> Yeah. >> on the interpretive centers. >> [clears throat] >> Um >> So I uh did David, why don't you just walked in so I'll let you introduce yourself as well. >> Hi, David Kelleher with Minnesota Historical Society. Um I don't know how much we're going to add. >> I think that's good enough. >> [laughter] >> I think we have everybody. Um we have Kate, Anya. Wait, Marnie. I see Marnie as well. >> Hello, are we doing introductions? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Sorry about that. I had another meeting right up until this meeting. But this this is Marnie. I'm Marnie Karnowski and I'm with Minnesota Department of Transportation. Good to see everybody. >> Thank you, [snorts] Marnie. Yes, so I'm John Apitz and I'm the vice chair for Senator Housley. She likes to have me chair when she's remote so I can see all your faces >> [laughter] >> more clearly maybe. Um and I'm also the Metro Region Commissioner for the Great River Road. So I think I believe we can now approve the agenda and minutes from August 14th, 2025. So I need to get a motion to approve both. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Motion passed. Thank you. So now it's my pleasure to introduce Lauren Beginty Beginty Bennett, who is the director of executive director of Explore Minnesota Tourism and graduated with my daughter from Mounds View High School. So I know Lauren from a long time long [laughter] time ago. Congratulations, that's an amazing position that you have. And the reason again that we're having her here is that she can talk about Mississippi River Country, which is Mississippi River Country is under our bylaws as an organization. And but we never talk about it. We never think about it. We just kind of focus on the narrow band of the Mississippi, but Mississippi River Country deals with the whole state of every state all the way along the Mississippi. So we've never had in my in my regulation. Carol's been here forever, so she would know >> [laughter] >> if we'd had a presentation from Mississippi River Country before, but for all of those who don't have the wisdom of of Carol's time, um, we'd like to hear a little bit about that. So, thank you for coming. >> Yeah, thank you for having me. Um, and apologies for, you know, being a youth and you having to deal with me at some point, I'm sure we were probably monsters. >> [laughter] >> Um, but thanks everyone for having me today. Uh, excited to talk about Mississippi River is just a core part of, you know, who we are in Minnesota, but also what we do at Explore Minnesota. So, we can go to the next slide. Um, just briefly want to ground everyone in kind of what Explore Minnesota does and in our impact. Um, we support the growth of Minnesota's economy through tourism, livability, and workforce attraction, outdoor recreation, film, and statewide brand promotion. That's grown quite a bit in the last few years, but uh, continues to be, uh, sort of the natural beauty of the state and all of that uh, represents continues to be a core part of who we are at Explore Minnesota. Next slide. Um, so our visitor impact, we actually just got our 2025 numbers and we're working on verifying them. So, I don't have the most most up-to-date, but this is a pretty good indicator and I can tell you that we also went up in 2025, which is fantastic news. Um, but we have a huge economic impact that we kind of bring to the state of Minnesota through our marketing and that's nearly $25 billion. And of course, we, um, have [clears throat] that state and local taxes piece, 2.4 billion. Hundreds of thousands of jobs and my favorite stat is that we save every household in Minnesota more than $1,000 per year in taxes. So, happy to help. >> [laughter] >> Um, we'd love to get that number up even higher someday, but we're working on it. So, um, I think that that is just a good a good snapshot of where we're at as a tourism economy and kind of what that means for the Mississippi River. Um, so next slide. >> [snorts] >> One of the the core ways that we promote anything uh at Explore Minnesota is on our website exploreminnesota.com and of course all of our advertising leads to that and so we love to be able to talk about uh Lake Itasca as well as the Mississippi River and really own and and love that we have the start of the river in Minnesota and one of the very first uh videos that we ever did as part of our new start of the north campaign at Explore Minnesota was actually a road trip to Itasca and the start of the Mississippi River with two women uh who were who are anglers and they were going all the way up to Lake of the Woods and they wanted to stop on the way. So, um we have multiple itineraries as you can see this is a landing page actually on exploreminnesota.com that features all those opportunities for folks um and it's also part of our scenic byways content area on our website. So, as you can see we use a lot of that editorial components whether it's video or social media to promote the river and the the byway um as well as just kind of Lake Itasca which I think is obviously a core part of that experience for a lot of people. Um next slide. As you can see here we have a lot of content as well about the road itself and doing that road trip. So, certainly the river is [snorts] uh beautiful to photograph and we like to talk about all the different things you can do along the river and that kind of goes hand in hand with Great River Road. So, we have eight major stops on our Great River Road Scenic Byway itinerary but if you end up going uh to that website you'll see that we um also have several other stops along the way and then the road trip guide also includes a biking road trip. So, um you know, we like to kind of give people options when they are cruising along the river and that has nine major stops. And I will say most of our content also starts at Itasca, goes all the way down the river to kind of the end of Minnesota. We do not go all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico because that would be a long bike trip, but we certainly promote [clears throat] that and I will get into that as we talk a little bit more about Mississippi River Country of which we are on the board of directors and there are a handful of states that still actively participate in that. So next slide. As I mentioned, we have the Mississippi River in our campaigns. We talk all about the various things that you can do whether it's camping, hiking, biking, fishing. We have featured the river on multiple drive campaigns and the and the river itself and kind of that road, we help promote the idea that it's one of the best scenic drives in the entire country and it has won several times that award. So it's kind of one of the best road trips you can take. Take that Route 66. We want to make sure that people know how accessible it is too and I think that that's a core part of the the work that we're doing is you can drive some of it or all of it. You can start at Itasca or you can start in the Twin Cities. You can [snorts] cruise the Mississippi River, you can bike it, you can hike it. We like to make sure that people understand all the opportunities which kind of takes me into my next slide. Where we talk about all these different opportunities. One of the most fun shoots that we got to do was in Winona a couple of seasons ago where we yet again featured the Mississippi River and we went ice climbing. We not I, someone else [laughter] much more qualified than me went ice climbing on their ice wall down there. But I think one of the the best parts about the Mississippi River especially in Minnesota is you can do it in all four seasons. You do not need to only do it in the summer. So, one of the favorite things that I like to promote is the drive along the bluffs in in the fall. And then, of course, there are winter activities you can do, whether it's bird watching um or ice climbing. And uh of course, summer is a fantastic time. So, those are some things that we feature pretty regularly. And then, um Explore Minnesota, along with the DNR, has a podcast called Explore Minnesota More. It's me and Commissioner Strommen with the DNR talking about all things uh exploring Minnesota, the great outdoors. And we did do an episode that featured fishing on the river just outside of Fort Snelling. So, um really great opportunities for people to kind of learn more about the river and all of the different components that we work on. So, next slide. Um one thing that I think ties together really well with the mission of this commission uh as well as Mississippi River Country as a whole is that we're promoting really all of the river and not just necessarily the drive itself, but stopping along the way and kind of connecting to culture, [snorts] natural beauty, as well. So, we really want to make sure that we're tying it to food and festivals and outdoor recreation and getting people kind of outside of their vehicles to explore those areas. Um we know that this actually plays really well with the various groups that we work with uh at Mississippi River Country and internationally when Explore Minnesota goes and does trade shows. Um we are also working uh with other groups where we get to talk about uh the Mississippi River Country. So, uh we promote in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Benelux, so that's Belgium Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg, uh the Nordic countries, and then Japan and South Korea. So, we as just Explore Minnesota by ourselves are promoting the Great River Road and the Mississippi River, as well as the Great Lakes, which I think are a great tie-in to Mississippi, but we're also working with the Mississippi River Country to do that as well. So, we can go to the next slide where I can talk a little bit more about that group. Um So, similar I mean obviously it is a part of this commission and really focusing to promote the 10 Mississippi River states as a region. We've recently just did a trip which I'll talk a little bit about in a second here to Japan, but we are constantly working through that. I know there have been it's primarily been Japan as the focus, but there have been opportunities to talk in other countries about it as well including Australia, Canada, India, which we'll talk a little bit about here, too. Um and I think one of the big pieces here is that we know that those international travelers are staying longer, they're spending more money, and they have more time to kind of explore outside of you know weekend traveler. And so, one of the the key things here is getting them into Minnesota and kind of moving them down the river because it is a very special experience and they're very fascinated by it especially in these key markets identified here. Um so, if we go to the next slide, Minnesota maintains its membership. We've been active members for many, many years and as of right now the remaining members are Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Um from my understanding, other states that maybe border the Mississippi River either don't have significant enough funding, don't have kind of an international marketing component to their budget, or they simply don't have enough development along the river. So, I think one of my colleagues and I believe it was Arkansas had mentioned that it's just they don't necessarily feel like they have as much to offer some of the other states do in that area right now. So, hoping to kind of build that up for the future, but um, in general, I think uh, this group has sort of maintained a couple of those core states that Mississippi, Louisiana, and Minnesota have really been there uh, for a long time as we should. We are the start and the end of the river, and so I think the goal here is just to support the whole river whenever we can, even if those states aren't members. And then of course, um, we are on the board of directors as a state, so really working to kind of increase awareness internationally >> [clears throat] >> for the river. Next slide. Um, like I mentioned, one of the the core things here is that Minnesota starts the story, and I think we're we're very proud of that experience for people because um, I'm sure all of you have been to the headwaters and know how transformative that can be. And so we really encourage folks to fly into MSP and start their journey there. And whether they are cruising all the way down to the south or driving, there's a really fantastic experience. Um, and so the next slide really highlights what those top international markets are as we look to 2026. Um, we're halfway through 2026, but uh, it still maintains that we will see some growth opportunities, especially with India. Um, what I will note here is that while uh, I think we're all aware that there are some concerns around international sentiment, unfortunately, um, which has made uh, tourism to the United States difficult. I know um, Senator Housley on this call has heard me talk about this before, so it shouldn't be a surprise. Um, but with Canada, we actually just found out that those numbers are slightly increasing. We are still