Economic Development Commission
Meeting Minutes of May 23, 2016
Attendees: Tom Buccino and Jackie Silverstein
Absent: Jason Bracich
Minutes Taken By: Jackie Silverstein
J Silverstein opened the meeting at 6:35 PM.
Adele Hall, as a member of the public, was in attendance. Recognized to speak, she indicated an interest in joining the EDC. She is a Willington resident and student at Quinebaug Valley Community College. Ms. Hall indicated the EDC peaked her interest when she did some volunteer work for the Commission earlier this year, taking several pictures around Willington for the Business Directory. The present members thought Ms. Hall would be a nice addition to the Commission and agreed to vote on the matter when there is a full Commission available during the next regular meeting.
On a motion by T Buccino and seconded by J Silverstein, the minutes of the April 27, 2016 meeting were approved.
New Business
T Buccino acknowledged J Bracich’s email to the Commission regarding the need to closely follow the matter of possibly closing of the two schools in the Town of Willington, and sending off the affected children to another school district. Such a decision could have an economic impact to the Town of Willington. The matter will be added to the next agenda for discussion and follow up.
T Buccino is following up on return mail items to the businesses at The Mill Works. For all other returned mail, J Silverstein reported she has followed up via email or telephone call and resolved the issues. In one instance, the issue had already been addressed by the business, who provided an updated address during the business directory update process.
Old Business
T Buccino reported FedEx has moved through appropriate board reviews. The Building Inspector is now speaking with them to determine any specific needs. The VCI Grant continues to be in progress. Z’s Antiques will be removed from the list and is considered closed. J Silverstein will reach out to John Zevetchin to touch base and see if there is any assistance the EDC can provide as he moves towards opening his doors for business.
The Business Directory is continuing to progress. The Commission discussed the second round of edits and J Silverstein will forward them to Pam at Anything Printed. The ads need to be reviewed to ensure they have all been included in the Business Directory. Anything Printed is also working on a final proof of the cover, expected to be delivered to the Commission in the coming week. We are finalizing the envelope, and have requested a quote from Anything Printed for the distribution piece of the process. J Silverstein will send out an email to former members Kim Kowalyshyn and Tom Treiber to determine if they would like to be included as members of the EDC in the front page of the booklet. While each has resigned, the current members recognize their contributions to the directory prior to resignation. The hope is to
send the directory out to all Willington households and businesses by early June. Post publication, the Commission will consider a possible software investment to deliver and maintain the directory on-line. Maintaining it that way would make future hardcopy deliveries much simpler.
J Silverstein reported she is continuing to post a business of the week on the Commission’s Facebook page. We are getting at least one like every week. The discussion regarding next steps for the Market Study remains tabled until the launch of the Business Directory. EDC budget was not discussed; however, T Buccino will follow up with Tish Ignatowicz to obtain a status update. We are interested in the steps of the new budget approval process to determine whether or not the request for a staff member was approved.
The meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM.
The next meeting is scheduled for June 27, 2016 at 6:30 PM.
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