[0:01] Uh, Alex Hastings, Commissioner

[0:05] Bill Keep, Commissioner Jake Dunigan,

[0:07] Commissioner, uh, Joe Dela Cruz, chair.

[0:12] Uh, need approval of the minutes. Does

[0:14] anyone make a motion in April 2nd? Has

[0:17] already been approved. We're just doing

[0:18] May. Anyone make a motion to approve the

[0:20] minutes for May?

[0:21] >> So moved.

[0:22] >> Second.

[0:23] >> You got it. All right. Uh, all in favor?

[0:28] >> I. unanimous. We're getting off to a

[0:30] great start. Uh old business.

[0:35] >> Yeah. Nothing. All right. Welcome back,

[0:38] everyone. By the way, that's our old

[0:39] business. It's been a few month, couple

[0:41] months. Uh new business uh year-to- date

[0:45] reflection.

[0:47] >> Yeah. So,

[0:49] we have them as separate items. they

[0:51] will flow into one another. But with us

[0:55] just coming back from a break and

[0:58] approaching the year, the end of the

[0:59] year, we figured we'd take some time to

[1:01] kind of just reflect on 2026 and the

[1:03] goals that we set for this year and then

[1:07] start kind of looking ahead for 2027.

[1:11] So, I'll kind of just walk us through a

[1:13] little simple presentation. It's mostly

[1:15] it's a visual. It's, you know, just to

[1:17] have it. And if you remember, we did

[1:19] this last year where everyone we kind of

[1:21] went over where we are from the previous

[1:23] year or your goals, what we're at, and

[1:26] then what you'd like to see for the the

[1:28] next year and then we would draft what

[1:31] we hear tonight and you would approve

[1:33] those next uh next meeting in November

[1:35] the following year.

[1:38] >> So just the purpose of the EDC advocate

[1:41] for the needs of graten businesses and

[1:43] entrepreneurs to support their

[1:44] retention, growth and sustainability.

[1:48] And I kind of just took the goals. Okay,

[1:51] that worked. Um, I went through the 2026

[1:54] goals and just kind of looked at how we

[1:55] did so far. Um,

[1:59] for improving outreach strategy and

[2:01] execution garnered connection with an

[2:03] understanding of our businesses. We set

[2:05] a few action items holding one to two

[2:08] EDC um, and staff outreach events. We

[2:13] did that one in April. gather 100

[2:16] business owners emails and contact info

[2:18] for the newsletter. We fell short of

[2:21] that one. I put less than 40. That one

[2:23] was being generous. Most of those came

[2:24] from other lists that we had, but

[2:27] >> um and then host one to two events to

[2:31] connect with business owners. We did

[2:32] have our business appreciation breakfast

[2:34] in April. And I'll mention we as staff

[2:39] weren't really able to dedicate the time

[2:41] to putting together the event plan that

[2:43] we hope to do this month. Now it's

[2:45] October. Um so we won't be planning

[2:50] that.

[2:52] The second goal, launch a new

[2:54] communications tool to make the EDC more

[2:56] consistently accessible.

[2:59] We came up with the newsletter and Alex

[3:02] helped me get that one out. So that was

[3:04] a check. We did that right around the um

[3:06] business appreciation breakfast.

[3:08] Um

[3:11] if you notice in some of the other ones,

[3:13] it was like one to two, one to two. We

[3:15] did one, I counted it. We also wanted to

[3:17] do two newsletters. So, you know, room

[3:19] to grow in that area too. Goal three was

[3:23] engaging with existing resources to

[3:25] support and showcase the town's

[3:26] businesses. So, we have been working on

[3:29] and are continuing to work on explore

[3:30] more graten. One of the actions was to

[3:33] promote that. Put a little question

[3:35] mark.

[3:36] You know, use your your discretion how

[3:38] you answer that one. Um, the website is

[3:41] coming along and I think that we have

[3:43] updates in our staff report, but we did

[3:47] publish the live version, the the most

[3:50] recent updates.