down overall year-over-year, but we are starting to see a little bit of bounce back there. India really came in hot a couple years ago. They were top one for us uh, uh, as entry points. And and the explanation is a little quirky, but they have their visa system basically, um, so many people got their visas and they last for 8 to 10 years. So travel to the United States has really increased over the last several years from India. We did see a drop this year in general, and I think a lot of that is just some things with the economy and I again that international sentiment and also currently a little bit more difficult to travel from um Asian markets to the US. Uh but they still remain strong. They're coming to visit their their families here. Um they're staying a lot longer, 3-plus weeks on average, so lots of great opportunities to get out and see the rest of the country. And then UK and Germany continue to be strong markets for Minnesota. Uh overall, and the UK does include the the Irish market there as well. So we we continue to see some strength there, and again Canada is just ever so slightly inching up, so uh fingers crossed that they they keep doing that in the next couple months. Next slide, please. Um I just want to give a quick review of the few things that we've done most recently uh with Mississippi River Country, and Lynn Hill Hutch, I'm not sure if anybody is familiar with her and >> we know. >> [laughter] >> Great. She's our our leader, and she's really organized a lot of really fantastic trips in the last couple months here. Um so in February, our team did a full trade and travel mission to Japan and met with JTB, which is the largest tour operator in Japan. They're the ones who sell trips to the United States. And then Delta Airlines was there as well, so uh we have that non-stop uh trip to Haneda, which is fantastic. Uh and then of course we met with some media folks and content creators because that is how people are learning about travel nowadays, so we wanted to make sure to include them. And then a month later in March, uh there were several other trade professionals from Tokyo-based tourism organizations who met us in LA, and uh we continued to meet and discuss that pipeline. So Japanese travel right now is a little bit uh iffy. Uh uh, the the yen is down compared to the dollar, so it's not as strong and it does make traveling to the United States pretty expensive, but with that non-stop flight for us, I think we're one of the few in the region actually that has that. Um, it makes it a lot easier for people to get here. So, it's a good bonus for Minnesota. Um, and then next slide. We also have done some work on the India side, both through Brand USA as well as Mississippi River Country and we have a consumer marketing campaign going right now as you can see here, uh, talking about that with Journey Label. It's a high-end Indian tour company and I will say, um, from what we've learned from the Indian market, they will stay really long time, but they're also willing to spend a lot of money. So, um, we we love that we can kind of offer a high-end experience, uh, throughout our state as well as the other states participating. Um, we've also had some really great Indian journalists. We literally just had someone here last week and we tried to get him on a or earlier this week, I think, and we tried to get him on a boat on the river and it was raining and they canceled the boat ride. So, he got to see the river, don't worry. >> [laughter] >> Um, but we're really excited about some more, uh, media writers coming and and kind of doing stories about it and then, uh, you know, again continuing for that Great River Road in all of our international publications that we do including at IPW, which is the largest international travel trade show that we participate in. So, next slide. Um, it's just a quick intro here to potential partnership opportunities. I know, like we've said, we we haven't done a lot together even though we're kind of joined. >> [laughter] >> So, love to kind of talk more about what that looks like. So, if we go to the next slide, I would just want to share more about what I think, you know, what that could be in the future. Uh, you have the corridor and the infrastructure signage and relationships doing a lot of really great things with kind of navigating and moving people around the corridor, especially as it relates to all 10 states. And I think that the relationship for this group among all 10 states versus Mississippi River Corridor is a little bit stronger, um just given that the the or sorry, Mississippi River Country, my apologies. Um that that is a paid membership organization for marketing. So, if you don't have international marketing as part of your portfolio, it's a little harder to participate. So, I do think there's some good opportunities here for us to work together on that. And then, you know, we certainly, like I said, support and promote the Mississippi River and the drive in a lot of the work that we do. So, I I think we have the tools to be able to kind of help with marketing there. Um and next slide. Um I know Lisa Havelka is on the commission, and she does a great job representing the work of Explore Minnesota. She is just a stellar person to work with. Um and >> [clears throat] >> I know that we don't have any joint projects in place right now between Explore Minnesota and the commission, but um I think today is a great day to have that conversation and kind of see where you're at, what your goals are, and how we can be helpful. Um and in the next slide, I just kind of quickly highlight uh just what the opportunities are. I think again, making our content even more prominent as uh part of our editorial calendar or kind of working with you on any promotions you're doing to help elevate them. Uh driving some more of that international alignment where we can, you know, if if that means that we are the go-to partner for international, let's try to work together on what those talking points are for when we're trying to sell with Mississippi River Country. And I'm And the fact that you know Lynn Pilch is a step in the right direction. So, >> is actually uh Pilch Barnett is our management executive company that manages the company. >> organization. For our >> The 10-state organization. So, >> Full alignment. >> Yeah. >> Good. Um and then I think just news amplification when there's something new to report, happy to kind of help amplify that on our social media and then marketing and branding as well. And on the very last side is just contact information. So obviously I'm the executive director of Explore Minnesota. Jen Shac is our international manager here and then you all know Lisa. So I'm sure that she's no stranger and you can contact her anytime but all of us are here to help promote the river. So I'm happy to take questions or have a conversation about what that looks like. >> You you have no idea how timely this conversation is. Especially if you had to stay if you got to stay for what's coming next you'd you'd see. >> [laughter] >> But thanks thank you very much. So any questions? Can we I don't think we can I think we can stop sharing and then just see everybody. I can maybe see people raise their hands. Any questions? I I John. >> Go ahead. >> I I do. I'm Ann Lueschen and I am the at large commissioner. Um, I wondered you mentioned a podcast. It's the your podcast or your the department's podcast. >> Yes. >> Um, about six months ago a colleague of ours who does travel books for the upper mid for for the Great River Road um, was on Rick Steves' podcast talking about stops along the river and I just wondered if the podcast that you do we couldn't have somebody representing us who would go on and and talk about interpretive centers and the towns that they represent um, at some point on the agenda when it would work out. >> Maybe during dry months. I'll just which is September. We I do that. >> Yeah, I think that sounds great and we have um, just talking to John earlier we have a deputy director of outdoor recreation who runs the outdoor recreation industry partnership. So, that's a group of four state agencies that promote the outdoor recreation economy in Minnesota. And he is sort of in charge of our podcast, but he loves any and all guests who want to talk about the great outdoors. So, happy to have people on and talk about the drive and what that looks like. I think that would be really fun. >> Good. I and I I would I'm going to underscore that we are about to we'll we will have a theme that will revolve around the 250th for drive month this year, which we're going to have later on the agenda. But, that's maybe something not only the outdoor recreation, but also during drive month the emphasis on the 250 experiences that you can have here in Minnesota on the Great River Road. >> That's great. >> Which the person next to you, Deva Kellar, is her side leading that this year. >> [laughter] >> Yes, Deva and I talk a lot. >> That's good. We're finding out we have more connections than we know. >> The really short version of that is that um what we're going to do for Drive the Great River Road month is build on a project that is up and running now for Minnesota America 250, which is um Min 250 road trips. And we have 10 itineraries with all kinds of history nerd things and not history nerd things. [laughter] And we're going to add a the as you look over it, we have a spreadsheet with all the destinations. And as you look over that, the there's a lot of Mississippi River stuff on there because it's a integral part of our history. So, what we're going to do is repackage some of those for Drive the Great River Road month and have a Great River Road uh itinerary. And we'll roll that out. We for Drive the Great River Road month, we typically have had a kickoff at the State Fair. >> Yep. >> And I'm trying to remember if you were >> there. Yeah. for egg. >> Yes, I've competed in a trivia competition. >> [laughter] >> And I've lost. >> [laughter] >> You know, we can do something so so we're excited about that but the good news is there's there's a lot of stuff that's already there and we're just going to do a little bit of repackaging and we'll we'll get that going. >> Perfect. >> I think the podcast would be great leading up to that. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Other questions? I mean I know I have some but I want to defer to other people if anybody has any. >> I guess I had one. So for those 10 trips, 10 itineraries, do you already have all the locations figured out? >> Yeah, if you go to the Minnesota Historical Society website mnhs.org those 10 itineraries are on there and it's app-based but for old people like me, you can you don't have to have a phone to to do that. You can click a couple spots and look at the destinations on a spreadsheet. >> Yeah, I I am just thinking this off the top of my head so I don't even know if it's possible but I was just thinking if that's like going to be a big deal, maybe we could try to see if it's possible to get it on the plan your trip website so then when people are there, they can just click and it's here's the path you can go and it might make it easier for tourists and people looking. They can kind of compare and contrast them but I need to look into that to see if that's possible but just a thought I had. >> Thanks. >> [clears throat] >> So so what I what I saw here was that there's a lot of untapped synergy that that we that we could connect to. I I I'm kind of stunned by I mean I look at all the stuff you're doing that that in is about the road and the river and our site should link to that. So, [laughter] you know, we're talking about how can we leverage more of what we do in the next in this transition of management of this organization. But it's like, well, we don't have to invent a bunch of new content. There's more content than I knew of that's already there. We just got to bring it in. And and everyone will see how important that's going to become in terms of our relationship with the LCCC. I don't know if you know Chris Miller was our executive director for about 17 years. And she did a lot of work. And now we've shifted to the LCCC managing everything. And and there's just a there's a difference between LCCC can do and and a contracted person can do. And we're trying to figure out how to fill that gap. Um and it's like you've you're filling part of the gap already. >> And I would imagine other states probably have that as well. So, there's you know, if you're linking out certainly from like the the broader commission, I think other states probably have a lot of that content, too. >> And you you have you have done Office of Tourism has typically really helped us out on as has the Department of Transportation over many many campaigns in the past. So, thank you. >> Yes, you're welcome. >> Yeah, and and I know you you've referred I know you referred referred a a German podcaster to me at one point and I I did a interview with the river the German podcaster. Um but yeah, if there's other writers coming in who want to know about the river, if we can get you know, a link if we if we can know they're here and and they want to talk to us, it'd be great to have to bring in in the Great River Road as well. Since you're already tapping them and reaching out to them, um that would be great if we could get included in some way in that. >> That would be great. >> Um and we can we can talk to Lisa about it more Lisa Lee um as we go forward. I should also mention to you that October 6th through 9th our our national meeting is in West Memphis, Arkansas. And for the first time in a long time, um we're it's going to be a it's going to be a joint meeting between the Great River Road and the National Scenic Byway Association. So, we are going to all those who can attend are the 184 National Scenic Byways in America. It's going to be a meeting with all those who can attend. So, it's a chance to learn from all the Byways in America and I hope many of Minnesota's Byways can make it to this this meeting so we can learn from each other. Um but if if you're available, >> [laughter] >> put down October 7th and 9th or the internal meeting is the 6th, but 7th, 8th >> Okay. >> and the 9th will be the the the 10-state meeting along with all the National Scenic Byways in the country that we can get. And we can get you a connection to that. >> Andrew, you can >> send them >> We'll send them the link. >> for that. I we hoping at least you're there for sure, too. >> [laughter] [snorts] >> Anybody else have any any questions? I see none. Thank you so much for coming, Laura. I mean, this is I'm ex- I'm really excited and and I I hope you keep in mind all the stuff she said as we have this next conversation. >> [laughter] >> Okay? >> Yeah. >> We might have you back again. >> Happy to come back, absolutely. >> Okay. And we can always like I said, we have Lisa uh >> Yeah. Yeah, she >> who's incredibly helpful. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. >> So, I'm I'm going to move to the the next part of the discussion, which I've semi teed up already. This idea of um [snorts] and we have to figure out what what we're doing um in transition here. On March 20- On March 16th, 2026, the LCC provided the Parkway Commission with a memorandum outlining what it could and could not do for the Commission and suggested that the Commission, you know, Let's about how it accomplishes those tasks that the LCC cannot do. So, the executive committee and Andrew have been working to try to clarify what this means and that includes Senator Housley, Anne here, and Sally, and Lisa, and Megan at times. And we've been trying to kind of scope out what this what this transition means. So, today today is about a discussion that begins this conversation. We're not going to resolve the details today. We want to really introduce you to the >> [snorts] >> the issues that I think we're facing. Um we're looking for a direction. And we have some important decisions to make. Um decisions that we, you know, that we have to make, you know, while we things we could do while contracting with Odyssey that we can't do with the LCC. And I believe we have the best commission of all the 10 states. I know we do. >> [snorts] >> And and we don't want to lose that. We want to keep operating at that phenomenally high level that we have. So, um can you do the next slide, Andrew? So, I'll do this introduction. We'll have Andrew do a overview of what the LCC can and cannot do. Diane, I know will weigh in and as she sees ne- necessary. Um I'll have a deep brief of what the executive committee and and marketing group have kind of worked on. And then um we'll do a discussion, a full discussion with the LCC. So, I'll turn it over to you, Andrew. >> Yeah. Um thank you, uh John. Um yeah, I'm going to start with an overview of the LCC. Uh not not just in what the LCC gives to the provides as as support to the MRPC, but generally what is the the LCC? Um in your packets and and online there's a memo that I wrote earlier [snorts] this spring um for the kind of the lead the MRPC leadership um kind of outlining what what is the MR- what is the LCC. Um there's there's two kind of LCCs. There's the LCC governing body that oversees our office. It's a um the uh the LCC is a is a non-partisan joint legislative office that is under the oversight of a LCC governing body and that's that is made up of members of the House and Senate leadership. The office the LCC serves as the umbrella organization for non-partisan joint legislative offices, commissions, and other boards. And there's some bullet points that I've listed here that we that the LCC does in that [clears throat] capacity conducting research and providing administrative services to commissions, task forces that that are created by the the legislature. The LCC provides HR support, fiscal services, and >> [clears throat] >> other other operational support to the joint legislative offices and commissions. We also house the GIS office. So for for redistricting and and statewide boundaries for elections. As [snorts] well as fulfill the the statutory requirements of the office of economic status of women. As and and in addition to inclusion, accessibility, and language services for the legislature. And then some There's there's a hodgepodge of things we do. Really the main the main things is is these these larger support to joint legislative commissions. Um >> And and you you mentioned to me that in the in the last session you guys had more commissions >> And then yes, every every you know every not every year but you know generally there in the past three four years since I've been here, you know, each session new things get added to the LCC. It's things that we you know have to then support and and and help with. So yeah. Then I'll go This yeah this slide these bullet points, um, the current scope, so what the LCC, um, supports, um, these bullet points kind of, uh, under underline what what the LCC, myself, uh, Diane, and Megan, um, help, uh, do for the MRPC. Um, really, uh, the the the main the main uh, helping with these quarterly meetings, the the administration, helping develop the agenda with members, um, things like that. And then in addition to that, um, some some bi-weekly, as as as able, uh, I'll say, um, post post to the the, uh, Minnesota MRPC Facebook page or the Great River Road Facebook page, um, uh, map requests, so we we do store and, uh, um, have, uh, an inventory of of Great River Road maps, so, uh, fulfilling those map requests, um, conducting limited outreach to to the interpretive centers and, um, byway partners, mostly for map requests. Um, I I've noted here for for any other type of outreach within we would need to define that stuff. It would be and some clear direction from from, um, the, uh, from the from the commission, uh, fiscal and administrative support, um, some letters of support for funding opportunities, um, some some limited, uh, data and research, um, as directed by the commission, um, and then development and submissions of of proclamation >> nations and resolutions. >> I see Sarah Housley has her hand up. >> Oh, Sarah Housley. >> Oh, thanks. I didn't know if you wanted questions now, but, um, thank you. Andrew, how many, um, commissions, councils, working groups, and task forces does the LCC oversee on average per year? And I don't even know how many people work at the LCC. Like I don't know if like you're doing a commission every single day, and then I'd be like, "Oh, jeez, Andrew, I'm so sorry." >> [laughter] >> But, yeah, so >> I think Diane can answer your question. >> Yeah, Senator Housley Um, Chair Housley, uh, we have about 30, 35 commissions underneath the joint offices, joint uh, the office of the LCC. Um, uh, some [clears throat] of those aren't active every year, like the Regents Candidate Advisory Council is active every other year, the Legislative Salary Advisory Board is active every other year, so um, in a year, probably 20 of those are active, ish, or so, you know, um, you know, so, um, if that gives you understanding. The actual office of the LCC, so, in together with all the joint offices, all the joint commissions underneath the LCC, so, that's, um, like the Legislative Reference Library, the Office of Revisor, there's about 120 staff, but actually the office of the LCC that has administrative um, oversight and fiscal oversight of those offices and uh, so, um, supports those commissions I was talking about, that's, um, 20, 20 of us. >> 20 of you, okay. >> Yeah. >> All right, thank that that clarifies it for me. Thanks, Diane. >> Good reference. >> Sure. >> I'll go to the next slide. Is this you? >> Yeah, we're ready to go. >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank Thanks, Andrew. So, so Andrew's kind of laid out, you know, what the LCC can and cannot do. We're going to go into this a lot more detail. Um, and and this is not about what Andrew wants to do or not do. This is [laughter] about what the LCC as a as a organization can do. I want to be really, really clear about that. So, what we need to do now is begin defining this this division of duties between the MRPC and the LCC. And there's also an aspect that if we want to do this, for all those we decide or identify that we need, the gaps we need to fill as a commission, how do we pay for those? Or who does those? Um, you know, if Chris Miller used to do some of that, uh, that was under contract. Do we have Do we need another contract? Does one of the other, you know, one of the partner agencies or entities need to kind of pick up the slack on We need to figure that out and and marketing is just just one arena. There's a a lot of other arenas. So, next slide, Andrew. So, um So, what I can look at the you know, what the next what each one does kind of this is scope of of the topics for the discussion. Um general responsibilities, partnerships, marketing and promotion, interpretive infrastructure duties, scenic byway obligations. And so, as you as you see on this this slide, like the quarterly meetings we need to define the agenda and the priorities. What do we want to talk about? That's on us. And um And we we've kind of had Chris has kind of led that in the past. We You know, there's a boilerplate part of this and then I would or Anne or someone else would have these conversations. Welcome, Carl, by the way. I saw Carl when he was um in a leadership role here, also did that. So, we need to we need to know that Andrew's going to put on the agenda what we tell him to put on the agenda. If we want something else or something like like a big conversation like this on the agenda, that's up to us to define it. Um website, you know, we have to develop the original contact. Um and respond to inquiries that LCC cannot. And so, the LCC is not going to do original content, come up with new things to do or track what else it can do. That's again on us to do. They can monitor and respond to inquiries and they can coordinate with the MRPCN on standard requests. But again, the initiate the initiative is on is on our side. News media press releases, we have to identify what we want to have a press release for. Chris at times kind of led this. She she would say, "Oh, you guys need a press release on that." Um or or or contact one of us doing it. She knew it needed to be done. But again, that's not the LCC's mission is to be a media relations or organization. Um and they can if they get a news media request, they'll just send it to one of us to to deal with. Which Chris could sometimes handle those on her own, and then sometimes she would hand it off to one of us. Maps again, we need to define the content and and decide do we need to print more maps? How many more do we need to print? What's the design? What's the accuracy? Do we add new interpretive centers? All the details of the maps is on us. LSCC can handle the printing and and oversee the distribution. Next slide. Letters of support, again it's up to us to to write the letters, uh, decide whether they're needed or not. If [clears throat] a request comes in for a letter of support, we review it and we can do that in these meetings. And then LSCC can submit the letters for us. The national [clears throat] office, I I I don't And maybe you know more than I do about this, but I think Chris had a good connection [clears throat] and contact, maybe talked to the national office more um, about what was going at the national level. But again, that's that's going to be more on us to keep that contact and and keep Andrew and the commission up to date on what's going on and what he needs to be aware of. Again, proclamations and res- resolutions are fairly easy. We we can talk about those and do those. And Andrew [snorts and clears throat] can submit them like he did this year. Thanks for getting the governor's proclamation for um, the national um, Mississippi River Day. That was awesome. And so, you know, actively develop and deepen partnership with the interpretive centers, the VCBs or CVBs, uh, related byway organizations. Chris did a lot of dogging >> [laughter] >> those organizations. If she sent a request and didn't get a