Town Of Willington
Economic Development Commission Meeting
Meeting Minutes of
February 23, 2015
*Minutes are not official until approved at the next regular meeting.
Attendees: Kim Kowalyshyn Tom Treiber, Vice Chair/Secretary Jackie Silverstein, Chair Steven Vera
Tom Buccino
Opened Meeting at 6:35 PM
Public Present: None present.
Seating of Alternate Member and Approval of Minutes
On a motion by Kim seconded by Jackie, the seating of Steven Vera for Ethan Griswold was approved. Then on a motion by Kim seconded by Tom B., the minutes from December 22, 2014 were approved.
New Business
- Correspondence/email – Nothing new.
Old Business:
Economic Development
- Dunkin Donuts – project moving ahead. There are new site plans. Tom T. will speak with realtor Ben Castonguay of Sentry Real Estate re closing of property sale.
- FedEx – moving ahead
- Love’s Travel – no change
- New Business Activity and Contacts – Jackie brought in four more welcome baskets for delivery to new businesses.
2014 EDC Activities
- Business Directory Updates – Jackie and Kim reported on their progress. Tom B. will provide updated information on businesses in The Mill Works. It was felt that we should contact business owners that have moved out of town or closed their businesses to determine why and whether there are some steps that could be taken in advance to prevent the move or closure. Tom T. will attempt to contact Robert Jeffries, Alternate Spoke.
- Business Profiles –Tom T. mentioned businesses he planned to profile next.
- EDC Marketing & Promotion – ongoing (Facebook, Welcome Baskets, etc)
- Facebook – weekly a business is being featured on EDC ‘s Facebook page.
- Willington Market Study – We received and opened proposals from four firms – 4ward Planning, Inc., Gorman+York Property Advisors, LLC, Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. and Fairweather Consulting. Members are to read the proposals and assess the qualifications of each company to perform the study. We plan to meet at Special Meeting on March 3, 2015 at 6:00 PM to discuss our findings so that we can submit our recommendation to the BOS.
2015 Goals
- Business Networking Meeting tentatively scheduled for April 29, 2015 at Hilltop. Steven Vera is taking the lead.
- Process Mapping – Discussion tabled.
Budget and Housekeeping
- EDC Finances – $692 on hand. Jackie went over proposed 2015-2016 budget. The biggest expense will be to print and distribute an updated Business Directory. We believe that most of the expense of approximately $4,800 can be offset by revenue from the sale of advertising. We have requested $2,300 for this line item. Without this line item, our budget request would be $975 - $75 more than last year’s request of $900.
Meeting adjourned at 7:40 PM. Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Monday March 23, 2015 at 6:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Treiber
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