[3:52] Pages are continuing to be updated, but

[3:54] check it out. It's looking nice. It's

[3:57] coming along. Um, the reader's choice

[3:59] awards not the fault of anyone in this

[4:02] room. I had reached out to the day and I

[4:04] went back and checked my timeline

[4:05] earlier and they didn't get back to me

[4:08] until they were closer to the end of the

[4:11] process. So, next year

[4:13] potentially if y'all want to explore

[4:15] that one again. And then the third

[4:17] action was attend one business community

[4:19] or economic development event that was

[4:21] outside of something that we were doing.

[4:23] So, I'm not sure what you guys were or

[4:26] weren't able to get to.

[4:28] And the last one was really going to

[4:32] other town meetings, RTM meetings or

[4:35] council meetings and uh speaking out on

[4:38] behalf of whatever may be that supports

[4:40] economic development and the other was

[4:43] collaborating with commissions. If you

[4:46] remember last year in 2025, there was a

[4:49] joint uh planning and zoning commission

[4:51] meeting and that was largely around the

[4:52] PCD, but the EC the EDC had the biggest

[4:56] show in there and I think that was just

[4:59] something that we wanted to continue to

[5:01] carry over. So that was just to run

[5:04] through,

[5:06] you know, what the plans were for last

[5:08] year and remind the remind us of the

[5:11] purpose of the EDC. So, I just wanted to

[5:13] kind of pose the question like, do you

[5:15] feel like you're meeting your purpose

[5:16] after kind of checking in with the

[5:18] goals? How are you feeling? And really,

[5:20] like, what resources or supports or

[5:22] tools

[5:24] do you need or would you like to push

[5:27] the needle a little bit further?

[5:30] >> I have to come to a meeting and you have

[5:32] to say, "Jake, you didn't do your job."

[5:34] In order for me to be scared enough to

[5:36] do my job by the time I come back,

[5:39] you you got to tell me, "Hey, you didn't

[5:40] do it this week. You didn't do this

[5:41] month." They're like, "Hey, I didn't

[5:42] hear from you." Because um that'll be

[5:45] the best way to motivate me to do it.

[5:47] >> So for you, it's about accountability.

[5:49] >> Yeah, I need I need accountability for

[5:50] sure

[5:52] >> because I don't have an issue doing any

[5:53] of this stuff and sometimes it's about

[5:55] >> Jake, how would we um I think we've

[5:58] tried to do that a lot like creating the

[6:00] shared document and please enter each

[6:02] month what you've done or those kinds of

[6:03] things like what next level of

[6:05] accountability would work? Um, off mic.

[6:09] Think of whatever creative name you'd

[6:11] like to call me about how I'm not being

[6:14] functional in my role.

[6:17] >> Yeah. Can we do that?

[6:18] >> Yeah, absolutely. Fellow commissioners,

[6:20] for sure. No. Um, it's

[6:22] >> shouts across the

[6:23] >> Yeah, exactly. I mean, if you want to

[6:24] put Jake's scoreboard up every every

[6:26] month with how many businesses he's

[6:28] contacted and I have to look at it, it

[6:30] says zero, that next month it'll be two,

[6:33] right? I don't know that it's going to

[6:34] get too much more than that, but you

[6:36] know, at least it'll be something. It

[6:37] could literally be

[6:40] um you know, chairs outreach.

[6:43] >> We could create like a board game and

[6:45] you guys each have your own figure and

[6:46] it moves along and you're racing.

[6:50] >> Ladders.

[6:53] >> Okay.

[6:54] >> I for me it would be u more specific

[6:57] upfront. In other words, you know, going

[6:59] to different events, me to agree to go

[7:02] to a chamber event or something, knowing

[7:04] it in advance, not, you know, are you

[7:06] guys going to go to something, but

[7:08] literally as we plan, it's like, will

[7:11] you commit to going to a chamber event

[7:13] or will you commit to, you know, doing

[7:16] something? And so, we will commit as

[7:18] individuals up

[7:20] and so then

[7:22] >> that's really

[7:22] >> that would be helpful. And I know in

[7:24] previous years it may may have been

[7:26] before you were on, but um Lauren will

[7:28] send out, you know, hey everyone, you

[7:29] know, this is being hosted or that would

[7:31] you like to participate? A lot of times

[7:32] George will do that. Um would it help if

[7:36] it's kind of on a monthto-month basis

[7:39] like hey we know the chamber is hosting

[7:43] this networking event or do you mean

[7:46] kind of in the beginning of the year you

[7:47] would say I commit to two this year for

[7:49] the chamber?