request, she went back to them. And she went back to them. Andrew, you you you just can't do that. You can either contact them once and say, "You need a maps." And if you don't hear from them, you don't hear from them. But but but Chris, because she could be more proactive, would keep on these things and and and nurture those relationships on behalf of the organization. So, how do we nurture those relationship with our interpreter centers and our visitors bureaus and our related byway organizations? We may need to be more active in doing that. And the ambassador program is something we've, you know, we've kind of developed that to do that nurturing and to tell, you know, at least once a year, uh maybe twice if we can, you know, bring the the uh interpreter centers in and CVBs and for um here's who we are, here's what we do cuz we have change over all the time and and we need to um make people aware of that change. Andrew can can schedule that and he can set up these sessions and help us run it. You've been through the the process before. You can actually help run the meetings on that. Next slide. Uh my down button didn't work. >> [laughter] >> Um So social media, again, what kind of what comes out on social media and Facebook and marketing campaigns is developing original marketing content is on us. So who is going to develop that original marketing content? Do we rely on our individual agency partners to say, "Hey, I want to get I want to market this piece of something" or or or do we come up with it as a commission? Drive month, um we de- decide on the theme and then one of the partners has been great at taking the the lead on that theme like others have in the past. Um And then again, in all of these cases, LCC can facilitate, they can post stuff, they can they can deliver what we give them to where it need to be delivered to. Next slide. Is that the next slide? >> Yes. >> Our joint promotion efforts. Great River Road month. Oh, this is just more detail on basically the the same thing. Drive the Great River Road month. Um Let's go to the next slide. So there's certain obligations of being a scenic byway. Um we have to we have to um And Ann knows more about this than I do, so weigh in, Anne, whenever. Um we're obligated to protect, enhance, and promote the intrinsic, scenic, historical, recreational, cultural, natural, and archaeological qualities that earned us the designation of National Scenic. By the way, Anne, and we actually have have to do two of those cuz we're a All-American Road, as well. Um And we must implement the corridor management plan. So, we got to track that corridor management plan. Carol's been very good at doing that in the past. So, heads-up, um we we might need you to to track that corridor management plan and help us say, "Hey, it's time to work on the corridor management plan again and do something on it." Again, that that's up to us. Next slide, Andrew. There we go. Again, so corridor management plan, um and that and that includes, you know, updating interpreters uh and providing signage and interpreter centers, wayfinding, plan your trip, uh >> [clears throat] >> plan your project ambassador program, as well as the roadside storybook, which you've had a number of conversations about, um trying to which is about interpreting and and promoting and enhancing [clears throat] the visitor experience on the Great River Road. Next slide. >> [snorts] >> I want to leave time for conversation. So, so what of our budget do we have that to fill the gaps that that might be identified here? And knowing that the part of the budget, you know, can't fill the gaps, how do we How do we increase our budget or leverage our capacity to do the work we need to do that that Chris might have otherwise done? Next slide, Andrew. Yes, so I just have a a slide here on the So, this is our budget. Um About 40,400 is fixed costs. And then administration is um Actually, administration's 40,400 and fixed costs are 37,600. Next slide, Andrew. And on that on that um I I just started putting this together myself. >> [laughter] >> So, we got some I'm I could use some help on on putting this together, but this is kind of how the budget breaks out on the um I need turn up my volume sign because I had my volume muted on my computer, which is blocking >> [laughter] >> the title here. But, this shows you kind of the breakdown of of the cost um And is there a next slide, Andrew? >> Yeah. >> Uh don't worry about this. This is just the statutory stuff, but if you want to know that what the purpose of putting this in here is here's what we're authorized to do, required to do by statute, and here's what the LCC is authorized and can do by statute. You know, just you've heard much of that already. So, is there one more slide? >> Uh just yep. I think that's it. >> Yep. Okay. You can quit sharing that now. Again, again the the basic point is to get across that um How how do we fill this gap that um on the proactive side of promoting this organization, and I was really excited to hear um Lauren's presentation today cuz she's got a lot of content out there, I think, that they're already doing that. We just need to snatch >> [laughter] >> or leverage in some way. So, kind of what thoughts, questions, and anybody on the executive committee who's been participating in this, please weigh in. I did that really fast. >> Can I have a question, Carl? >> Yeah, Carl. >> What of that 38,400 that we were using through contract with Spruce, do we have available to do that if we choose to? >> I I had a hard time hearing you, Carl. >> Um Can you hear me? >> Yep. Yeah, go ahead and try again. >> Okay. Okay. Uh what of that 38,000 plus that we were using contract with Chris, do we have available to do the same if we if we decide we can help? >> They're asking about the administrative costs, the personnel and technical service costs. >> So, what what was it I repeat the question. If I couldn't again I couldn't get it completely. >> saying what of the $38,000 that was paid to Odyssey Chris is available now. >> So, all of that money right now goes to the LCC. >> Uh, just a slight correction. >> No, no, there's there's then it's divided up from there. >> Yeah, yeah, there's um there's some that also go with um like the website maintenance, that type of thing, so that >> 15,000 of that all that money goes to our annual dues. >> Uh, this is just the the 40 So, >> Okay. >> the the the 47 the 37 six is the fixed costs which are um if you if you have the packet, but I don't know if he does, um the fixed costs are delineated below that. The 40 thousand 400 is actually the administration which was is more the in the marketing and the all of >> Yeah. >> the contract with Odyssey used to be in there and that's where that those things that aren't identified as LCC or or obligations that we have as members of other organizations or subscriptions or um overhead costs are in the fixed costs and that's the 30 That's the blue part of the pie chart. >> Yeah. >> I think you have that sheet in the packet if you want to pull it up on the that has our budget that says what the >> I don't know if Carl has it. >> Yeah, I think that this is really helpful to >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> delineate what you're talking about. >> Yeah. I don't know if Andrew if you can pull it up um >> [snorts] >> and share your screen for that budget. >> Andrew's looking at that right now. >> Okay. >> Thank you. You're the You're the person on the budget, so you You should weigh in. [laughter] >> I'm not the budget person. I learned a lot in this process. >> But Chris's salary was over and above that 37 or Yeah, that 37.6, right? Cuz we It wasn't worked into that. >> Where's my 2026? Um >> 40,400. >> But the actual Senator Halsey um Chair Halsey um so the actual contract with um Odyssey was uh like 37,000, I think. >> thinking 38. >> 38,000 for the monthly retainer. That was for 60 hours. Um typically though she'd do um some above and beyond work, which was uh at additional hourly rate, and I don't have that in front of me, but it was typically like another additional 100 hours. That would be So it's a roughly like something around 15,000 added on top of that. So that's an average over a number of years on it, so um if that gives you a kind of approximate cost on things. >> Yeah. Yeah, and there's that sheet. >> Yeah. >> Carol, if you want to look at it. >> Currently the LCC assesses um 30% of Andrew's personnel cost um to this commission. >> Um under that >> Under that category, the professional services and technical services. >> Yeah. >> That was in lieu of like the Odyssey agreement. >> Mhm. >> So it's a little less. That's a little That's less That's less cost than the what the Odyssey agreement was. Mhm. Okay. [clears throat] >> S- So >> Yeah. >> I don't know how to do the hand raise thing. >> [laughter] >> We've been through this before, John. >> I know, Anne. I just got I It's >> [laughter] >> I'm a I'm still a lettered and proud of it. Um So, if I understand that correctly, if you're looking at professional technical services, Andrew is is earmarked to us for 40% of his time? Is that Did I understand >> 30%. 3 0. >> 30%. So, technically, that's a that's a for the amount of work that is done, I mean, was in Chris was Chris Miller, that was the same amount for her, correct? >> And she was she was doing 60 hours a day. Correct. Not 60 hours a month. 60 hours a a month. >> Is that Does that equate I I'm I'm a social psychologist, not a mathematician, so does that Does that equate 30%? >> The of 60 hours, um I'll tell you in a second. >> Yeah, I just I'm trying to get I'm trying to compare apples to apples here, cuz the Carl's question is >> Well, 25% >> Okay. >> That's like $24,240. >> So, >> Yeah. >> So, that's That'd be like 37%, 38%. >> So, Chris is was 37%, Andrew's at 30%. So, we have a We have a We have a burn rate of about 10%. >> Yeah. >> And that we need to bill. >> Okay. >> And the LCC's never charged to indirect or anything like that to this commission. I mean, we also provide, you know, to this commission fiscal administration, never have, you know, accosted [snorts] against that, you know. So, part of my time, you know, which [clears throat] is fine. >> [laughter] >> I just let you know. >> Oh. >> Andrew, do you want to um tell the group um cuz we had an executive board meeting um last week about this. And I thought maybe there would be some legacy funds or something that could help out here. And then Andrew, you talked to Senate Council. Um, cuz John, I'm just trying to find the money somewhere. Uh you know, we can fill this gap. But Andrew got some information from Dan Miller. >> Yeah, Senator Housley and and members. Um Yeah, I think at that executive committee, you know, just trying to identifying the gap, identifying uh a dollar amount to help fill that gap. Um just brain- we were just brainstorming ideas. Um I reached out to to Senate Council about potential use of legacy funds um for um some of the work that would help fill this gap. And and essentially the answer I got back was um uh twofold. One in in that um the the restrictions on the use of legacy funds um would be would be um not the the this sort of work kind of the marketing work of the of uh the marketing communications work of the MRPC, that outreach role, um and that coordinator role of of um helping to promote um the scenic byway and the great the great river road um not not quite qualify for uh legacy funds. That's one part of it. And then the second part of it is is legacy funds are are are competitive grants, uh annual competitive grants. And it'd be it'd be a tricky a tricky uh a trickier as well um part of of if this is an ongoing um uh you know, desired that would essentially be a part of the base uh budget of the MRPC going forward. And legacy funds are um one-year competitive grants. So that'd be as well hard to administrate over and over again. >> And we we could do it for specific things that we came up with, but but not for on ongoing budget. And and >> But we could do it for specific things, for specific projects like interpretive projects. >> Interpretive projects and then I don't know uh David and I David and I also chatted uh briefly as well about >> Yeah, I think going back to a a a more basic part of Legacy Amendment funds is the amendment itself, which says these are to be used for I'm totally paraphrasing cuz I can't remember, but for arts, arts education, arts access, and to preserve Minnesota history and cultural heritage. So, anything that would be done just generically, anything that would be done would have to fall within that constitutional requirement. And and as Andrew said, the appropriation language always says these are one-time expenditures. And they're not meant to be recurring operational funds, but rather project-based. So, to Andrew's point about um looking for something that's going to be a dependable ongoing source of funding to do outreach and promotion and marketing, >> That's a >> that's not >> Right. >> a great fit for regularity. So, but but to John's point about if there's a specific project, interpretive signage about a history, maybe not so much a natural feature, but about a history and you know, >> The story book project >> the two meet at some point certainly. An interpretive signage project as a grant might be something that would qualify. >> Marty's got her hand up here, so Marty. >> Yeah, thank you. I I I'm still stuck on that budget. I have one more question. Um and before we had Andrew assisting us, and maybe this is for Diane, um was the LCC taking 30% of that technical contract money per support before we had Andrew. >> So >> a new thing? >> Yeah, so Chair Housley and Marni, I remember. To answer your question, um the LCC did not we I've been here I I don't know exactly when we started contracting or when we had the MRPC come underneath the LCC that the MRPC actually predates the the LCC. But at some point you guys probably know it's it's a probably 2004 or something like that maybe 2000 something like that 2003 something like that. Um that we contracted we used to work with um gosh now it's gone. >> Oh yeah. >> Carlson Travel >> Wagonlit >> But something Carlson was kind of outfit it with Carlson Travel and then um the commission the LCC is required to do RFPs every every 5 years and uh Carlson was kind of going away and not doing that responsibility anyway. So we issued RFP um back in 2008 and MRP uh the Odyssey applied for it. So the whole administrative cost that we were talking about went to the the contract maintenance that retainer with the Odyssey. The LCC has never um did any indirect or any type of um anything from that that allocation of the budget to the MRPC. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. It's only when Odyssey Chris decided that she was looking to retire and Odyssey wasn't interested really in in maintaining that and this group talked about it that we thought it would be um possibly better to work with the LCC with like we have some JS components some that type of things than to and with um more grading support of the meetings that type of thing. But as Andrew said there's some things that you know, it's different. You know, we're this is a legislative agency, you know, that um is providing support now, direct support on on such things to this group. Does that answer your question? >> It did. Thank you. >> Yeah, so so so I think that but that thanks Marty cuz cuz that made something really clear is that is that that we need someone whose job is to actively promote this organization as Carlson Wagonlit Travel and then Odyssey as a entity a promotional did. We've lost that promotional entity that that does that kind of work which and without it we're losing something. And so how do we compensate for that? Is it partnering more with with um Explore Minnesota Tourism and leveraging what they're doing and try try to make it up there or do we need money to hire someone to in that position so they get up every day or at least certain hours a day and want to promote us cuz that's what we're we're going to lose. Senator Hoffman. >> I figured out how to do the hand raise >> [laughter] >> I got to reward you for that. >> Let's get a prize. >> I clicked that everything. So hear me out on this one John. The the has been chair of the committee that I'm chair of and also what Housley used to be chair of, right? There's an issue that is always told to us by the so-called experts, the non-partisan, those people that they always say your problem is tails. And and the tails piece is that ongoing formula, right? But there's a butt clause and and David, I don't know if you guys do this in transportation or in history center but I do it all the time which is we were able to stretch out a dollar amount over a six-year period of time, right? Um and and it avoided the conversations. And and just to to set one thing aside, Discretionary funding is discretionary funding. Every agency, unless there's a a match from the feds, this is called discretionary funding. In this case, LCC, all these commissions that you have are all discretionary funding. So, at any given time, that discretionary funding could go away. Especially given the fact that you don't know who's going to be in charge next year, right? And so, I would argue this point that we proceed to go after some legacy funds, um and and and get it proportioned for that four or six year, whatever whatever the rules will allow within that committee, um and and and we move forward. I I We did that uh in the human services world, and uh I don't see any reason why we wouldn't be able to do it in this world as well. So, does that make sense? >> It makes sense to me, but I think David probably is going to chime in here, but I mean, it's worth a try, right? I think they should have a couple of different options out there. Go ahead. >> Chairwoman Housley, I I guess I would uh pipe in here and say um the the mechanics of how the dollars are available is a separate matter from the purpose for which the dollars would be spent. And we have parameters for legacy dollars that we we spend them for the purposes outlined in the Constitution and then in statute 129D that say how those dollars can be spent. And it it just depends. I think, you know, promoting tourism is not necessarily part of that constitutional purpose of the legacy [snorts] amendment. But, I think it depends. We're talking about hypotheticals here about what we might do and coming in with some more concrete examples of what a project might look like would help to answer the question of whether it was eligible. And again, Senator Hoffman, the availability of dollars, yep, we've seen extensions. Um, the you know, the sound you hear right now is uh heads exploding in Minnesota Management and Budget with with uh talking about making dollars available for 6 years cuz they like to contain it within a biennium, but um that it doesn't have to be that way. >> [laughter] >> Like [snorts] I like how you ended that sentence. It doesn't have to be that way. >> But the Constitution [laughter] is the Constitution, so I'm >> I No, I hear you on that. I know this is helpful, David. Um, Karen, does that make sense? >> Yeah, yeah, that does make sense. Um, and I know Carl wants to say something too, but um uh Senate Counsel also said the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund has some flexibility there too um to promote cultural activities and events if that was something we wanted to look at. >> Yeah, so what what I've been Senator Housley, what I've been referring to There's four funds in the Legacy >> Okay. >> amendment. There's uh Clean Water, Outdoor Heritage, uh Parks and Trails, which has its own set of rules, and um I don't work in that area, so asking DNR uh primarily what the rules are and practices are in the Parks and Trails area is There are grant programs there, so that may be something to look at. And then the fourth that I've been describing is the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. And that's the one I I should have clarified that at the outset. >> That That's the fund that we work with that has those constitutional provisions. And you know, I like to say to preserve Minnesota's histories in the Constitution. That's That's pretty cool. >> I just like to get Carl in here cuz he's had his hand up for a while. I don't want him getting tired. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. Um I hope you can hear me. Uh Is going back to what we were doing before an option? I was trying to I mean, we were really lucky to find Chris, but um you know, where do we find somebody that both do administrative and promotional work? Is that an option? Or is LCC going to use some administrative powers regardless? Or cuz right now it seems like we're just getting the administrative and none of the promotional support. >> So, you guys got that? >> I think so. >> So, so you're wondering is is there an option going back to doing a contract? Basically? >> That's what everybody's asking. >> Um Carl >> Um >> Chair Housley, um the the all the time that I've been with the LCC since 2008 probably I've been through four or five different reiterations of the RFP. And um we had never with those got obtained responses from credible um age entities that could do marketing beyond Odyssey, I would say. Um in my opinion. Um or sometimes we didn't get any response just for just the only one was from Odyssey. Like yeah, that was the only one. So. >> And and I I don't know if Kate Kate or Lisa want to weigh in. I know Megan in one of the meetings we had when we had the people who actually do marketing weigh in. And they were talking like $70,000 to get someone to your point that would legitimately do marketing for us at a at a part-time even a part-time basis. >> I I I want to I'd like to just add that I think that would include administrative stuff because much of what we've talked about in here where we've delineated the functions like the social media content they'd be able to be putting that in and interfacing with like DNR or the history to get or tourism to get that make to create that content and do that flow is right now an administrative task under LCC but it could be very easily locked over into a marketing RFP and and would fit. It would somebody who's doing that wouldn't want to lose control of that. That's kind of my my guess because that's the way those things work. >> If you look at our time again I we're not going to resolve this today. Um the goal was to make you aware of the conversation. Um make you aware of that there's an issue here and um and and just start this conversation but we only meet four times a year. So so it's not like something we can put on hold indefinitely. So so there's um you know maybe I Amanda we could you know is if we want to go for some six-year funding in the the parks and trails because this is a our part of byways under parks and trails. What do the byways come under uh what? Tourism or would it be considered a trail? >> DOT >> DOT >> Well scenic byways came out of the FHWA. >> Yep. >> Federal Highway Administration and it's their program that we help administer in each state. The DOTs. >> Yeah so so it's under DOT but it but it is it considered um is a program of the four programs of the Legacy funding, where where would it fall if we wanted to talk about promoting a a linear trail, linear byway? Could it fall in that category? >> Conceivably. >> Conceivably. We might have to look at the rules and maybe you could look into the rules and regulations on that, Amanda, and just see >> Sure. >> ask Grant or someone else >> [laughter] >> whether the Great River Road would qualify for with some kind of an application for what you two-year funding or or longer. But again, that's just a stopgap. It's not It's not a permanent solution. Yeah. >> Sounds good. I'll send an email. >> Thanks. >> You're welcome. >> Uh Madam Chair, Mr. Chair, uh another option is to uh go in the same direction that we have, and that is uh the funding that comes for the MRPC is general fund dollars, correct? >> Yeah, um so it's um it's comes to appropriations to the LCC and amongst its base, um so it's an allocation from the LCC. It's typically done on a historical type of basis on it. Um if we were to have a decrease of funding, we probably put a percentage prorated against all our different sub subfunds. We have fiscal agents, so we have about 60 different accounts, you know. >> Okay. So, but it's general fund. >> Yes, that's correct. It's general fund. >> In some ways has the fewest restrictions of all of what we've been talking about because parks and trails, various DOT-related funds, arts and cultural heritage funds have a number of restrictions. So, one option, if if we were going to use our energies to go to the legislature for additional funding, would be to increase what we're doing and and sort of have a hybrid, have some of the administrative work that LCC can do, and I understand what was just discussed about that there may not be a contractor um out there, but we can try again, but have some of those additional tasks done in the same way that we've been doing the work through uh an additional general fund appropriation that comes through the MRPC through the LCC. >> Uh if we my input here so we could certainly the LCC could help support that process. The MRPC did seek the LCC on behalf of the MRPC did seek out additional funds. Um that was a implementation of some of the corridor management plans with the um establishment I think it was like 20 25,000 for the establishment of the website. Um I got to remember how much for helping out with the ambassador program, something with the printing of maps. And then there was also a bit of a general increase to the MRPC then too. I wanted to say like 5,000 or or something along those lines on it. Um I would suggest so um that the MRPC think about like it's members here. Think about like what you're looking for specifically, your goals, your what you'd like to do because the ask is going to be the members are going to be wanting to know that. You know, [snorts] the ask on that one. The opportunity