Economic Development Commission Minutes 03/14/2013 ADOPTED

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
MARCH 14, 2013

1. Call To Order
Mark Deming, called the regular meeting of the Economic Development Commission to order on Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 7:30 a.m. in the Main Meeting Room at the Town Offices. The following members and were also present: Allan R. Raphael, Kris Barnett, Charles Minor, David Balboni, and Chris Peterson.  Also in attendance were: Sara Nielsen; SMSP,  Nancy Antsy; Executive Director of FVVA, Lisa Heavner, Board of Selectmen Liaison, and other interested parties.

2. Approval of Minutes - January 2013 & December 2012
Commissioner Balboni made a motion to adopt the January 2013 & December 2012 minutes as  presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Barnett and was unanimously passed.

3. Reports: FVVA & SMSP
SMSP: Sarah Nielsen, Executive Director, addressed the Commission and said SMSP will be holding their Annual Meeting on April 15th. She described some of the topics that will be covered at their Annual Meeting, saying it will be tailored towards the small business owner. She spoke about the Gifford Pinchot Documentary that was aired nationally in March. Ms. Nielsen then spoke about Talcott Mountain Music Festival and the marketing efforts SMSP is working on in order to boost exposure. She expressed concern about the decreasing trend in attendance. This topic was discussed further. The PAC was discussed in terms of how it can be more financially productive. Fund raising and sponsorships were discussed. Ms. Nielsen spoke about additional marketing events coming up.

When asked how she thinks business is overall for Simsbury business owners, Ms. Nielsen said she thinks some seasonal businesses have benefited from weather related events (i.e. hardware stores) but smaller boutique stores have suffered recently and there is a general overall concern over the news of The Hartford and the resulting trickle-down effect. This topic was discussed further as it relates to residential real estate. Commissioner Deming said Ms. Glassman had requested a representative from the EDC to participate in a task force to assist The Hartford in developing the marketing campaign and with the selection of a broker.

FVVA: Nancy Antsy, Executive Director of FVVA, said they are doing their membership campaign now and then she gave an update on some upcoming events. She said the Film Commissioner will be having a Connecticut Film Networking mixer to be held at The Maple Tree on April 18th. She spoke about the State cuts with regards to regional tourism funding.
It was announced that The 2013 Volunteer Expo will be held at Eno Hall on April 25th.

4. EDC Website: Discussion on front page and links
Commissioner Deming said Commissioner Barnett sent him some link suggestions for the website and asked for any input from the other Commission members. Ms. Heavner said they are putting a technology task force together in order to review the website and find out how it can be improved. Ms. Heavner said the task force will utilize focus groups in order to collect feedback from users. Commissioner Barnett said the EDC website should contain (or have links connecting to) all the information prospective businesses and/or developers look for when considering Simsbury as a potential location. This topic was discussed further in terms of making the most user-friendly site possible. Commissioner Deming said this would be addressed further at the next meeting.

5. Report: Status of marketing consultant proposals for the Town and Village Districts, update on Marketing Study/Consultant Selection Process
Commissioner Deming said they have selected Fairweather Consulting as the consultants. He said that the first phase ($25,000) is funded but the funds for the second phase are still being put together. Commissioner Raphael spoke about the broad-based study being done with regards to the Village Districts. He said the overall goal is to find out what needs to be done to enhance the Village areas (Northern Gateway, Southern Gateway, Tarrifville, West Simsbury, Weatogue).
6. Budget presentation and status
Mr. Deming said Mr. Peck emailed his budget discussion and it will be discussed further at the next meeting. Ms. Heavner said First Selectmen Glassman, has proposed a .5% budget increase, not including the increase resulting from the additional annual required contribution due to changes in the investment assumptions. So, Ms. Heavner continued, they are at a bare-bones budget due to the pressures resulting from the pension.  She spoke further about the mill rate increase and the resulting effect on taxes. The mill rate was discussed further and Commissioner Barnett said the Town needs to do a better job marketing the benefits of living in Simsbury versus Avon. She spoke about the distribution of the tax increases, saying the higher value homes are the ones getting hit the hardest in terms of tax increases. The revaluation and marketing/promotion of Simsbury was discussed further. This conversation tied back into the Marketing Study and web site improvements. Ms. Heavner then spoke about the car tax situation. She said if the car tax disappears, it will result in a $6MM loss of revenue for the Town. Ms. Heavner said she is hopeful it will not pass because at this point, it would leave a huge gap in revenue. The topic of declining student enrollment was then discussed and how it relates to the Board of Education budget. The Board of Education budget was discussed further. The Town’s personnel costs were discussed by Ms. Heavner and the Commission members. Commissioner Deming asked when decisions would be made regarding the Senior Center and Ms. Heavner said there are funds in the budget for examining the potential sites. Commissioner Deming said, after seeing the number of seniors that actually utilize the Senior Center, he is perplexed as to why the Town would go forward with any major expense related to this topic. This was discussed further.
7. Discussion of other projects Commissioner Deming said Big Y is in the final stages with the DOT and if that wraps up successfully, the project will be going ahead immediately thereafter. Ms. Nielsen said Big Y has a very aggressive construction schedule and they had hoped to open in October 2013.
8. Old Business/New Business
When asked, Ms. Heavner said the Hooker & Holcombe report is available online.

9. ADJOURNMENT
Commissioner Peterson made a motion to adjourn the March 14, 2013 EDC Regular Meeting. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Barnett and was unanimously passed.

Respectfully submitted,

____________________________
Mark Deming, Chairman