What's Sourcewell?

foreign [Music] Lakeland currents your public affairs program for North Central Minnesota closed captioning is made possible by Bemidji Regional Airport serving the region with daily flights to Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport more information available at bemidjairport.org hello again everyone I'm Ray gildau host of Lakeland currents my guest today is talking about a very unique service organization that's located in Minnesota you may have heard about it and you may not have heard about it but by the end of this session you're going to be amazed at what the source well does my my guest is Dr Chad coet who is the executive director and CEO of sourcewell Chad welcome to Lakeland currents thank you first time you've been on here it's nice to see you um give us a little background about who you are before we get into what it is that you do yeah great well I appreciate it thanks for having us on with me on representing a great organization well I uh Minnesota kid at heart grew up in northern Minnesota out of Crookston spent some time over the University of North Dakota lived in Thief River Falls for several years working in my first part of my professional career in higher education so I spent time at a couple different two-year colleges across the state including where I currently reside in Alexandria proudly served Alexandria Technical and Community College for about 10 years and then had the opportunity to join sourcewell about 10 years ago so I'm in my 10th year at sourceful already and time goes fast but it's been a great organization that really we've been launching into new services and we'll talk about that in a little while but just the growth trajectory and the service we've been able to provide from Source World during that time it's been an amazing career that I've been able to be part of or maybe we could give the viewing audience a little background about how sourceful I became I I I think it was in the 70s when the legislature established uh service units yeah uh in Minnesota maybe you could just talk a little bit about that and how it's evolved into who you are today great I appreciate that well sourcewell and you kind of alluded to this early on is that folks might not know a lot about sourcewell or the other service cooperatives in fact quite frankly that's okay we often operate in the background really helping support K-12 education higher ed other government agencies and helping them streamline processes get training and education and really come alongside them to do good work so often folks don't know much about what were what are called the Minnesota service cooperatives and and to your point legislation Minnesota statute 123a really technical came into play that that allowed uh organizations or regions to start what were known as Education Service Cooperative units back in the mid 70s there's been an evolution since that point in time and what we're called but what essentially they they did they were empowered nine different units that covered the entire state so all 87 counties are truly serviced by one of nine service cooperatives we're one of those nine we we represent the five counties immediately around Staples and Brainerd so we represent Todd wadina Crow Wing Cass and Morrison counties we were legislatively enabled to serve those very very specifically we do great Services outside of that as well but that is really at the root of of who we are so we're about 45 years in the making in the last 15 to 20 we've been on a tremendous growth plan one of the early things I think that the service co-ops did is provide provide opportunities for schools that didn't have the money maybe to hire a Spanish teacher or a school psychologist or a nurse and so those service units provided that service didn't they in the early years yeah shared services were really a huge part of the early design like you like you suggested helping share administrative staff or if somebody in a smaller School needed access to something that was more difficult for a small school to get it was able to create that cooperation to make that possible and and as you also alluded to Ray early on in the 70s the legislation really only had the service Cooperative serving K-12 education in the mid 90s legislation was changed that we can also serve education as a whole meaning higher education as well other government entities and non-profits so our the portfolio of those we've served have morphed over time from that early creation of only K-12 to a much broader audience and you still do work with the K-12 districts in your area right a lot of work with our K-12 districts and then so do you have someone who is assigned to work with those folks out of your office yeah we've got within our organization we've got a couple different Focus areas where we've got uh Point people who direct that work so we have a gentleman on our team who looks at our more entrepreneurial portfolio of services and and he happens to oversee work that spans North America quite frankly and we've got another person on our team who really helps direct and work with other team members focused on serving those in in region five so I really tight Focus to make sure we are really living out our core purpose to make a difference for those that we serve and you do have a board and how is that board selected yeah great question so I have uh eight bosses so I've got an eight we've got an eight-member board of directors who are made up of locally elected officials so we're a government entity governed locally by other government officials part of our bylaws and how we're governed on a yearly basis is that we have of those eight board members six of them are school board members and two of them are other elected officials typically meaning either a mayor or a county commissioner right now we happen to have one of each sometimes we have two Mayors sometimes we have two County Commissioners but then those eight board members come from those five counties I mentioned earlier so first they're elected to their school board and as Then There are a seated School Board member elected on by other school board members within the region to represent them on our board same with the County Commissioners and Mayors so they're elected by their other elected officials to represent that body on our board they each have four-year terms and every two years or every year two of them come up for re-election before Source wall was the name this organization was called the national joint Powers Alliance yep and full disclosure I worked there for about a year and nobody no one knew what that meant I mean I I often thought people thought