By Sara StrongAs the city of Luverne welcomes Total Card Inc. to town, Gov. Tim Pawlenty will also be on hand to welcome the South Dakota business expansion to Minnesota.Friday’s celebration starts in the early morning, when the city will close the Minnwest Bank block of Main Street. There, the community will have a free lunch, sponsored by the city and various businesses and groups.Mayor Glen Gust said to the Luverne City Council Tuesday night that the group of entrepreneurs who run TCI are stellar people and he has faith in them.Gust said, "They like what they’ve got and they’re going to grow."The council basked in the afterglow of the finalized deal at its Tuesday meeting.They talked about how other offers TCI had for expansion in different cities were better in some respects, but Luverne won out.The large, finished former Tri-State Insurance building along with solid telecommunications infrastructure sealed the deal almost more than the tax benefits of JOBZ.Councilman Pat Baustian said it is important to recognize PrairieWave and the technology backbone that it has in place. To locate in many other cities, TCI would have had to wait for technology upgrades it needs now.Baustian said the Technology and Telecommunications Committee, and Barb Berghorst as a key part of that group, had foresight years ago that laid the groundwork for the infrastructure.City Administrator Greg LaFond said Luverne’s ability to attract this kind of large employer serves as an inspiration to repeat it."We know what we have, let’s go sell it," he said.Berghorst, the city’s finance officer, said, "There are a lot of people looking at us saying, ‘How can we do that?’ It’s just awesome."Other city administrators and economic development workers have contacted the city to find how it lured the business.LaFond said they are generally surprised that the city didn’t have to pay more upfront to get TCI here.Last week, the city received a $500,000 check from TCI for the former Tri-State building. TCI decided not to finance the purchase of the building through the city.There are other perks in the final deal, but Luverne’s offer still didn’t match what other cities were willing to pay to get the company.The building’s existence, Job Opportunity Building Zone tax breaks and location all played big factors in its decision to expand here.Community effortLaFond called Friday’s celebration plans a "tremendous community event." He acknowledged Sue Gruis, Lila Bauer and Dave Smith in particular for helping to plan the celebration.Other community groups and businesses volunteered donations of goods, services or money to make the event bigger than the usual acknowledgement ceremony:Beaver Creek Mutual Insurance Company, Blue Mound Banquet and Meeting Center, Cattleman’s Association, Coffey Haus, Dairy Producers, Edgerton Bakery, First Farmers & Merchants National Bank, Glen’s Food Center, Gold ‘N Plump, Jarchow Enterprises, K101/KQAD, Luverne Building Center, Luverne Chamber of Commerce, Luverne Fire Department, Luverne Municipal Electric Utility, Luverne Public Works, Luverene Public Schools, M-M Distributing, Minnwest Bank, Missouri River Energy Service, Old Dutch, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., Pizza Ranch, Pork Producers, Prairie Heights Bison, Rock County, Sioux Valley Clinic, Sioux Valley Energy, State Farm Insurance and Tollefson Publishing, the Rock County Star Herald.The luncheon will include pizza, chips, chicken, bison, pork, beef and fixings.
