Minnesota Agencies

The Board will oversee the operation of the Destination Medical Center (DMC) Corporation. It will also be responsible for approving the DMC development plan.

By February 15 of each year, the corporation and city must jointly submit a report to the chairs and ranking minority members of the legislative committees and divisions with jurisdiction over local and state government operations, economic development, and taxes, and to the commissioners of revenue and employment and economic development, and the county.

The city [of Rochester] must establish a destination medical center corporation as a nonprofit corporation under chapter 317A to provide the city with expertise in preparing and implementing the development plan to establish the city as a destination medical center (see Laws of Minnesota 2013, chap. 143 art. 10 sec. 4). The corporation's plan will include strategic planning for the destination medical center, estimates of short and long range fiscal and economic impacts, a framework to identify and prioritize short and long term public investments and public infrastructure project development, and facilitate private investment and development.

In May 2013, a blog post from the Governor's office described the DMC this way: "The DMC initiative will be subject to a high standard of transparency and oversight. Use of state, local, and private funds contributed to the initiative will be overseen by an eight-member board. The board will be responsible for the operation of the Destination Medical Center Corporation (DMCC), which will abide by open meeting laws and be governed according to the state's data practices laws. Each year, the City of Rochester and the DMCC will submit a report to the legislature detailing their finances and activities. No state funding will be invested in the project until $200 million has been secured by Mayo Clinic and private investors."

A total of $585 million was allocated by state statute for this initiative:

• State of Minnesota - $424 million. After an initial $200 million of private investments, and with required local matching contributions, the State will pay $2.75 million annually for general infrastructure and $0.45 million for transit infrastructure for every $100 of private money spent to continue to build Rochester as a global medical destination,
• City of Rochester - $128 million.
• Olmsted County - $33 million. Public dollars will not be used to pay for Mayo Clinic buildings and/or programs.

The DMC Development Plan - a 20-year development plan that serves as a strategic business plan and framework for implementation of the initiative - was adopted in April 2015. DMC is transitioning into the implementation phase with three priorities identified as Discovery Square, Heart of the City, and Transportation (some information taken from the FAQs on the DMC website).

The corporation's governing board consists of eight members appointed, as follows:
(1) the mayor of the city, or the mayor's designee, subject to approval by the city council;
(2) the city council president, or the city council president's designee, subject to approval by the city council;
(3) the chair or member of the county board, appointed by the county board;
(4) a representative of the medical business entity appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the medical business entity; and
(5) four members appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the senate.