[7:50] >> Wow. Um well I I think that either could

[7:54] work. Um I mean I'm I get the chamber

[7:57] announcements in in my email. Um and if

[8:01] I had in beforehand and I I'm just this

[8:04] is just an example. Other people may

[8:05] want to be go to the chamber in which

[8:07] case I could go to an R RTM meeting or

[8:09] something like that. But whatever we

[8:11] would agree to do then we would do I

[8:13] mean we know when the RTM meetings are

[8:15] we know we get notices from when the

[8:17] chamber is and I don't know about what

[8:19] other kinds of organizations would be

[8:21] helpful you probably know them better

[8:22] than me but yeah having an up front and

[8:26] I think um the idea with other uh

[8:30] commissions such as RTM or town councils

[8:33] uh usually around you know if we have a

[8:35] project coming up that has residential

[8:37] showing like we'd like to tie it to

[8:39] something specific so you're not going

[8:40] just to go so sometimes those aren't

[8:42] there or sometimes they are, but we

[8:44] could kind of also have a placeholder of

[8:46] you know when these types of things come

[8:48] up or you know new businesses that you

[8:50] want to support like you could go talk

[8:51] about those specific things.

[8:53] >> Yep. And when you when they may be

[8:55] something we would know about you would

[8:56] know about first something come out of

[8:58] the agenda.

[8:59] >> Yeah.

[8:59] >> Um and then we can try it to go.

[9:03] >> Okay.

[9:09] Let's see. And I know over the last two

[9:13] years the feedback's been um it's a lot

[9:16] easier to go do outreach if you have

[9:18] something specific. So we did the pivot

[9:20] grant handouts and you helped us get

[9:22] those funds solely expended. Clayton did

[9:24] a lot of door to door on that too. Um

[9:26] and then another thing last year that we

[9:29] found that you guys really liked was

[9:30] having the flyer of something cool to

[9:32] invite them to which was hey we're

[9:34] having this networking breakfast. Did

[9:35] you like that this year as well or is

[9:37] there anything else you have in mind

[9:39] that you're like, I wish I could give

[9:40] them this um when I'm doing outreach.

[9:44] >> I think the breakfast is really good.

[9:46] >> That went well and people were really

[9:49] receptive to it. You know, even if it

[9:51] was just I'll give it to my boss or

[9:52] whatever. People were very receptive to

[9:54] it. for me.

[9:57] defense

[9:58] >> and there were people that were invited

[9:59] that they were going to come and didn't

[10:01] and I don't know if that was because

[10:04] um I think they think they maybe getting

[10:06] sales pitch somehow like there was a

[10:09] language barrier with a couple of them

[10:10] and they're like oh I'm not sure like I

[10:12] they were afraid what they were going to

[10:14] walk into

[10:15] >> when I think um and I'm not sure how we

[10:17] could make it any more clear that it was

[10:18] just

[10:19] >> breakfast yeah and maybe um I don't know

[10:23] maybe

[10:24] a little earlier they would have known

[10:26] they but I don't think that matters. I

[10:28] think they get busy and

[10:31] >> it wouldn't matter how much time they had that we just have to figure if

[10:34] we invited 30 and 30 said yes then 20

[10:37] are coming.

[10:37] >> Mhm.

[10:38] >> Probably about the right is that the ban

[10:40] average

[10:40] >> probably about 15 is 15 50%. Okay.

[10:46] to that point, if we hosted it at a at a

[10:48] town, you know, even if it wasn't here,

[10:52] um it might take some of that like maybe

[10:54] I'm getting sold because like it's not

[10:57] often that you're not going to go to a

[10:58] town building and get a sales pitch for

[11:01] the most part. Like

[11:02] >> Yeah,

[11:03] >> because I'm also super wary of somebody

[11:05] trying to give me something for free.