there is opportune time that we're beginning going to be at the beginning of a biennium starting next year. So typically our ask comes to the legislature in January um when the session starts, but we like to have things kind of ironed out and by fall, early winter, some time period on it. So yeah, but it I would again very be very specific on what you're seeking on what those funds are you're aiming those funds to do and seeking what the funds would be doing. So >> So I um Senator Housley, you'd actually mentioned in the executive committee of you know, jumping it to 100,000 instead of maybe 78,000. Do we want to Is that what we're talking about is that we'd want to jump it up by a certain amount and then um develop a really good rationale and and case for for doing so what you're saying in justification for it. And then and then not risk the the fact that someone might look at it and go, "Why are they getting 78,000?" >> [laughter] >> So, let me >> Oh, I was just going to say maybe we figure out what we want to do and um and then ask or put a number try to figure out what what it would take. >> Okay, so let's I think we >> I said we could have an ad hoc committee that did that. We don't have to do that. >> I think the executive committee should continue this conversation is what it should be. And and but that's kind of our direction is is try to put a number on what we need and then see if we can go forward with it. Does that make sense? >> If I could add something too, I think this executive committee kind of also talked about this and just with Explore Minnesota Tourism here, the advantageous thing might be to look at what type could relationships could be with state agencies to facilitate that. Could some funds be a coalition of efforts be done with a state agency to that has some of those resources embedded, which would be cost efficient then too and effective. >> That's with partner agencies, yeah, leveraging yeah. I think that's good. >> Byam. >> What? >> Byam. >> Yeah, Byam. Well, Marty's got her hand up. >> Uh thank you >> [laughter] >> everyone. Thank you Chair Hausly and Co-chair Anderson. But since we're talking about general funds and partnering on this and you know, we've talked about it before, the statute that limits our use of trunk highway funds on this commission, which there's we all know there's a statute that requires us to support it. So, I don't know while the executive committee is is talking things through, uh maybe maybe you want to think on on that one if that's something that should be looked at trying to change or not or if there is a way um you know, for getting general fund money for not only MnDOT, but for other organizations who might need need that money um to be able to participate more um with the MRPC. Just not to be a broken record, but we just have a little pot of general fund money in in the office that we use for things that were prohibited from using trunk highway funds on and and this would be one of those. So, I just wanted to take that opportunity to put that on your radars. >> reminder. >> It's a great reminder. Yeah, thank you. I I'd actually written it down at one point and and looked into that statute and >> [laughter] >> read it and tried to >> Yeah, we Yes. So, let me you want to chat about that. >> Okay. >> Good point. >> Thanks, Marty. Well, let me move us along. We're a little behind schedule, but but this was the most important conversation I I think that we could have. So, um Anne, we talk more about budget? Sure. [laughter] And onward. Um You all I believe have your but have a budget. Do you have in your packets? >> Yes. >> Yeah. Do you want Does that get thrown up at all? >> I can do it if you'd like. >> Andrew? >> Yeah. >> Um the thing I kind of wanted to um stress or point out or highlight um is that in our chart or in our budget, we have um initial budget allocation spent pending what we know is going to come in. We We know there's going to be more in percentage spent and then there's one column that that's remaining unspent. Um [snorts] and the the reason why I wanted to call that to your attention um is that uh we are at a point we we're in the first year. Diane, correct me if I'm wrong. We're in the first year of a of a biennium. So, we have carryover capability at this point in time. Now, from an administrative standpoint, this is one of the things that Chris did that was really good was that she would see and and now I'm looking at it, she would see what she was going to save and push it into the next year for something like printing maps, which is big ticket item and is a big undertaking too administratively. Um but um so, I wanted to point that out to you that we have from by my calculations somewhere in the realm of fourth or $5,000 that we're going to push is going to end up being pushed into the next year. >> It could be as much as a little under 12,000. >> It could be that even that. Oh. >> How much? >> As little under 12,000, which is better than I could calculate. Um >> [clears throat] >> but when we talk about printing maps, which I don't know if that's on here or not, but it is at least the this the you you've been I know Andrew's been struggling with that issue and not just not the printing but the just actually the distribution and the demand for the maps. Um those are that's a thing that that's a category that we don't always focus on when we have a report and we have a budget report, but at this point in time, we're at the end of the first year of the biennium, we should focus on that and realize that um when we get to the next year uh 2027, we might have additional funds and that might assist us in doing a project like the maps that we that only comes at certain times of the year. So, I just wanted to highlight that as an aspect of what you're looking at in the budget at this point in time. Um, and otherwise, we're coming to the conclusion. Um, and and we'll be starting a new year by the time we have the next meeting. Is there anything you want >> Yeah, I can speak just a little bit to maps. Um, I uh uh reached out to Chris. Uh uh okay, I'll I'll I'll back up a little bit and and and where where a map discussion might might be maybe appropriate here. Um, we we do some we did some outreach uh very late winter. Did not get some did not get many uh responses and average to interpreter centers uh tours and partners along at the city and town level um just with the the the constant contact that outreach list that we maintain. Um, did not get many did not get many responses and then did get a large response uh at the at the end of the spring essentially. >> [snorts] >> Um, um for a number that would require a full map reprinting. Um, um so so we don't have that in stock. But but this this this is to to say um and uh historically it looks like and and in chatting with Chris and notes I've gotten from Chris and and just conversations um in the past few uh well, since during the transition and after she's left, she's she's been been graciously you know, responding to questions and all of that and that's amazing. But but it looks like around an average of every 2 years, there's a big map reorder. We had one in in uh 2025, spring 2025. So, we were looking for spring 2027, I think for that. But uh to fulfill a large order, we would need to do it sooner. So, so I think there's there's just questions about do we want to do it every 2 years and that's just a fixed thing or is it more ad hoc as needed with with demand when demand increases and decreases and obviously I think um um demand increases in the spring as the winter ends and then people start going on the road more and and and recreating more but um yeah that just a that's a a small note as well on maps that I can that I wanted to share. >> If there's nothing else there isn't anything else I >> Anything else here? >> We don't have to pass that do we? >> No. >> No. >> So you're good? >> Yep. >> On the budget? Okay updates on the um national board meeting uh >> [snorts] >> Senator Hassell-Swain on that you want me to take that? I think I will take it cuz Senator Hassell-Swain was on the call for a while and you were as well so we are in as well. Oh Senator Hassell-Swain. >> Yeah you go yeah you go ahead and take it and I'm actually going to log out and log back in from my phone cuz I have to pack this up. But I'm listening. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Thanks. So one of the things we noted at the at the national meeting was we won the second we won the best scenic drive in America for the second year in a row. And you know that that got me thinking why? How do how do we win with USA today? um How did we win 2 years in a row? Would we win 3 years in a row? 4 years in a row? But but it it told me that you know we must be connected to more partners more interpretive centers more organizations more visitors bureaus whatever than any other byway in America. Um we have a connection with more with more people who voted for us than any other byway in America. I mean I wish I could get the you know like if this were a I told Suzanne if this were a political campaign you'd know by county who voted for you. You know it's like I want to know by county who voted for us and where they voted from cuz then we could we could say here's our power, here's our core. Look how and then we could tap that and use it from a marketing perspective but uh Suzanne told me that USA Today probably wouldn't give me that >> [laughter] >> the data. So but but I think we have to remember that it does tell us something, right? That we won 2 years in a row. I looked at the 10 the winners 10 winners the last couple years and you know it's about half of them changed over and changed over but we stayed at number one. And so I think USA just they might quit it if we just stay at one all the time. >> Oh no they won't. >> [laughter] >> What's the point? >> [snorts] >> Um but again that it should tell us something. I wish we could learn exactly what it tells us. Um the fall meeting again as I mentioned to Laura and is October 6th to 8th in West Memphis. You know we usually get about 60 to 70 participants. We're expecting 200 to 250 with all the byways from around America. And so I'm hoping many many of Minnesota's byways come there as well so we actually get to meet with our fellow state byways. Um and and find out what they do and learn from them. Um the conference is going to be at the Southland Casino Hotel in West Memphis. We'll shuttle to to the to the where we have some of the meetings. Um and uh we'll have an opening reception at the new Sultana Museum. It's not going to be officially open yet so we'll get a sneak peek into the Sultana Museum um which is um I think it's in Mariana. Is it Mariana? >> Marianna. Marianna. >> Yeah but it's it's the you know, the greatest in inland uh navigation disaster in history at the end of the Civil War. Phenomenal tragedy. Um And so at also at the at the national meeting we pushed through a couple of votes on certain things. And and so uh and this came out of the marketing committee so it's going to overlap with the marketing committee but um the marketing committee recommended that the the board formally adopt the Great River Road as a public facing name of our organization. So it's the Mississippi River Parkway Commission right right now and we'll keep that as the official corporate name. But but the motion was to publicly to operate publicly as the Mississippi River Parkway Commission doing business as the Great River Road for all public facing materials. So when people ask us who we are, we are the Great River Road. We have a commission that oversees the Great River Road but but when we market this organization it's all we don't use Parkway Commission cuz nobody knows what that means. And so we keep pushing forward the idea of the Great River Road. So that's going to be at the national they do at the national level. We could adopt we could talk about it at another meeting maybe adopting that at the state level if we want to as well. I hear some Senator Houck is going out. That was all we got from everybody on the on the It it the vote went through unanimously. Um it's kind of long overdue. >> I love overdue was my favorite part of that meeting was finally we can just call it the Great River Road and not confuse people. >> Yeah, I was talking to one of my my fellow cruise boat people who's from Minnesota who was one who talked me into it. I mentioned the Parkway Commission goes what's that? And I said it's the Great River Road. He goes well why don't you just call it the Great River Road? >> [laughter] >> What She was confused by the commission. She didn't want me to use that the word so So we also did something else I think this long overdue from a marketing perspective. We changed the or updated the logo use policy to allow broader set of organizations to use our logo in exchange for like if there's going to be some race on the river by there was something coming up with a college thing and they wanted to use our logo. Um non-profit organization and normally we'd say no cuz it's not cuz we're not sponsoring it. We're not behind it. We're not participating in it. But now we can say yes under certain conditions. You have to use our logo in the right way. You can't you can't play with it. You can't change colors or design. And if you agree to these provisions they'll be evaluated by the executive committee. You can use it. If it's a for-profit business and they want to use it, there's going to be a $100 fee. And so we'll make some money off people who want to use use our logo. And a lot of other organizations do that. Um Anne suggested that we put a time limit on how long they could do it. And And so for this one we did a um We need it really the uh Now that we just introduced it at this full board meeting, we couldn't really vote on it cuz we need people to talk about it and think about it. So but we provisionally we we approved it provisionally pending a more detailed review at the October meeting. So So Suzanne already had some ask and asked that she wanted to be able to say yes to. So this gave her the the okay to say yes. And there's um there's some Mini Cooper drive that's going to occur along the Great River Road that wanted to use a bunch of Mini Cooper users who want to drive the river run. They want to use the logo. So it's like yeah, go use it. Cuz it promotes us without costing us anything. And if they want if they want to use it for to make make money then we get something out of it. So we approved that as well at the meeting. Um If Senator often I don't know if you're talking to me or you're muted. >> I just said that is so cool John. You just I'm all full of joy right here man. I mean, smiling because of everything you're saying. So, I just was I was thinking so cool. That's what I was so cool. So, like I held up my Iowa State t-shirt. So, there you go. >> [laughter] >> Uh hi. Um no, it's long long overdue. And if we're trying to figure out how to make money for this organization to support it, why didn't we do that sooner? Um and if we if it really takes off and we get a lot of people at 100 bucks, let's do 200. And and make more. Um the other thing we did is that um we agreed so there's there's going to be a national uh scenic byway day. It's going to be new. So, September 22nd, which is during dry month, is going to the National Scenic Byway Association is is moving to get National Scenic Byway Day on an at a national level. And so, they just needed $75 from the the the national commission to get to like a thousand more Zoom people who could Zoom into it. It's like we said yes to that, of course. Um So, that that basically it was those were the marketing committee discussions, too. Um but but I will say that uh on the marketing committee, we had Sharon Calcott, who was the chair from Louisiana, her assistant, Suzanne, and myself. That That was it on the marketing committee. So, we need more marketing committee participation. And they should probably get out of a agenda ahead of time and do something to encourage people to come. Yesterday was the environment, recreation, and agriculture committee meeting. And Anne was on that along with Sabrina Chandler, the chair, who's the chair of the Upper Mississippi Refuge and about 18 other refuges. And then someone from from uh Wisconsin. But that was it. So, it was like almost no representation on that committee, either. Um >> [clears throat] >> If Anne and I wouldn't have been there, it would have been >> [laughter] >> It was a good discussion. It was a good conversation. >> a great discussion because because something came up that that bugged the heck out of me. I talked to a a writer who's going to do a story on the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area for the National Parks Conservation Association, the national advocacy organization of national parks, and it's going to be on their national website, the story about the the national river here. And she said to me, she's a writer from Duluth, and she said, "Why why is it basically that the great people around the Great Lakes care more about the Great Lakes than people on the Mississippi care about the Mississippi?" And I was like, "What? No way." And and and but she's the second reporter who said that to me, and and one of them actually published a story saying that, and I got to see the pre- the the draft of it, and I and I complained about it, but now she said, "No, that's right." And then Sabrina Chandler, who's the upper She manages all the refuges of the above the Ohio River. And uh I said that this to her, and she goes, "100% 100% true." She said, "The Mississippi River is a foreign country." And I thought, "That's a That's a title of a article >> [laughter] >> or book, The Mississippi as a foreign country." But but that's what she said, and so we have an identity issue. I'm really glad to hear Lauren talk about how we're trying to promote the river, but it it kind of surprised me and and shows kind of one of the hurdles we have to need think about. And so that was a big piece of the conversation of the of that committee meeting was how we think about that. Um And I'm doing all the committee I mean, a lot [laughter] of the committee presentations today. We'll get to transportation at the end. And so Culture and Heritage Committee, we had seven states represented, which was really really great. And we we talked about the summer showcase, which replaced the semi-annual meeting. And what we wanted was that interpret centers or CVBs would be um would do like a 3-minute presentation on something new and cool they were doing. And we got over a dozen people who agreed to participate. Um we had over 40 people attended. Uh Heather from Lake Itasca State Park attended. David gave a a presentation on what the historical society is doing. Kate from Winona attended. And I hope I get her name pronounced right, Caitlin Cruche or Cruchette from the Minnesota Marine Art Museum also presented. So, again, Minnesota had great representation. And like I said, we had over 40 attendees for this. And so, we're looking at doing this will be the new annual meeting. There'll be a We'll do this every year to bring together those um interpreter centers and CVBs. Marty, I see your hands up. You're way up in the left-hand corner of my screen. So, I got to I got to look take my head up away from my notes. What do you question? >> Thank you. I just I I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I must speak my peace. >> Do it. >> You know, I it's too bad that there is not many people uh attending some of these committee meetings. And um And you know, I've raised this before, but you know, if we could do if we could do some basic things like get calendar appointments. Uh have an agenda. Right? Like because people, you know, wherever we're coming from to be on these committees, we need those things, those basic things. And and I'll just share too. I I have volunteered with Sabrina like, if you need help or whatever. And oh, she found somebody else to help. So, I I don't know. It it almost feels like the the the little core group doesn't want other people's, you know, input or help. So, I'm just being super brutally honest about that. And Amanda, you've attended some of those um meetings, too. But like, can we just get It's just so helpful to have an actual meeting calendar invite with the link and even an agenda. There I And and I know people are busy. I know we're all busy, but if we're going to have these meetings and have participation, there's some basic things that I think need to happen. So, that's my soapbox on the ERA committee issue. >> Yeah, Marnie, I was going to I I put in the chat, but I realized I was direct chatting to the room in the capital, but I was like I'm signed up for the environmental committee, but I haven't seen any meeting requests, so I didn't even know this meeting happened, so I didn't attend. Um so, I didn't realize that I needed to be checking like a website to see if when the meetings were happening. So, um it's a good reminder to me to to look for those things cuz I didn't I didn't know, and I would have been there had I known. >> Well, I you I I think that as pilot of the 10-state organization, it's my job to to fix that. Um the culture and heritage committee is successful because we have calendar invites in the date set for the whole year. And and we and we and I I try to get out an agenda ahead of time where I ask for input ahead of time, and people know it's coming, they know it and it's on their calendar, so um they you know, I I Sabrina Chandler, who's the head of the refuge, she lost I I don't know how much of her staff in the Fish and Wildlife Refuge. They've given her even more duties. It's not I I don't look at it as as Sabrina's just keeping her head above water if if that. They need other states to stand up in in other other states to to stand up and help more, and so we got to work on that as well. So, Marnie, you're spot-on and and it just tells me I need to I need to work on this, and I will make that a point of getting that message out. >> Thank you. Thank you for listening, and I'm not bashing Sabrina, but just some basic stuff probably can really help help with that that's committee. >> Yeah. >> Thanks, John. I I I agree 100%. So, um I'll work on that. And now transportation. >> [laughter] >> You can't even hit that right. What are you doing already? >> Um so the one thing that I was told to talk about is this um short overview that Marny had sent out to Senator John Hoffman and it is um basically sort of a breakdown of what it would take to rehabilitate and to build out the storyboard. Um this was given to him at the end of legislation. You guys don't have it. >> But it was just Oh, we don't have it. I'm sorry. >> It was given at the end of legislation. Um so we don't really have an update on it, but if I was to go over just a couple of numbers, I can pass this around. So to build out the remaining storyboard panels, so this would be new panels, it would that part of it would cost about 1,117,000 or 17,200 if we were to replace the existing um Minnesota Great River Road Interpretive Sign Rehabilitation, that would be about $462,000. Uh so total if you were to do both projects, it would be uh $1,579,200. Um and so this goes into a little bit more detail about that. So I can leave this with you guys. >> Can can we get a a email copy of that? >> Yeah. >> And Andrew and he can send it to everyone. >> Yeah. [clears throat] Yep. >> Senator Hoffman, did you Are you familiar with that? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Uh we got it right around March is I asked Marny just to give me a a breakdown and I and she has put everything in a table form. Uh we were it was too it was too late for me to get it anything other than if I could have you know, find an old somebody and bonding and I could have slid a cash ass you know. She just said stop it, John. So there you go. I know I know she's listening. So >> Well, well, this is a thing that does fit under the Legacy funding I believe in David's court in terms of signage for history. Yeah, so so we can we can think about how we you know, do we go for some part of that with Legacy funding? David, what's kind of the the the the reasonable limit for a request from Legacy? >> I think the largest single largest single grant is $500,000 and that was for a big historic preservation project. So 1.17 million would be >> a little big. >> a lot but but you could certainly a project like that you could break it down into multiple phases. >> Yeah, like if the just let's say you did the rehabilitation that would be under that $500,000 that you were just talking about and then maybe the next part you break it into two or three. >> Yeah, so we can build it out over time. >> Well, you well, you'd have to have a design. >> Yeah. >> You'd have to have you know, a material materials thing and then >> So so I think that's the next stage of this one is is to is to break it down and then and then intentionally go write a write a grant a Legacy funding grant. And if we get if we get the Legacy funds, who administers it? >> [laughter] >> David. >> David put his hands up. Or maybe it was like this not like this. >> [laughter] >> Uh I think we put can you put up both hands up in the yellow? Um So we'd have to talk about that. >> within the Legacy fund. Um if I'm correct, uh I think it depends on the fund within the Legacy fund. Um I think but I'm not for sure cuz I don't know where arts and cultural heritage comes from. Um LCCMR I know DNR can be like the grant that like they over they help with the getting the money out. Um, I think like within parks and trails that part of the legacy budget, I think has like three oversight groups that help with the budgeting on that if I've got [snorts] it correctly. Um, so I think like uh state parks and trails does part of it. I think that council does part of it and then there's something for greater Minnesota that does something different. Um, I'm not 100% sure on that. I can double check on that. Um, Hopefully that was a real question and I am not just taking us down some weird rabbit