Town Of Willington
Economic Development Commission Meeting
Meeting Minutes of May 23, 2012
Attendees: Kim Kowalyshyn, Chairman Tom Treiber, Sec
Jackie Silverstein
Opened Meeting at 6:09 PM
Approval of Minutes:
Tom moved to approve the meeting minutes from April 25, 2012. Kim seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Old Business:
Business Directory – Kim will follow up with Joe and Pam at Anything Printed to obtain the estimated cost of printing and mailing to every Willington household. Although we do not have the costs, we estimated that our charges for advertising would probably be in the range of $30 (business card size), $50 (half page) and $75 (full page). Kim checked with the Willington Post Office regarding mailing. The Town does not have a bulk permit and the annual cost for the permit would be is prohibitive for a single mailing. We could reduce mailing costs by using “every door direct” which is similar to bulk mailing or possibly by having the mailing done by Anything Printed. Kim revised the business Fact Sheet. It will be posted on our website
so that a business may down load and complete it and then mail it to Kim with their check for advertising. Jackie will arrange for the printing and folding of the Fact Sheets for the planned mailing to businesses. Kim will get envelopes and mailing labels. We will all review and update the business listing. We will then meet on June 4th at 6:00 PM at the Town Hall to stuff the envelopes, etc. for the mailing to businesses. Our target is to have the Directory completed and in the mail to residents by mid September.
Love’s Travel Center – Kim indicated that project obtained IWWC’s approval.
Business Feature on Website – Tom produced the first business profile (Becker Companies) that will be featured on the EDC website. It will be forwarded along with a digital photo to Kim for posting.
Mill Works Open House – Tom Buccino hosted an open house at the Mill Works on Sunday April 29, 2012. There was a great turn out which included EDC members. It was an opportunity to see this wonderful space and visit the many businesses that reside there.
Ashford Business Association - Kim advised that the Association had a very nice website on Ashford businesses (ashfordbusiness.org). It was decided to table further discussion on the business association subject until September.
EDC Finances – Kim reported that we have about $447 left in our current budget.
New Business:
New Business Activity and Contacts – Ben J. Castonguay, Broker/Realtor of Sentry Real Estate was present as an invited guest to talk about proposed development at the intersection of routes 74 and 32 (former Repko properties consisting of 3+ acres). Ben represents property owners B&M Realty (Barney Yost and Michael Orlovsky). They have a Duncan Donut store under contract with a firm that has about 85 Duncan Donut stores in New England including those at the Willington Truck Stop and at the corner of routes 74 and 44 in Ashford. Engineering is now underway to determine where to site the Duncan Donut store. Ben said that a software business near Boston has expressed interest in moving to the barn location at the back of the properties. Ben will keep us posted
on progress and seek our assistance when they are ready to bring the project to the Town. Ben also said that he has been contacted by a business expressing interest in the Phelps Garage site on the other side of route 74. No further details were given as discussions are preliminary in nature.
State of Town write-up. Kim indicated that a 10-minute report on EDC activities over the last 12 months was needed for the State of the Town meeting. Jackie agreed to put together a summary.
Correspondence – None
Public Comment:
Ben J. Castonguay, Broker/Realtor of Sentry Real Estate was present at our invitation to talk about proposed business development in Willington and Tom Buccino of the Mill Works attended the meeting and participated in discussion.
Ongoing Activities:
We have a full seat and two alternate seats open. We are extremely pleased that Tom Buccino has agreed to fill the full seat vacancy. He will be a great addition to the Commission. Kim will give his name to the BOS for approval at their next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 7:38 PM. Next meeting to be held on June 27, 2012 at 6:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Treiber
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