[11:06] So, I get that.

[11:08] >> Yeah. Maybe we could could we add like

[11:11] something of like how the the EDC

[11:14] specifically can like help the

[11:16] businesses like because like I feel like

[11:18] sometimes like you go and they're just

[11:20] like I I haven't heard you. I don't know

[11:22] what you do.

[11:23] >> I don't know what this is. I don't

[11:24] really know if I want to go. So it's

[11:26] like

[11:27] >> Yes. And that I think is what we tried

[11:29] to tie to pivot grant in particular.

[11:32] Like there is a grant you can apply for

[11:34] >> I think if you're just like hey you can

[11:35] apply for free money basically.

[11:37] >> Yeah. and they're just like, "Oh, well,

[11:38] this is great." Like

[11:41] >> and um and we don't So, we're hoping at

[11:44] some point maybe we can get an

[11:45] additional allocation from from council

[11:49] nudge um to to add to um pivot grant to

[11:53] kind of launch a second round because it

[11:55] was so successful. But in the meantime,

[11:57] we don't have something that we're

[11:58] hosting other than the economic

[12:00] assistance fund necessarily. And that

[12:02] one's so specific to, you know,

[12:05] infrastructure and things. it's not

[12:07] really as applicable to the smaller

[12:09] businesses. So, we don't have a program

[12:11] right now,

[12:13] >> but we do with our website revamp that

[12:15] Clayton was talking about,

[12:16] >> we have an incentives page that we're

[12:18] updating that will just connect them to

[12:21] everything under the sun, not just ours,

[12:23] but if you're a small business owner and

[12:24] you want to a free leazison, you can go

[12:26] to this site, the state provides XYZ.

[12:29] But I think in general, the feedback has

[12:32] usually been it's then that's too back

[12:34] to it's too generic, you know. So, I

[12:37] think that's what we're trying to get at

[12:38] with the newsletter and folks getting to

[12:40] know you that as problems come up, they

[12:43] know they have somebody to go to and

[12:44] say, "This is a barrier to my business.

[12:47] The town should know about this." Um, so

[12:49] I guess it's always kind of in the

[12:51] middle. If we have something specific

[12:52] like the breakfast, we'll send you out

[12:54] with that. We can also always link to

[12:57] and there's all of these programs, you

[12:59] know, not just that the town or town

[13:01] has, but the state has that you could

[13:03] access. And it's kind of just at that

[13:05] point generic again though. So I guess

[13:06] it's kind of

[13:07] >> between know you categorize a lot of the

[13:09] businesses on that map. Is there a way

[13:12] that maybe if we do like targeted

[13:13] outreach to like a specific type of like

[13:15] say like a restaurant and then or say

[13:18] like hey if you look on the state your

[13:21] incentives or these are your grants

[13:23] specific only to restaurants like you

[13:25] can't

[13:26] >> like if you're an auto like auto body

[13:27] shop you can't get these.

[13:28] >> Right. But that that way it like

[13:31] >> because like you said if it's too

[13:33] generic like I feel like they're going

[13:34] to go on the website and be like there's

[13:35] a thousand links which is like really

[13:37] helpful but they're going to be like

[13:39] for me

[13:40] >> you gave me work to do

[13:42] >> no thanks like if you go to like one of

[13:45] the restaurants be like hey like maybe

[13:47] you're decorating your out like outdoors

[13:49] and they have like a grant for that like

[13:51] oh great that's the first one that pops

[13:52] up right

[13:53] >> and what we could do um I think one of

[13:57] the best resources too is that there's

[13:58] actually free advisors out there that

[14:00] people don't necessarily know about and

[14:02] that could apply to anyone,

[14:03] >> especially to our smaller ones that that

[14:05] are struggling with like how do I even

[14:07] set up a POS system or those kinds of

[14:09] things. Um,

[14:10] >> so maybe the focus is like you said kind

[14:13] of I don't know if we'd want to

[14:15] necessarily try to break it down because

[14:17] it would just make outreach a lot very

[14:19] complicated, but we could do flyers

[14:22] based on on that. Go ahead.

