More lawmakers and state officials descended upon Becker Thursday to discuss thee proposed bonding bill to help the City of Becker make improvements to their industrial park for future businesses.

The Commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget, Myron Frans, along with a couple of staff members from Gov. Tim Walz’s office met at Becker City Hall to make statements, hear discussion, ask and field questions.

They also took some time out to visit Xcel Energy and see the locations the city is proposing to generate utilities.

The bonding bill of $24 million is spearheaded by Sen. Andrew Mathews and Rep. Shane Mekeland. Thursday’s gathering was to persuade lawmakers to support the plan. Local leaders including City Administrator Greg Pruszinske, Commissioner Tim Dolan and Mayor Tracy Bertram gave introductions and outlines of the project to Frans and the others while city council members and county commissioners attended to show their support. Recently, the city gave the State House Capital Investment Committee a tour of the IP and the sites open for future development.

Pruszinske says the project starts with installing sewer and water lines, and improving roads in the business park. The project carries a $24.76 million price tag, which he hopes Sen. Mathews and his colleagues at the Capitol will fund this upcoming session.

There is a sense of urgency because part of the Sherco coal fired power plant will being shutting down soon. It’s happening in phases, with the first part in 2023 and the second part in 2026. Xcel Energy has a plan to decomission the rest of it by 2030. The Public Utilities Commission is reviewing the request.

The proposed infrastructure project would also  help attract new businesses to the park, including the much-publicized attraction effort to bring a Google Data Center to Becker. Dolan, Bertram and Pruszinske assured Walz’s people the bonding bill and subsequent utility installation would create a boon for other enterprises to look to Becker to house their business.

“More than Google, more than Becker, more than Xcel Energy, the projects forthcoming are drawing business interest to the area,” said Dolan.

And at the top of the list, Google.

“We can’t land Google without services to the park,” said Pruszinske.

“We like what we’ve seen,” said Frans. “Our goal is to present to the Lt. Governor and Governor the funding needs and go from there. There are a lot of cities and counties asking for dollars, but we’ll have something put together on this over the next few months.”