History
Interview with Kim Miller
DETERMINED effort was a
major factor in bringing a casino to Worth County
By DEB NICKLAY Of the
Globe Gazette
Kim Miller is used to swimming against the tide.As a high school swimmer, she won gold, earning allstate honors in Minnesota.
In March, she won gold again — after swimming against a tide of naysayers who said bringing a casino to Worth County was something akin to going to Neverland.
Miller, 35, the executive director of the Worth County Development Authority, smiles when talking about the effort.
“People thought we were crazy,” admitted Miller, laughing.
They don’t any more.With the ability to inspire fellow residents and a determination to bring education funds to the county through casino proceeds, she got to work with her former husband, Steve, in 2002.
“Everything is for education,” said Miller, a teacher by training.
“When (former superintendent) Arnie Snook said there wasn’t enough business in Worth County to attract families, I said, ‘I’ll work on that.’ ”
No kidding.
In 2003, she and her band of volunteers convinced Worth County residents to approve a license — by a 75 percent approval — and then successfully courted interest by Diamond Jo Casinos, based in Dubuque.
When the law had to be changed to allow more gambling licenses, she headed to Des Moines.
“She was at the State Capitol every day of the session, talking to senators and legislators to get this bill passed,” recalled Deb Hanson, a volunteer and WCDA board member.
“She spent literally thousands of hours working to get a license approved from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.”
By the end of the year, supporters had successfully convinced the Legislature to allow more gambling licenses in the state.
And a year
later,Worth’s application was one of four granted by the commission.
The entire county will benefit, since just over 5.76 percent must be devoted to charitable projects.
Diamond Jo Worth should open in March 2006.
There was, literally dancing in the streets.
“This will help turn
around the struggling Worth County economy and bring prosperity to an
area that desperately needed a shot in the arm,” said resident Norb
Thomes, who applauded the work of both Kim and Steve Miller.
Miller comes by her
passion honestly. The daughter of a Cottage Grove., Minn., teacher and
swim coach, she rose to be a champion swimmer who went on to get her
education degree at Minnesota State University at Mankato.
When high school
scholarship funds of $3,000-$5,000 per graduate are handed out for the
first time in the spring of 2007, “everything will have been worth
it,” she said.
“I can’t wait,”
Miller said, her eyes dancing. “Worth County rocks. It deserves
everything it gets.”
Age: 35.
Family: Children Ambur,
4; Autum, 6; Rebecka, 8; and stepdaughter Angelia, 15.
I am at my best: When I
am passionately involved in a project or idea, especially when it
involves my daughters.
Words to live by: Live
everyday like it is your last. Give back and never give up on your
dreams.
Interview
with Steven Miller
‘89 C-I grad opens new casino in northern Iowa
Printed in Isanti County News May 3, 2006 By Rachel Kytonen
In the past three and a half years, Steven Miller has spent over
2,500 hours of volunteer time revitalizing the economy of northern Iowa.
Miller, a 1989 graduate of Cambridge-Isanti High School,
motivated a legislation change and had a moratorium lifted on gaming
licenses to open Worth County Diamond Jo Casino in Northwood, Iowa,
located just south of the Minnesota border off Interstate 90.
But the real benefit of the casino, Miller said, is how the local
economy and non-profit organizations such as schools and fire
departments will benefit from the casino.
Miller is president of the Worth County Development Authority (WCDA),
whose primary goal is to promote growth in Worth County as the
non-profit partner for Diamond Jo Casino.
Miller said Iowa casinos require a non-profit association with
the casino so schools and other non-profit organizations can benefit
from the casino’s success.
After Miller and his (former) wife Kim were able to change
legislation and have a moratorium lifted on gaming licenses, he sought
out Peninsula Gaming, LLC who also operates Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque
to build a casino in Worth County.
A groundbreaking was held June 2005 for the casino, and it opened
its doors in April. The partnership between WCDA and Diamond Jo Casino
Worth County will return 5.76 percent of gross revenue (or 20 percent of
net revenue) into the WCDA.
The WCDA is expected to receive between $1.2 to $2.1 million in
the casino’s first year.
Project background
Miller said when he Kim moved to northern Iowa four years ago, he
was surprised at the struggling local economy.