[14:24] >> Yeah. Um I think that in with respect to

[14:28] incentive opportunities there are ways

[14:30] that we're thinking about breaking it up

[14:32] especially as things like you know we

[14:34] try to redo our website and everything

[14:35] because it is

[14:36] >> like I mean Karen just described it it's

[14:38] complicated and a lot of existing

[14:40] incentive programs are already going to filter businesses

[14:46] out pretty quickly. Um,

[14:49] >> something that was coming to mind as I

[14:51] was listening is, yeah, we tend to have

[14:54] better interactions when we have

[14:56] something to give them, when we're not

[14:58] making an ask. Um, but I think the but

[15:03] we also see even when we're doing that,

[15:05] there's some hesitency hesitancy,

[15:07] there's some reluctance, there's who are

[15:08] you? And I think that reminds me of just

[15:12] the importance of being a liaison and

[15:15] doing regular outreach. And maybe in

[15:19] thinking about next year's goals, we

[15:21] think about like quality over quantity.

[15:23] Um, if you go into the same business

[15:26] three times and it's just to say, "Hey,

[15:29] my name is Alex. I'm here from the EDC.

[15:31] Just want to let you know, you know, I'm

[15:33] here to help. Here's a few things that

[15:34] we can offer. Next time you come back

[15:36] in, they don't really remember you, but

[15:38] then Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. You

[15:40] came back in and now I'm inviting you to

[15:41] the business appreciation breakfast. And

[15:43] yeah,

[15:43] >> maybe they don't come. But the third

[15:45] time they they remember you.

[15:47] >> They come to the breakfast maybe or they

[15:49] actually say, "What was that incentive

[15:50] that you were talking about?" And we're

[15:52] fostering more of a relationship. Um,

[15:55] maybe that's more worthwhile than

[15:57] >> That sounds, you know,

[15:58] >> that sounds better because like

[16:01] I I like we said it before, like I feel

[16:03] like if you're gonna get anything in the

[16:04] mail, like my wife's getting tickets or

[16:07] we're getting taxes. Like those are the

[16:09] only two things. Those are the only two

[16:10] like town officials that like come to my

[16:12] house or to like if I own a business,

[16:14] those only town officials come to my

[16:15] business. So, it's like it having a

[16:18] repeated exposure to someone that's just

[16:20] like, "No, I'm just trying to help

[16:21] whatever needs

[16:22] >> like reach out." I think that's that's a

[16:24] good thing.

[16:25] >> And in thinking about sectors too, if

[16:27] you

[16:28] make a relationship with somebody who

[16:30] owns a hair salon, maybe you don't have

[16:32] the trust of everybody in the hair salon

[16:33] community, but you build a relationship

[16:35] with one good person and they are able

[16:37] to say, "Oh, you know what? Alex from

[16:38] the town was actually pretty helpful and

[16:40] two or three more hairdressers are open

[16:42] to hearing from Alex, hearing from the

[16:44] EDC." Okay.

[16:45] >> And for the incentive page um for our

[16:48] update, we'll it'll have information

[16:51] like you were just mentioning where

[16:52] right now there's just kind of like this

[16:53] crazy list that you'd have, like you

[16:55] said, you'd have to do work to sort

[16:56] through to be like, does this apply? So,

[16:58] we'll be sectioning them by who it's

[17:00] for. Is it local business? Is it big? Is

[17:02] it big industry? You know, an estate

[17:03] incentive, those kinds of things. And

[17:05] each one has a blurb when it drops down

[17:07] so you have an idea before you're even

[17:09] going maybe to, you know, to sector's

[17:11] page or the states page. So that will be

[17:15] a resource too that people can send them

[17:17] to and then it's already divided up so

[17:19] it's not just like oh gosh there's 60

[17:21] things here I don't know what's for me

[17:22] it'll be like small businesses that kind

[17:24] of thing so that should help a few

[17:27] comments. First of all if we're going to

[17:28] people are going to get to know us that

[17:30] means we're going to the same places

[17:31] again when are going to be you know we

[17:34] would obligate ourselves to the same

[17:37] geographic area the same jumping around.

