In last week’s Chamber of Commerce meeting, Police Chief Brent Baloun and Mayor Tracy Bertram gave brief reports to the business community, and Todd and Barb Potter, who hosted the meeting, gave a brief history of their company. New chamber member Monty’s Tropical Hideout catered the event.

T.J. Potter Trucking

T.J.Potter Trucking hosted the chamber meeting in one of their warehouses. Todd Potter stood up to give a brief history of their business.

Todd and Barb Potter were married in 1980, and at that time Todd was a trucker. As the couple began to grow their family, he made the switch from being a trucker to being a business owner. In the 90s, the business was focusing on brick and mortar shipping, but a recession led to many of their customers discontinuing services, so the Potters looked to expand into a less volatile field. They decided to find jobs shipping for energy companies, who tend to keep on working no matter what is going on in the world. This is how the company started to focus on shipping heavy equipment, which most trucking companies are not able to handle. More recently, they have even been shipping generators for big clients such as Google.

T.J. Potter also owns its own warehouses. Todd said it only made sense to buy warehouses, as it goes perfectly hand-in-hand with trucking. The fact that the company owns its own warehouses and is equipped to load and unload heavy equipment has also led to a significant cost-savings for many of their customers who would otherwise have to hire another company to load and unload the equipment.

The final piece of the puzzle for T.J. Potter’s success is treating its employees well. Todd says that he is installing dash cams in his vehicles, but he will never install cameras that film the drivers themselves, as he considers that to be a breach of their privacy. He makes sure his employees are home when they want to be as much as possible. He also makes sure to pay them a good wage. Other companies who have considered buying Potter’s business have suggested to him that he overpays his workers, and to that he simply replies, “Thank you.” He prides himself on his extremely low turnover, and says that it actually saves him money in the long run. He doesn’t have to spend any money on hiring or advertising – his quality of employment and services speak for themselves and the business grows through word-of-mouth alone.

Police Report

Chief Baloun gave a brief report for the representatives of Becker businesses. He provided copies of the 2019 police dept. annual report for members to take with them. A copy of the report is available online at www.Ci.Becker.mn.us/232/Annual-Reports. He said it was good to have on hand if the business happened to cater to customers from out of town, such as realtors. In his opinion, Becker is one of the safest cities in the state. Even with COVID-19, crimes have remained stagnant or have gone down. The only crime on the rise is alcohol violations, but perhaps that is only to be expected, given the situation.

Baloun also spoke briefly about making sure businesses are protected. He said businesses that don’t have security cameras can purchase them fairly cheaply, and those that do should make sure they are in working order. It’s also a good idea to make sure the police dept. has updated keyholder lists for your business. Finally, he reminded everyone that it is important to have customers wear masks. Anyone can report mask non-compliance directly to the state. If a customer is not wearing a mask, it is okay for the business to ask the individual to wear one, or to step outside. Baloun is responsible for approaching business owners who have noncompliance claims against them, but he hopes owners will remember he is only the messenger.

Government Report

Mayor Bertram gave a report to the chamber members as well. She said the city is still courting Google to bring their data center to the Becker Business Park. If Google comes to Becker, the facility will be situated west of the current industrial park. Becker is hoping to attract more new businesses to that area as well. The city was granted $20.5 million for the infrastructure of the park in the recently passed bonding bill.