City of Torrington Economic Development Commission
MINUTES
March 7, 2017
5:00 PM
City Hall Auditorium
Attendance: Commissioners JoAnn Ryan, John Giasanti, Bill Battle, Lance Boynton, Fred Lopez, Economic Development Director Erin Howard
Absent: Chris Beyus, John Gleeson and Nancy Sieller
The meeting was called to order at 5:27 PM on a motion from Commissioner Giasanti and seconded by Commissioner Battle.
The meeting was opened to the public on a motion from Commissioner Ryan and seconded by Commissioner Giasanti.
A motion was made by Commissioner Giasanti and seconded by Commissioner Battle to approve the EDC minutes from December 6, 2016
Economic Development Director, Erin Howard informed the commission of the resignation of Chairwoman Lisa Soliani. On a motion made by Commissioner Battle and seconded by Commissioner Giasanti, the commission agreed to send a letter of thanks to Commissioner Soliani thanking her for her service.
Commissioner Ryan nominated Commissioner Boynton to be the new Chairman of the Commission. A motion was made by Commissioner Battle and seconded by Commissioner Ryan to vote to approve the nomination of Commissioner Boynton. The Vote passed unanimously.
Since current secretary Commissioner Sieller was unable to attend the meeting, a motion was made by Commissioner Ryan and seconded by Commissioner Giasanti to table the election of secretary until the next meeting in order to discuss with Commissioner Sieller if she was willing to remain as secretary.
Economic Development Director Erin Howard recapped the Brownfield Area-Wide Planning Grants first public forum. It was discussed that there was a great turn out but that the purpose of the grant and development of the strategy needed to be better explained as there were members of the public that thought differently. Director Howard went on to explain that there would be multiple other opportunities to get involved in the process and that due to the lack of understanding, an additional forum may be added to address that specifically.
The Commission went on to briefly discuss the goals for 2017. The Commission agreed it would focus its efforts on the Branding &Imaging, Wayfinding Signage program. The Commission agreed to begin mapping out locations and developing the signage program. It was explained by Director Howard that the Torrington Development Corporation was also interested in signage and that they have been invited to work with the EDC on this project.
The Commission then discussed the need to update the Tax Incentive Policy and made that its second goal for 2017.
There was no new business or old business discussed.
On a motion by Commissioner Giasanti and seconded by Commissioner Battle that meeting was adjourned at 6:30 PM.
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