MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 8:00 a.m.
2nd Floor Conference Room
Town Hall, 302 Main Street
Chairman, Robert Fish, called the regular meeting to order at 8:00 a.m.
Members Present
Robert Fish, Chairman
Bruce Sherwin
Jerry Brophy
Members Present from Partner-Groups
Sara Keaney, Old Saybrook Land Trust
Janice Holland, Old Saybrook Land Trust
Susan Esty, Main Street Merchant’s Association
Land Use Department Staff Present
Christine Nelson, Town Planner
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
B. Fish began the meeting by asking if there was a consensus about the web site template, and if not, what suggestions everyone had to improve it. He said he would like to focus on finalizing the format and getting the web site launched. He asked the group if the web site should go out to the public first or to the partners.
B. Sherwin sent the web site template to C. Nelson, and J. Holland shared hard copies with the group so everyone could review it together.
S. Keaney expressed concerns that the current format was not user friendly. She talked about the Tennessee web site which she felt was very easy for the public to use. She said the Sustainable Saybrook web site was too wordy; it looked too much like an academic exercise.
J. Holland said the home page was beautiful. She felt it captured what sustainability is about.
B. Sherwin suggested trimming the priority section to shorten it up. He agreed that there’s too much information, and that it may be intimidating to the public.
C. Nelson said that partners will have to maintain this site as well as their own. This may be a stimulus to maintain both web sites especially since they link into one another.
C. Nelson distributed notes from the meeting she and S. Keaney had with Susan Esty where they discussed the Main Street Merchant’s Association as one of the four partners.
S. Esty was concerned about the term “sustainability”. She suggested “thrive and grow” because “sustainability” to her suggests maintaining the status quo. From a business partnership perspective, she asked questions that potential partners may have such as, “What’s in it for me? What do I have to do? What do you expect from me?”
S. Keaney suggested one of the partners should be the Economic Development Commission because it would increase participation of boards and commissions encouraging them to become more active in community outreach.
J. Holland felt the group was ready to invite partner groups in at this point to explain what sustainability is about and to get their input. She added that if a business was active in sustainability, it could generate tourism and boost the local economy.
C. Nelson said she didn’t feel that the web site was ready to go out to the partners yet. She said the group was still practicing at this point.
S. Esty said it was still unclear to her as to what the Outreach Commission Sustainable Saybrook was trying to do. She suggested the group be clearer to the other partners, and that when they meet with potential partners, they answer clearly, the question such as: “What do you expect from my business? Are you looking for money or support or both?” S. Esty also asked how sustainability would help bring in business, and increase tourism.
J. Holland said she’d like the group to educate people as to what sustainability is. She’d like the message to be that sustainability is keeping things healthy so something can grow that doesn’t negatively impact its parts, and that having something like this web site about our town and informing the public about it broadcasts to the public all of the great things going on in our town that will attract people and tourism. She said this is about creating a sense of pride and awareness about where we live.
B. Sherwin said this is form of social media. It’s advertising in an internet connected, social way.
S. Esty said that type of information is what the business people want to hear.
S. Esty said she was supportive of sustainability, but as business owners, sustainability isn’t a priority. She suggested the group go and talk to business owners about the bottom line. She said many town businesses are already interested in “going green” so this could be the logical next step.
J. Holland suggested the group have a pitch and specific points of discussion for each business owner.
J. Brophy said this could give business owners ideas about some of the products they sell and whether or not those products fit in with a sustainable town.
C. Nelson stressed that the language of the twelve priorities needs to communicate sustainability. She said that some of our web sites are out of date, so she asked how this web site could be sustained.
J. Holland said once the main structure of the web site has been done, a lot of the information could stay the same with just the tips and the calendar changing which will make it easier to maintain.
R. Fish reminded group members that the web site was the idea everyone agreed upon after the Conservation Commission had done their 10-year plan and decided they needed to do a better job communicating with the public. He said the web site has become the focus of the meetings, but the focus is supposed to be getting information out to the public. He suggested that maybe it doesn’t have to be this complicated. The goal should be taking the concept of sustainability and making it local.
R. Fish asked if the 12 priorities were done. B. Sherwin said some Conservation Commission members still needed to give him content, and he would send them an e-mail template today.
S. Keaney said she was concerned the template was still too wordy, and she also mentioned that she thought it would be a good idea to add a visual such as a graphic or a slide show to break up the text.
J. Holland said the Land Trust invites speakers to their meetings, and it has increased attendance at their meetings. She suggested bringing in speakers who are experts in sustainability to the Sustainable Saybrook meetings.
C. Nelson said we had wanted to have a measurable goal for each topic. Talking to people about measurable goals may be difficult.
B. Sherwin suggested a bulletized list of goals and what’s happening now to work towards attaining those goals. The community should know what our goals are and how we are working towards meeting those goals. It should be a sustainability plan for everyone, not just the Conservation Commission’s plan.
S. Esty said the Conservation Commission has certain responsibilities to the town, but other organizations are partners. The Conservation Commission is guiding this, but it will not be dictating it. This should be a town plan, not a town government plan but a town community plan. The town government can endorse it.
J. Holland said she would really like to bring someone professional in to help with finalizing and launching the web site who has some experience and expertise in town sustainability.
R. Fish agreed. He said the Conservation Commission has some budget money to pay for this. He offered to work with J. Holland to find someone to come and talk with the group, even someone who could provide some guidance or an outline of the steps the group needs to take to launch this. This will probably be sometime in December or after.
S. Esty talked about the Chamber of Commerce “Connections” meetings that business owners attend. She suggested these meetings would provide a great “word of mouth” opportunity to keep this going and to get the word out about the Sustainable Saybrook concept and web site. She will try to find a date for the Connections group to meet with this group at the Town Hall.
B. Sherwin and C. Nelson spent a bit of time at the end of the meeting editing the web site page.
The meeting adjourned at 9:15 a.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathleen Noyes
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