Economic Development Council Meeting

Minutes: November 7, 2007; 9:30 am

Judge Welsh Room, Town Hall

 

Present:

Members:  Chairman Steve Melamed, Thanassi Kuliopulos, William Dougal, Bonnie Adams-Campbell, Astrid Berg

Staff:  Grant Administrator Michelle Jarusiewicz, Assistant Town Manager David Gardner, Cultural Economic Development Coordinator Lisa Bowden

Absent: Alix Ritchie and Marty Huey excused;

 

 

Meeting called to order by Chairman Steve Melamed at 9:40 am

 

Public Statements:

Bonnie Adams-Campbell: as a resident, asphalt has oil in it, oil prices are going up, therefore asphalt prices will go up; Town Meeting vote – town meeting has cut off its nose to spite its face.

 

Business Summit:

Planning meeting being held Thursday, November 8, 2007, 2:00 pm, being conducted by the Town Manager. Executive directors/chairman or rep from EDC, Chamber, PBG, and VSB invited to attend. Summit still tentatively scheduled for 11/28.

 

General discussion about how to proceed with both follow-up from Business Summit #1 and planning for Business Summit #2 which resulted in the following motion:

 

Bill Dougal MOVE that the Chairman bring forward the suggestions listed below from the EDC to the summit planning meeting for the next steps in the process for the Business Summit for consideration at meeting of 11/8, seconded by Thanassi Kuliopulos:

  • Do not use the word: ”Summit”, it is a continuous process, not single event.
  • There is a need for 2 to 3 meetings/year with the business community with the understanding that most of the work will be done by sub-groups using the Housing Summit as a model.
  • The role of the EDC must be defined in the process regarding participation at meetings as well as will sub-committee meetings, reports, and recommendations for integration with short and long-term ED strategies be channeled through the EDC for further recommendation to the Board of Selectmen. Keep in mind ongoing work under the CCEDC grant and the upcoming Phase 3.
  • Length of next Summit: say 3.5 hours [1:00 -  4:30 with coffee break] or 4.5 hours with light working lunch [12:00 – 4:30].
  • The first priority is to focus on short-term strategies with break outs.
  • Top 5 short-term strategies should be doable within next 4 months; that is by 3/28/08 to target 2008 season, with reports to the EDC to make recommendations to the Board of Selectmen with what needs to be done, a timetable, resources, and accountability.
  • The second set of short-term strategies should follow in 5 months
  • Convene next Business Summit meeting in April.

 

Approved 5-0.

 

CCEDC: The $35,000 for Phase 3 has been approved by the County. The next step will be for Michelle Jarusiewicz to meet with Dan Dray to develop the Memorandum of Understanding mirroring the original.

 

Other:

Bill Dougal: Distributed Cape Cod Times editorial regarding the Cape Cod Chamber economic summit meeting with Peter Francese – was it taped and is it available for sharing?  Michelle Jarusiewicz to follow up.

 

Letter from Barbara Rushmore distributed and accepted.

 

Bill Dougal: for future discussion -  would like to schedule a meeting sometime in the future on a Saturday and invite non-resident property owners to attend and provide input; perhaps we should survey them as well. The purpose of the survey and public hearing or meeting would be to obtain useful data and information on this important cohort of property owners, the "silent majority," from an economic development standpoint. ATM David Gardner indicated that the VSB has been doing outreach to the other home owners for several years now.

 

Meeting adjourned at 11:43 am.