GR Promotions would like to invite you to their Brandexpo and Customer Appreciation event on Tuesday, October 15th from 10:00am - 2:00pm at the Best Western Premier Nicollet Inn (14201 Nicollet Avenue South, Burnsville).  There will be 60+ vendors showing the latest in promotional products and business branding ideas, prize drawings and refreshments.  To learn more or sign up online, visit http://vsales.vernoncompany.com/grpromotionsbrandexpo.

Flint Hills Resources and four other Minnesota companies have donated goods and services to help complete a new athletic complex in Rosemount.  The five companies worked together to donate all of the materials and labor necessary to pave parking lots for the new facility, which is located a couple miles southwest of the Pine Bend refinery.  The City of Rosemount plans to build a variety of athletic fields at the site to meet the growing demand for sports-related green space in the city.

The donations, totaling nearly $80,000 in value, were accepted last night by the Rosemount City Council.  Below is a complete list of the participating companies, the materials and services to be provided, and the estimated donation value from each company.  Paving work on the parking lot is expected to begin tomorrow. 

• Flint Hills Resources:  Liquid asphalt for parking lot ($57,000)
• Pine Bend Paving:  Parking lot paving ($12,000)
• Barton Sand & Gravel:  Asphalt mixing ($10,000)
• Kane Transport:  Oil transportation ($800)

The athletic facility is located at the intersection of Akron Avenue and Bonaire Path.  Flint Hills donated the 57-acre property to the City in 2007.  That donation was valued at $2.7 million.

The Lakeville campus of Minnesota School of Business is hosting a Holistic Health Fair on Saturday, October 26th from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The goal of the event is to inform the public of the benefits of holistic healthcare and its role in integrative medicine; as well as provide the public with products and services to gain overall health and wellbeing. The event will feature informational sessions from local guest speakers, holistic products, free health screenings, drawings/giveaways, and free classes in various fitness programs. All of these elements are designed to attract a diverse crowd and draw people to your booth.  Free to participate. Apply by Friday, September 13th, 2013. Contact Stephanie Strand at sstrand@msbcollege.edu or 952-892-9036 for more information or click here receive a vendor form.

Office Space available with Great Amenities!  Up to two offices for lease as a sublet in the Waterford Commons development, Suite 101 in Downtown Rosemount. Two individual offices are available in the suite. Included is use of the common space waiting area, a beautiful party room/meeting room(available upon free reservation), restrooms in common space and front window signage. Rent is $600 per month per office, negotiable terms for the lease. Available now. Please call or e-mail Matt for more information or to schedule a showing, 612-618-4858, mblomquist@fusionminnesota.com.

SERVPRO® of Eagan/Apple Valley Offers a Two-Step Approach to Disaster Readiness Local disaster recovery specialist urges Eagan property and business owners to take advantage of free readiness resources as National Preparedness Month approaches.   As a National Sponsor of the American Red Cross Ready Rating ProgramTM and the originator of SERVPRO's Emergency READY Program, SERVPRO® is uniquely positioned to offer Eagan area home and business owners guidance on a robust, two-step approach to disaster planning and recovery, encompassing both readiness and recovery planning, according to Holmdahl.

Step 1: Readiness Planning

Knowledge is power, and the American Red Cross Ready Rating™ program is designed to help home and business owners assess their level of preparedness for weather-related or other emergencies in advance. This free, web-based program, available at readyrating.org, walks responsible parties at businesses, organizations and schools through a 123-point self-assessment of their establishment's level of preparedness for weather-related or other emergencies, and then offers tips and best practices to help improve their readiness.

Step 2: Recovery Planning

Through SERVPRO's Emergency READY Program, local schools, businesses and other establishments can arrange for a SERVPRO® of Eagan/Apple Valley disaster recovery professional to establish an Emergency READY Profile® (ERP) for their facility, at no charge. The ERP is a comprehensive document containing critical information about the business, including emergency contact information, shut-off valve locations and priority areas. In the event of an emergency, the ERP can help minimize business interruption by ensuring there is an immediate plan of action already in place for the facility. If disaster strikes and damages the business, the ERP can save the property owner both time and money during the recovery period.

SERVPRO® of Eagan/Apple Valley specializes in disaster restoration, cleanup and repair services, helping to remediate damage, making it "Like it never even happened," for both commercial and residential customers. Eagan area residents are encouraged to contact Mike Holmdahl of SERVPRO® of Eagan/Apple Valley at (651)330-7271 or mholmdahl@servproeaganapplevalley.com or visit www.SERVPRO.com for information on readiness resources including SERVPRO's free READY Plan Mobile Application, available on all smartphones. For more information about the app, visit www.servpro.com/ready. For more information on the Red Cross Ready Rating program, please visit http://readyrating.org/.

WSB & Associates is pleased to announce the promotion of Penny Rolf to Right of Way Group Manager.  Rolf has been a member of WSB's Right of Way Group for nearly two years. She has 20 years of real estate experience, with the last 13 years exclusively focused on acquiring right of way and providing relocation assistance on projects for utility companies, counties, cities, and the Minnesota and Wisconsin departments of transportation.  In 2012, Rolf was named Professional of the Year by the North Star Chapter 20 of the International Right of Way Association. The award recognized her service to the chapter and to the organization as a whole.  WSB & Associates, Inc. is a professional consulting and design firm providing engineering, planning, environmental, and construction services. Our experts continually elevate thought and practice by applying advanced knowledge in the areas of strategy, technology, and innovation.

Mahoney Ulbrich Christiansen Russ has been honored with the 2013 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Excellence in Workplace Effectiveness and Flexibility for its use of flexibility and other aspects of workplace effectiveness as a workplace strategy to increase business and employee success. This prestigious award, part of the national When Work Works project administered by Families and Work Institute (FWI) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), recognizes employers of all sizes and types in the greater Twin Cities and across the country. Workplace flexibility - such as flextime, part-time work and compressed workweeks - has been demonstrated to help businesses remain competitive while also benefiting employees. Flexibility in combination with other aspects of an effective workplace-such as learning opportunities and supervisor support for job success-can have a powerful impact on employee engagement and motivation. The Sloan Awards are unique for their rigorous, two-step selection process, which involves an evaluation of employers' flexibility programs and practices, and a confidential employee survey on the key ingredients of an effective and flexible workplace. All applicants are measured against national norms from the National Study of Employers. When Work Works is a national project to educate the business community on the value of workplace flexibility by sharing research and promising practices, and conducting the annual Sloan Awards. It is an ongoing initiative of FWI and SHRM. For more information about the When Work Works initiative and the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Excellence in Workplace Effectiveness and Flexibility, visit www.whenworkworks.org.

Want to get more Internet bang for your business buck? A free informational seminar is being held by the City of Eagan and the three telecommunications providers on the new AccessEagan fiber optic network in Eagan. The session is particularly appropriate for those businesses located in central and northern Eagan as well as in Cedar Grove along the 16-mile AccessEagan route. The seminar will be held first thing in the morning, Wednesday, September 25th, from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. at the Eagan Community Center, 1501 Central Parkway. Seminar topics include why higher speed fiber broadband connections are important to your business, why it is important to think about in route redundancy and the cost to your business if your data connections are severed, and understanding why your business may want or need to go to the Cloud. To RSVP to this important free event, email info@accesseagan.com.