it was part of a military or operation National joint Powers could you explain a little bit about that term and how you moved away from that to the work to the source wealth that you've got as the name now yeah I think you know just to even reframe that a bit over our evolution of nearly a 45-year history now of coming into creation we've had a few different name changes away along the way and essentially we see those name changes as just fitting the evolution of our organization so we've had a couple names prior to being the national joint Powers Alliance which happened in the early 2000s and was with us until we changed to become Source well at least from a naming perspective in 2018 so we're already almost five years into that name change which is hard to believe how fast time goes but at the time time when we switched over to the National joint Powers Alliance from the previous name it was as we were starting to grow our Cooperative purchasing services and it happened to then allow us to to Really create a platform to speaking to entities outside of our region again as we've grown and we've morphed and the marketplace has changed for that given service and where we desire to go as an organization as we went through our process of name change Source well really fit us better to be a source and a resource for those locally and regionally as well as a source and resource for solutions for those people that we serve beyond their five counties so the name evolved and adapted as we've evolved and adapted as an organization and how many employees do you have roughly yeah today we've got about 300 employees wow yeah which would be 18 when I was there yeah well that wasn't all that long ago like I said I started I'm in my 10th year and the day that I started back in July 1st of 2013 we had roughly 60 to 65 employees so even in that 10-year time frame we've we've grown considerably and our our portfolio of services that we offer uh to those that we serve continues to grow as well so then it's Staffing up to provide even greater services so it's it's been fun uh as we've brought on new teammates with new ideas and expertise to really drive home service and you talked a little bit about Cooperative purchasing could you talk a little bit about that because I know that's probably an area confusing to a lot of Outsiders who aren't realizing you are a government agency and technically and what you do is designed for well you can tell us yeah yeah well thanks for that rain of course we with your year of work you you learned about who sourceful was during that time and Cooperative purchasing is our largest service to this point in time um and when the the legislature created us in the mid 70s they basically created some some boundaries some some directives of of where and how we can serve those that we serve and they said go forth and be self-sustaining we don't get any we don't have the ability even though we're government entity we don't have the ability to Levy taxes and we can't borrow money so as we've grown we've had to be self-sustaining one one of those services that falls into those boundaries that the uh statute 123a says we can do is help with Cooperative purchasing so helping government entities and other public education entities purchase better so uh anybody who's ever paid attention or had to deal with any kind of purchasing with a government entity of any kind can understand that that process can be pretty complex cumbersome cumbersome is another nice word to use for it I've heard other words for it but they're not able to be aired but it's a complex process so we have a team of specialists at sourcewell Who as a government entity we do that work for them so we've got Specialists who do that complex work so that other government entities can leverage that work get choice in how they make their selections so they can purchase in a much more streamlined cost-effective way so if you were to think about you know buying a piece of equipment especially in the season we're in if a County wanted to buy a snow plow it's a pretty complex process to walk through how they buy that expensive complex piece of equipment well the process that our Specialists go through really helps streamline that makes it simple and rather than having every government entity who's going to buy a snowplow figure out how to do that on their own we're able to do that one time as a public entity serving other public entities where then those entities can leverage that work that's already been done on their behalf so whether that's a significant expensive piece of equipment or construction process all the way down until office supplies or Emergency Services equipment anything on the in between of that we've we've done this work that other government entities can really leverage to create efficiencies and buy better I know having grown up through the college system how cumbersome it was to go and get bids maybe we're just going to do re-roofing of a building that was a long process it took a long time so you shortened that process by having vendors who have already made their bids and they can throw their name in the Hat if they want to approach them yeah it's you know depending on which one of those it could be again a bit more complicated to explain than that but in essence our government team is doing work on behalf of other government entities that they can leverage oftentimes in a shorter way oftentimes much more streamlined and much oftentimes at a much more at a better price point as well and how do you define government agencies yeah as broadly as you can can you can think cities counties municipalities fire stations police departments schools colleges it's really a really broad spectrum that we serve and not just in the five counties but quite frankly across North America and when this started in the National joint Powers Alliance I think it started with copy machines yeah that was the major item and that that grew very very quickly too yeah um do you want to talk a little bit about the range the broadness that you do and where you go yeah so you're we started what I would say is an iteration of what our current Cooperative purchasing program is back in 1998 there's a there's a gentleman who who Ray knows well gentleman named Mike Hike started out that organization with a bit of a dream to grow a better way to do Cooperative purchasing so starting in 1998 and early on into his tenure really launching where we're at in the copy machine space and and today that has grown again whether that's heavy equipment so again think snow plows or construction equipment to construction projects to office equipment office supplies uh fire trucks ambulances anything on the in between of that that you could imagine an entity may want access to uh We've likely uh have been in process on those or already have those awarded contracts uh in a what's a significant portfolio available to entities to use so if company X in the rural area says well that's not fair I don't get a chance to put my bid in they really still do have a chance to put a bit in it don't they yeah they wanted to we we again without getting too detailed into that we we advertise a solicitation so what the category is for instance it might be heavy construction equipment uh organizations uh get to say on a national scale we'd like to put a proposal in for how we might do that work those are often awarded at a national level but then leveraged out through those local dealer networks so whether it's a implement dealer that you may recognize from down the street it may be awarded at the national level but those implement dealers that you might recognize in the small town scattered all across Minnesota and Beyond are the ones who are still doing those sales and working with those folks that they know very locally so how do you leverage that financially for your organization that's great so it is as we said uh we can't Levy taxes we can't borrow money so everything we do has to be self-sustaining right now Cooperative purchasing is a service that we provide that provides Revenue back that helps sustain the program it helps keep the lights on at the organization it helps us hire additional people onto our team and then it allows us to really make what our board considers really strategic reinvestments back into our region so you'd asked earlier about our work in K-12 education and maybe some other work locally so for instance in K-12 education some of those reinvestments uh will allow us to work with schools uh to help them with right now A pressing area we're hearing from superintendents and other school leaders our career in college readiness so how do we help kids be thinking about their whatever lies next Beyond high school so whether that's going directly into the workforce going into the military or higher education of some form or fashion we're helping those schools with creating networks where teachers who might be doing like jobs in different school districts connecting them so they can share experiences creating experiential learning opportunities for the teachers to learn what's happening out in the field to share equipment to purchase and share equipment that maybe is small school districts can't own on their own and then have curriculum that goes with it so teachers can learn about that piece of equipment so they can incorporated into their own instructions so career in college readiness is a space that that we believe is a role for us to come alongside our school districts to help them accomplish their goals for their students uh other another example of how we reinvest back into the region right now we've been doing a lot of work with the Emergency Management Services so fire departments Sheriff's Office other First Responders put help them with a considerable amount of training and then as an example just recently we partnered with a regional non-profit between some funding that we had and some grants that they've had put together what are known as jump bags or these jump kits that every first responder in the region has access to so they can have a bag or each of them have a similar bag quite frankly of equipment that if they're the First on scene they have all their equipment with them in their own car where they've flown out the door to hurry up to get somewhere each of them has the life-saving equipment they need at their fingertips and if they're out of something and another first responder comes they've got a similar bag to be able to share equipment to know who has what to be able to really make when seconds and minutes count to really make a difference so that's another way we've been working within the region one thing that I I should go back to a 12 instance that we're really really proud of and a few folks who were maybe reading the Brainerd newspaper in the last couple weeks would have saw a news story about a ribbon cutting that just happened at the Brainerd School District down about a special education facility back in 2016 Brainerd Public Schools began a multi-million dollar journey of improving the school district one of the last facilities of the entire six-year project had its dedication earlier this evening it's awesome that we are finally able to be here it was a long four years a long planning process but it's really cool just to finally be in the building and see how it works with the kids in the spaces to be having the ribbon cutting today for the Lincoln education center and our Atlas program is just heartwarming because we are providing the highest quality education for every single student in our school the Lincoln education center is a separate site educational program providing special education services for students with emotional and behavioral disorders as part of the atlas program which stands for area transition learning and skills probably five or six years ago somewhere in that ballpark a few of our board members and team members were holding listening sessions with regional superintendents just to hear their pain points and where sourceful could come alongside them to really help make a difference in the region and one of the things we heard loud and clear was that the the special education facilities in the Five County region just were inadequate and in some cases poor so we heard superintendents and school boards at those locations say if you could help us somehow over time either renovate or build new special education facilities it would make a huge difference for for the kids for those families for those school districts and communities so our board committed a fairly sizable reinvestment a couple years ago to help build and or renovate four facilities four special education facilities one in Wadena one in Little Falls one in Walker and one in Brainerd so the one that I referenced the ribbon cutting that happened just a few weeks ago it was the um the Brainerd facility which was the fourth and final of that Vision that the board had that our staff helped execute on then with the team members from each of those special education facilities as we capped off that reinvestment of helping build four new facilities that really we believe are going to be Legacy leaving and changing for those those kids and those families who are impacted by that we're really excited to say without our Cooperative purchase services and without other services that are those entrepreneurial Revenue generating self-sustaining programs we need to drive we could have never done that so we're very very proud of that investment and believe it will have an impact for many many many years to come so your service uh Cooperative purchasing excuse me generates Revenue correct and you can take a percentage of that for yourself and I know through state laws you can only have a balance of a certain amount can't you you have to distribute the rest of it back to the region in general how does that work yeah in general our board has has passed uh what we call a reserve policy so how much money should we have in the bank what are high levels what are low levels and it triggers and management decisions on how we can do some other work for all practical purposes our board has said let's make sure we continue to do the great Services we're going to do so whether that's Cooperative purchasing working with K-12 a variety of other entrepreneurial services that provide a great service and generate Revenue to come back into self-sustain again keep the lights on grow our services by hiring additional people and then have the ability through all of that to continue to make those strategic reinvestments right back here in the Five County region that we serve to really continue to make an impact now and really out into the future do any of the other service units in Minnesota do what you do on the purchasing side they do they do and there are nine other there's nine service cooperatives total we're one of them and over a 45-year history of the evolution of when we're created to say go out and be entrepreneurial every one of us looks different we're created out of the same statute the same ability generally to do those those things that the statute creates boundaries around these are the kinds of services it could do but based on the needs of that given region based on leadership based on board support each one looks slightly different so to say yes the other eight service cooperatives do Cooperative purchasing to a level we do it to a different level looks slightly different but everybody is trying to meet the needs of their given stakeholders just all quite frankly slightly differently what what's what you've got one of the potential discussion items here is what's the future going to look like for your organization yeah I'm really excited about the future as I look back and as I said earlier I'm I'm in year number 10. uh I think we are really positioning for a growth of continuing to scale into the future to provide more great Services again those services that are going to allow us to reinvest in ourselves into our current programs grow new programs and then really make an investment back into the region as a public entity one of the things that's that's that's fun to be in the position that I'm in is that we don't have shareholders or stockholders all of our all of our proceeds get reinvested back into the organization and directly into the region so it gets to be converted into impact so one could even say that you get this flywheel turning of the more good we do the more good we get to do and that's a fun spot to be in especially as you look forward into a future of what we believe of significant service and growth so we've got a a board of directors who we've talked about earlier who is very supportive future focused and really passionate about making a difference for those we serve we've got a team who's oriented in that same way and even though we've been around for about 45 years and we've had different Evolutions across that it feels at times like we're just truly getting started and I'm really excited about what that brings for the future of our organization and you you sort of Define what people are are eligible to work with you just an ordinary non-profit isn't necessarily they are or they are so any non-profit could contact you guys about working with you to see what the services are that you offer correct that's pretty cool you work with a lot of non-profits we do work with a lot of non-profits it's It's not the by any means one of the larger segments of the work we do but we do have a significant profile with it and you have pretty good participation from the K-12 system in your region that you serve very strong participation with our K-12 districts and growing we've got a team of folks who get uh really uh connected with our our Regional School leadership to come alongside them hear what their pain points are where they need help where they could use help and not even just help today but what might they need help with in three four five years from now and try to continue to think out that far to help those districts again accomplish the goals that they have for their districts I've noticed a couple times and you correct me I'm not sure of the term anymore but I think you were identified as one of the best places to work in Minnesota is that true we we've been very very honored to have the the Star Tribune on their uh top the names changed over time went from the top 100 to the top 150th of the top 200 but we have been fortunate and blessed to have been listed on that list I think seven consecutive years or six consecutive years with one year we were listed as a top workplace and the other years we've hit that ranking of either being a top 150 or a top 200 and we're very pleased for that our team collectively put some intentionality really about how we work together and when when Awards and recognitions like that come out it shows that that intentionality is really working so do they send people up to survey you guys when they do that there's there's a survey that that goes out that all staff and I think we've had nearly 100 staff participation in that the last several years and they're looking for honest us feedback about all facets of our organization and then compared to other entities how do we rank in that and it it's particularly rewarding when an award like that comes out because it is based off of feedback directly from the staff members we're out of time but how do people contact you if they want to find out what you do if you can work with them or not yeah you can reach out to me uh at Chad coet at sourcewell.mn dot dash products you'll put it on the end of the show we've got a website we've got a website and check out sourcewell.org and you can find me well it's fascinating what you're doing the growth has been phenomenal you're obviously doing a great job thanks for jumping on with us appreciate it it's always fun to tell the story thanks you've been watching Lakeland currents I'm Ray gildau so long until next time foreign