[17:41] >> Um so The second thing is I actually

[17:44] don't think that they should contact me

[17:46] and say, "Hey, about I mean they can

[17:48] contact me. I'm not the expert on that

[17:51] grant or the you guys are

[17:54] >> and and and so all I'm going to do is

[17:56] go, "Oh, well, I can check into it for

[17:58] you." And then so it's more efficient if

[18:01] in fact they

[18:04] we think they're close to the to the fit

[18:07] >> that they contact you guys

[18:10] >> and just say hey Bill told Bill told me

[18:11] I should contact you about this possible

[18:14] grant because otherwise I'm in the

[18:15] middle and I'm not an expert on the

[18:17] grant.

[18:17] >> Yeah. No, you're you're spot on. The

[18:19] whole idea is the liaison

[18:22] maximizes staff capacity, you know, so

[18:25] that when you do reach folks, you're not

[18:27] expected to know every answer. You're

[18:29] the person that then says, "Hey, Kern

[18:31] and Clayton, we heard this. Can you

[18:34] start working with business?" Yeah.

[18:35] >> Right. Couple other things is um I don't

[18:38] know if Chamber does this or not because

[18:40] I haven't really followed them very

[18:41] much. Um but sometimes people just like

[18:45] to know information like what was uh

[18:49] what was the um economic what are the

[18:53] economic drivers of Brten over the last

[18:58] calendar year right

[19:00] >> um everything from tourism to

[19:03] um fires or whatever

[19:07] >> you know like graphs just short graphs

[19:09] that we show people that go there and

[19:11] look at I don't know who puts those

[19:13] together. The state probably follows a

[19:14] lot of that or the county or whatever.

[19:17] But you know the kind of thing that the

[19:18] small business administration sometimes

[19:20] has done. I don't know if you guys have.

[19:23] So the small business administration

[19:25] funds um offices usually the head office

[19:28] is associated with a college or

[19:30] university. Sometimes it's with

[19:32] community college. When I was the dean

[19:35] down in Jersey it was our we had a

[19:38] branch of that. the head the SBA main

[19:42] office was at Ruters and then there were

[19:45] like four or five of us around the state

[19:47] but we're not geographically near Ruters

[19:49] and we had one person office and they

[19:51] were and they would offer everything

[19:53] like how to do the website how to get

[19:54] the most out of social media they'd

[19:56] offer these really short free programs

[19:58] for people did we do that around

[20:02] >> what what we or what I'm hearing is you

[20:04] know people are interested in different

[20:06] topics like what are the economic

[20:08] drivers or you know how many new trade

[20:10] names are in town. Just like kind of

[20:13] capturing a snapshot of how Grton's

[20:15] doing.

[20:15] >> Yeah.

[20:16] >> Um Okay. And then

[20:18] we could we could do something like that

[20:20] and then also have that be the focus of

[20:23] the business breakfast because that's

[20:25] something that's interesting that they'd

[20:26] all love to learn, you know? So, it's

[20:28] like we can kind of do those snapshots.

[20:30] You can have that as a resource to hand

[20:32] out, but we can also make that like half

[20:34] the point of the the breakfast.

[20:36] >> That's right. If I have a restaurant, my

[20:37] sales are down this year. Is it?

[20:39] >> And I see a graph that shows that

[20:40] Graten's um economy grew by 3% or

[20:45] population. I'm thinking, what am I

[20:47] doing wrong?

[20:48] >> Food's bad, Bill.

[20:50] >> Yeah, that's right. Because I was in the

[20:51] kitchen,

[20:52] >> but you know what I'm saying,

[20:54] >> right? But the but the converse is that

[20:56] if it if it isn't right, if everybody's

[20:58] suffering, then okay, it's not my

[21:00] business practice. It's it's the alone.

[21:02] >> Yeah. I I was at this is oh this year

[21:05] last year I went to Liz's you know Liz's

[21:08] around the corner of the

[21:09] >> Le

[21:10] >> no Liz's on uh what's that uh it's on

[21:14] