Letter to Governor Dayton
Governor Dayton, Representative Patti Fritz, Senator Mike Parry,
My name is Craig Kruckeberg and I serve as CEO of a manufacturing company, Spray Control Systems, Inc. dba Minimizer, maker of truck fenders, toolboxes and truck accessories, located in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota. We are a growing company that has created 15 new jobs in the past 18 months and we’re adding 3 more employees this month.
Recently, in the news, I’ve been following your efforts with regards to Hutchinson Technologies; to curb Minnesota job losses and work to encourage them to keep jobs in Minnesota. I applaud your efforts in Hutchinson. I wonder if we might be able to create momentum for maintaining jobs in other Minnesota communities beyond just Hutchinson. I’m especially concerned about manufacturing facilities located in small communities.
I believe the challenge is creating the solution before you need it. Being proactive instead of reactive. Creating progressive strategies with a long term vision. As is the case with Hutchinson Technologies, the decisions have already been made, we are essentially late to the conversation.
I would like to share with you my experience. As my company, Minimizer, has grown, we have been courted by larger cities that are trying to draw us away from a small city. They can do this with several tools: improved EDA funding, a larger tax base to provide incentives, incremental tax financing, a larger resource pool, etc. We have, thus far, been committed to maintaining our presence in a small community.
Currently Minimizer operates within 45,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 11,000 square feet of office space in Blooming Prairie. We have outgrown these facilities. In the near future we need to expand our manufacturing space by 60,000 square feet. Our capital expenditure for this is projected to be $2.5 million for building and $1 million in additional equipment. We want to do this and stay in Blooming Prairie. But several issues stand in our way. Infrastructure. We need better streets to support our transportation and we need improved water pressure from the city to support he necessary fire suppression system required by code for the facility.
This is a conundrum. I’m not sure the City can afford these improvements. What are my options? Move to a larger city? I would prefer to stay in Blooming Prairie, a small Minnesota community that, frankly, would be beleaguered if Minimizer moved. To be clear, we don’t need help with our financing and facilities, but the City needs assistance with their infrastructure to support our company.
In short, the community of Blooming Prairie, to keep Minimizer here, faces these challenges:
- Infrastructure – even if the City receives approval for a 50% deed grant we don’t believe they have adequate resources to fund the match.
- Financing – our financing needs are outgrowing local banking capabilities.
- Local vendors – we do our best to keep our business local but our local vendors experience the same challenges of lack of local infrastructure and support.
- Federal and State tax system is over burdensome - Our ownership structure will pay nearly $500,000 in taxes. We would prefer to invest that money and support additional growth with: physical plant, equipment, employees.
- Housing – The demographic of our newer employees is younger and most are starting families. They can’t find the type of quality housing in Blooming Prairie they can find elsewhere in larger communities. Loss of these families to other towns creates pressure on our school systems to perform with less students. We encourage them to live in Blooming Prairie but it is a difficult sell.
Obviously, my family and I and our company are tremendous supporters of Blooming Prairie, our community. The Minimizer family business is three generations strong and was founded 27 years ago in this town. We are not yet the largest employer in Blooming Prairie but we’re trending that way and we’re starting to feel the “squeeze” as we apparently outgrow the community and infrastructure.
What can the State of Minnesota do? Myself, other business leaders and our local government leaders have ideas we’d like to discuss with you. The ideas do not cost more than current financial obligations of the State, many of our ideas are simple language changes within existing legislation.
We’d like to welcome you to our community for an open dialogue at your convenience. Let us know what works for you.
Sincerely,
Craig Kruckeberg
Minimizer CEO/Chief Visionary
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