trail, but >> No, it's something to explore. Let's explore the different avenues with that. So, that sounds great. >> So, I guess uh John, one of the can I um one of the things we would I would just need I what I could do is if I get reelected is is take the language that was sent to me and um make a make a bill um and break it out according to that piece. I don't I don't I don't know who I I know Marny had said that the folks possibly at MNDOT would be able to help or I mean I just need a I need a tech I need some technical I I think I emailed you back Marny just saying I need some technical assistance on this, right? And so, I would just need somebody to be able to um access or Karn. Same thing. >> So, if that's if that's uh the path forward, we should we could talk about that. Um, it's just our goofy funding situation. That's otherwise, yeah, we we would be excited to help. >> Yeah, no, I I and I got it. It was you know, your note about your legislative affairs manager assistant said we can't propose or draft anything. Well, give me an option, right? That's the question that comes back and it'll come from Housley or me. And so >> Yeah. >> Or both of us if we come back next year. >> Yeah. Great. Thank Thanks for letting me >> I'm happy to collaborate on writing language, particularly if it's in the legacy area to just make sure it's >> Super. Thanks, David. So let's see. I think we got all the updates for the MRPC except Anne, you want to give one up on the on the Drive the Great River Month Month planning. Maybe David, you could give a an update on >> Yeah, and I I I jumped the gun a little bit cuz I just wanted to make sure that when Lauren was here that she heard a little bit about what >> [clears throat] >> we were planning for Drive the Great River Road Month. As you all know, there's a theme and we had been talking for a little while of having a history-related theme and last year we thought, "Let's just wait a year and wait for America 250 and do a a 250-related theme." So conveniently enough, our my colleagues in our marketing area have a larger initiative. They've done a few different um for lack of a better term, scavenger hunt type activities that are um mobile app-based over the last couple of years. So this one is called America 250 or Minnesota 250 Road Trips. And maybe Andrew, after the meeting as a follow-up, you can send out the the email address that's mnhs.org/mn250/roadtrips, one word. And that has instructions on doing the road trips. Um like I said earlier, it's app-based so you have to download an app called GooseChase. And under the FAQs, uh it there's a question, can I participate without using the Goose Chase app? So, I went right to that one. Give me a list. There's also a map, an interactive map that shows all the stops. So, like I said earlier, what we're going to do, and I just met with our marketing communications folks yesterday for the second or third conversation about this. They're going to just pick up on this, probably add a few Mississippi Great River Road related stops that are on the itinerary and um do an 11th itinerary to add to the 10 that are that are there that's Great River Road focused. So, that's the the main activity for this that's that's history related and um goes to a larger theme. The other whole aspect of this work is doing the promotion for it. And and my colleagues in our marketing communications area will do, and thanks Anne for the >> I hope it was helpful. >> the list and and we'll work off of this. Those guys have done a creative brief already to >> Good. >> Cuz they're like that. They are better organized than I am, and they they plan ahead >> more than I do. >> So, they've they've got a plan for doing some of this work. One of the promotional things that we've done in the past that it's not written in stone is to do a kickoff event, and a number of times we've done a kickoff event at the State Fair. It doesn't have to be at the State Fair. It could be somewhere along the river, but the State Fair is a convenient location. Obviously, there are a lot of Minnesotans and others there. We have had for the past two or three years have had the Minnesota Historical Society booth tent at the in the DNR block. And that's been a really successful location. >> Okay. >> But we had been in the education building and it's it's hot in there. >> [laughter] >> The legislature's in there, so yeah, I don't want to speak ill of the education [laughter] building, but but DNR has been really good and and there's there's a stage in the DNR block right next to the fishing pond. So, we've talked about Lauren Laura, my colleague in marketing communications, is going to check if there are some days that the stage is available cuz they have music on that stage scheduled out, but if we can get a 30-minute block on the DNR stage, then we can do a kickoff and invite what we did in the past and the one that sticks in my memory is the one that Ag sponsored a couple years ago where we're in the horticulture building and we had the the commissioners or agency heads of the agencies represented each came to the kickoff. We didn't get a lot of press, but we were able to put images and words about what we were doing on social media, so even if the press wasn't there, we still had the opportunity to promote what we were doing. So, >> Well, I I was just going to say that I I know a certain chair of this organization that is incredible at handing out prizes for sweepstakes or for for trivia contests in exactly that venue and does an amazing job and has a second calling kind of as a game show host. So, she might be if we can work it into her schedule >> Okay. >> She's really good at this and if we get it filmed if there's somebody from the historical society who can do their own filming, we can get that around to social media in ways that I think is if we don't even have media turn out, we can get adequate coverage. >> And speaking of prizes, the first >> four, there's not going to be a trivia contest here, but [laughter] I just grabbed some on my way out, but we have some Minnesota 250 pins that are the prize if you complete an itinerary in the road trip. So, uh whoever whoever wants a >> You don't have to have >> men 250 pin. If you collect pins, then >> Andrew informs me that we have a lot of swag in storage or he's got a lot of swag in storage. >> The the Chris uh Chris sent us a large inventory of I I don't know where they're It's It's from when Ag did it, if it's from way earlier than that. The we have stuff in storage we can inventory. We have inventory, but we can get that like if you wanted to include that with these pins. We have We have Great River Road pins. We have other things. We have stickers. We have >> If we do something at the State Fair or elsewhere, um you know, there there's a built-in crowd at the DNR stage. And >> [clears throat] >> we had negative feedback about the trivia contest. >> [laughter] >> But I think just doing just doing something um you know, for random crowd members to get a to get a prize, people love that. So, yeah, that let's >> Okay. >> Let's do something like >> So, I think that is I turn my agenda over. Got you David, we got you talking and uh So, >> I'm just going to The national meeting, I I'm I think if you want if if any of the commissioners want to be in it want to be attending and haven't done so already, I think you need to be up Am I not right? They have to get it to you and it has to be okayed? >> I was Yeah, so I think Yeah, the process for that would be um well, I'll send out the the agenda and and all that stuff and and um the dates and and and things like that. If we get a list, July-ish, sometime mid-July, get get a get a list of any commissioners who would be interested in going, and then that would need to be approved, and then we'll we'll do the kind of an estimate on the on the the the costs for that, and then we that would need to be approved by the LCC. >> That is one thing that Chris did was give them an idea what what the cost or what the what was available. >> Yeah, I think actually I've already done that with uh with John. It was a number of months ago, but way back when. >> But I can pull it out already. >> Yeah, yeah. And and and the national office covers me, so you don't have to worry about paying. >> No, it's just what you guys were talking about. But it's a great agenda. It's a phenomenal agenda this time around, and it presents wonderful opportunities. So even if you have BCB people, commissioners in your areas, if you have BCB people or hopefully maybe even some interpretive centers who could who were interested, not that they go through this process, but share that agenda because for people who are working in tourism on byways, it's really a terrific program for them. >> What when would a a dead a deadline of of I'll send out after this meeting, but then a deadline of of >> I don't I don't know what the deadline needs to be. There might be an early bird registration deadline. >> There is an It's like August 8th is the deadline for early bird. >> members to let them know in a couple of weeks. >> They've got to They've got to know pretty soon. >> That's uh probably maybe the second weekend in in July perhaps. >> I'd say very soon. >> Yeah, I'd send out an email to all the Yeah. >> Cuz people are dropped off, so I just send it to everybody. >> I'm looking forward to one of the things I've always wanted to do, if I go, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to go, is the Johnny Cash boyhood >> I've been there. >> It's about an hour away from where we're going to be, and >> It's fantastic. >> Yeah. >> It's a surprise. It's a It's a surprise. >> It's a surprise. >> is great. >> And it has a great history to it about the sunken lands and >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Um So, up other updates, um I I have just a a couple. Um I've I've told you in the past about the cut-off wall underneath the St. Anthony Falls that saved St. Anthony Falls above it. I I've been working on that with three years with the St. Anthony Falls laboratory at the U. They submitted the um the the draft report to the Provost's office at the university yesterday. And it's going to come back with maybe comments and then we have to submit it to the the legislature by July 1. So, that is going to be submitted and done. Um And then I I'm I'm I've been working for the last 2 years. Both Both these came to head yesterday. So, it's been a busy couple of weeks for me. The National Parks Conservation Association completed a recreation economic study of the Mississippi River and what we call the gorge from St. Anthony Falls to uh um the confluence of the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling. And they completed a recreation economic study looking at what would the recreation economic benefits be if you removed the Lock and Dam One and the Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in the heart of the Twin Cities. And so, I have a little flyer on that. We released this on a boat trip yesterday. Um and the and the the response We looked at um four competitive cities around the country and then we looked at three other cities where there are actual dam removals we did in less detail. But, this is backed up by a 70-page rec economic technical study. And so, the benefits range, you know, from um 300,000 to 1.4 million in river-related visits at these places, 130 to 400 jobs, 400 to 100,900 in local tax revenue, 11 to 34 million in visitor spending. Just by having those rivers restored and getting people to them. And so we'd be in the upper range of that of hundreds of thousands of new users and right in the heart of the Twin Cities and [snorts] um [clears throat] you know, 20 million to 30 million or more in annual visitor spending it could happen here. So, I brought a few of these copies with me. I can hand out the ones I have but this should be going up soon and I can get Andrew a link of where they can get the rest of the rest of this. Um So, and then I'm going to a uh I get to be on a panel tonight for a new movie called We Are the River by Peter Mayer who's going to publicity firm and it's about the it's a film on the Metro Mississippi River and looking at why all the people who are connected to the river and why it matters. So, look for that new it's going to be on public television I believe coming out soon. So, any any other updates or do I get to use the gavel? >> [laughter] >> Thank you all. Great productive meeting. Thank you. We adjourn. Do I need a vote to adjourn? Can I take a >> Oh, I'm done. I was just going to add sorry, this is Amanda. In terms of the DNR stage, if if you want to reach out to me, I can get you in touch with somebody from DNR who's overseeing the State Fair stuff. So, feel free to send an email to me, please. I'd be happy to help. >> Great. Thanks. Thanks. >> Yeah, create that relationship. >> Thank you. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Do we need a motion to adjourn? >> Not for formality, we we definitely can but we don't need to. >> Okay, we are adjourned. Thank you.