“When you looked at the demographics the population of Worth
County was 8,400 in 1900,” Miller said.
“Over 100 years later and the population is now 7,800. That’s hard to fathom when
coming from the Twin Cities area.”
Miller received a degree in electrical engineering from St. Cloud
State and worked for various engineering firms in the Twin Cities before
becoming a professor at Northern Iowa Area Community College in Mason
City, Iowa, where he teaches e-commerce and web design and development.
Within a month and a half of moving to Iowa Miller and one of his
colleagues Gary Christiansen started discussing ways to revamp the local
communities.
Miller said they pondered a few ideas, but then heard about
Iowa’s riverboat casinos which seemed like a good idea.
The problem with that though, was there was a moratorium on
gaming licenses issued by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC).
In order to get the IRGC to consider lifting the moratorium,
Miller had to have the casino idea approved by Northwood City Council,
the Worth County Board of Supervisors and then by the residents of Worth
County.
He and his wife also had to lobby the Legislature to remove the
requirements that casinos have to be a traveling riverboat.
Miller said when he first approached his (former) wife Kim about
the idea she told him “ he was crazy”, but eventually changed her
mind when realizing how much it would benefit the area schools.
“After we began laying out our plan and talking about the
benefits associated with bringing a casino to Worth County, people still
thought we ware absolutely crazy,” Miller said. “Since Worth County
is such a small county, no one had ever thought about putting a casino
here.”
Proving the casino viable
In order to prove a casino would be viable for Worth County,
Miller spent five to six months researching the demographics of Worth
County and its surrounding areas.
Miller was able to obtain approval for the casino from the
Northwood City Council and Worth County Board of Supervisors.
Miller said after public meetings were held to inform the
residents about how the casino would benefit the county, they started to
come around and a “vote yes” committee was formed.
Miller said he and Kim went door-to-door for two months to
collect 400 to 500 signatures needed to get the casino on the county
ballot.
By working on a budget of $1,100 Steve and Kim were able to lead
a successful grass roots campaign and were able to obtain the highest
“yes” vote in Iowa history supporting a casino (75 percent in
favor).
After the successful vote Miller approached the IRGC to lift the
moratorium, only to be deferred back to the Legislature.
Miller said lobbying the Legislature was a great sacrifice by his
wife. “For me, one of the biggest sacrifices made was by my wife who
volunteered to be a lobbyist at the capitol for four months,” Miller
said. “She would leave on
Monday morning and not get back until Friday. There was so much stress and
pressure involved with this, but she really did an awesome job.”
Miller said at first Kim would wear business suits, but progress
wasn’t being made, so they opted to do a T-shirt campaign, where
supporters wore bright green T-shirts and were able to get the
Legislature’s attention.
“On the day of the vote at the Legislature, Worth County had a
big presence there,” Miller said.
“We were there from 10 a.m. to midnight and it was just amazing
how out little community came together.”
Miller said the vote passed and laws changed, with one lifting
the requirement of riverboat casinos.
Once the Legislature paved the way for the casino to keep moving
forward, it deferred the number of new casinos or who was to receive a
new license back to the IRGC.
Miller said there were 12 casino applications put in front of the
IRGC in April 2004, and Worth County received only one of four issued.
“Being a teacher, I’ve learned you have to teach at your
clienteles’ level,” Miller said. “I had lot of colorful graphics
for the gaming commission to look at and stressed how the casino would
bring money into the state. I
gave them demographics that showed the casino would be running at 80
percent of people coming from outside the state. Within a 60-mile radious we had
the cities of Albert lea, Austin and Rochester.”
Miller said his group received the highest approval rating from
the IRGC by it being the only group to receive a 4/5 vote in favor of
the application.
How WCDA works
WCDA has focused a large percentage of its funds to grow
Worth County by enhancing the education of those students living in
Worth County.
“The fact that we’re giving back 5.76 percent of gross profit
makes us better than ever,” Miller said. “The impact we will be able
to make on people’s lives is amazing.”
Miller said WCDA is a leader in education by allocating the
largest percentage funds to education in the state of Iowa for casino
non-profits.
The WCDA geographics focus is northern Iowa and southern
Minnesota, the primary focus is Worth County with a secondary focus on
surrounding counties.