City of Torrington Economic Development Commission
Minutes October 5, 2010
Members Present: Cindy Donaldson, Dawn Gutowski, Jim Thibault, TJ Zappulla, Bill Battle, Greg Mele
Members Absent: JoAnn Ryan, Nancy Sieller, George Noujaim, Mayor Bingham
Commissioner Donaldson called the meeting to order at 5:10pm
Commissioner Mele made the motion to open the meeting to the public and Commissioner Battle seconded the motion. Motion carried
2. Approval of the Minutes
Commissioner Zappulla, made the motion to approve September 7, 2010 minutes Commissioner Battle seconded the motion, and Commissioner Mele abstained. The motion carried.
4. Nick Iannacito, P&Z intern
Nick Iannacito, is working at the P&Z office this semester for college credit. His assignment is to study the current sign regulations, discuss problems or concerns with merchants, community members, and commissioners. He addressed the EDC and asked for their input. A temporary sign regulation is an area the EDC would like Nick to investigate. Nick will be visiting area businesses, studying Torrington’s regulations as well as other municipalities’ temporary sign regulations. He will come back to EDC with his recommendation. Last month a mural was painted on a Water Street building, and one is scheduled to be painted on the side on Libby’s furniture store in the spring. Commissioners asked Nick to investigate mural regulations as well.
5. ACT Update:
Fall Festival is planned for October 22. It will be organized very much like Main Street MarketPlace but with a Harvest theme. Commissioners voiced concern about another festival on Main Street. Merchants on Water Street and in other areas of the City have expressed an interest in having festival at other locations in the City. Scarce resources limit the ability for ACT to plan festivals in multiple locations throughout the City. Since we are trying to revitalize the downtown, and given limited resources the emphasis will continue to be on Main Street. Rose will voice these concerns at the next ACT meeting.
Libby’s Mural Project:
Joanne Torti, executive director of the After School Arts Project (ASAP) approached the City to work on a mural project, much like one that she worked on in Waterbury. The ACT commission will partner with ASAP on the Libby’s mural. ASAP will spearhead the mural project, which involves bringing students from Litchfield, Region 12 and Torrington together. The mural will be created by the students and muralist Matt Wood. The group is slated to start in May and is raising funds independently, as well as using funds that the city raised for the project. It is estimated to cost around $24,000 and take around 1 month.
There are two commissioner spots available on ACT. Anyone with any nominations is asked to forward them to the Mayor.
5. Social Media Update:
Cindy updated the commission on the different social media vehicles available to promote the EDC. She is helping the TDC on their promotion. She thought it would be a good idea to start an EDC blog, along with a tweeter and facebook account. She spends approximately 30 minutes a day on social media promotion and has reaped an increase in sales for her company. A blog could be the first step more discussion to follow. The TDC will be updating their website.
6. Torrington Downtown Partners: Torrington Downtown Partners recently purchased 7 downtown buildings. They are very interested in gathering ideas from the community and City departments and commissions. We will invite them to an upcoming EDC meeting.
7. Revive-Education alliance with UCONN: One of last year’s initiatives was to build an education alliance between area businessess UCONN and Northwest Community College. Bill Battle volunteered to review what has been done and take the necessary steps to revive this.
8. North End Merchant’s Association: EDC would like to invite Glen Royals from the North End Merchant’s association to a meeting to discuss ways we can collaborate with them.
9. New Business: Next EDC meeting cannot be held on November 2nd. since it is election day and City Hall will be used for voting. The November meeting will need to be rescheduled.
10. Adjournment- At 6:35 PM Commissioner Battle made a motion to adjourn, Commissioner Mele seconded the motion. The motion carried.
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