Boots on the ground

 "When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen."
- A.A. Milne

The adventure awaits

Mayo Clinic appears in three main places in the legislation that funded the Destination Medical Center. Not by name, but by definition as the "medical business entity."

Article 10 Sec. 3. Subd. 8. Medical business entity. "Medical business entity" means a medical business entity with its principal place of business in the city that, as of the effective date of this section, together with all business entities of which it is the sole member or sole shareholder, collectively employs more than 30,000 persons in the state.

Safely excluding any other party in the Universe except Mayo Clinic, the definition assigns to the medical business entity two important functions:

The first function regards the creation of the Destination Medical Center Corporation and its governing board:

Article 10 Sec. 4. Subd. 2. Membership; quorum. (a) The corporation's governing board consists of eight members appointed, as follows:..
(4) a representative of the medical business entity appointed by and serving at the215.19
pleasure of the medical business entity; .....

This function was accomplished in the appointment of William (Bill) George, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Medtronic, Inc.

The second function regards the creation of a nonprofit economic development authority [EDA]:

Article 10 Sec. 4. Subd. 6. Nonprofit economic development agency. (a) The medical business entity must establish a nonprofit economic development agency organized under chapter 317A to provide experience and expertise in developing and marketing the destination medical center. The corporation must engage the agency to assist the corporation in preparing the development plan. The governing board of the agency must be comprised of members of the medical community, city, and county. The agency must collaborate with city, county, and other community representatives. The nonprofit agency must provide services to assist the corporation and city in implementing the goals, objectives, and strategies in the development plan.....

As of this writing this has yet to be accomplished. There was little new information about the EDA at the inaugural meeting the DMCC governing board other than its popular description by folks at Mayo Clinic as "boots on the ground". The EDA has long, wide-reaching, and varied list of its responsibilities:

Article 10 Sec. 4. Subd. 6.(cont'd) ...including, but not limited to:
   (1) facilitating private investment through development of a comprehensive
marketing program to global interests;
   (2) developing and updating the criteria for evaluating and underwriting development proposals;
   (3) drafting and implementing the development plan, including soliciting and evaluating proposals for development and evaluating and making recommendations to the authority and the city regarding those proposals;
   (4) providing transactional services in connection with approved projects
   (5) developing patient, visitor, and community outreach programs for a destination medical center development district;
   (6) working with the corporation to acquire and facilitate the sale, lease, or other transactions involving land and real property;
   (7) seeking financial support for the corporation, the city, and a project;
   (8) partnering with other development agencies and organizations, the city, and the county in joint efforts to promote economic development and establish a destination medical center;
  (9) supporting and administering the planning and development activities required to implement the development plan;
 (10) preparing and supporting the marketing and promotion of the medical center development district;
 (11) preparing and implementing a program for community and public relations in support of the medical center development district;
 (12) assisting the corporation or city and others in applications for federal grants, tax credits, and other sources of funding to aid both private and public development; and
 (13) making other general advisory recommendations to the corporation and the city, as requested.

For all the ceremony attending the inaugural meeting of the DMCC governing board, for all of that board's Important Persons, the action will be with the EDA. The governing board is theatre. The EDA will be all that the idiomatic military phrase used to describe it suggests. "Will be" because it remains at the moment, yet to be.

For all the pronouncements at the inaugural meeting of the DMCC governing board about "the fun" now beginning, be reminded of A.A. Milne's pronouncement above:

"When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen."

It will be of interest to see upon whose feet the Big Boots are put, not to mention what happens when they at last hit the ground. Then will the DMC adventure really begin.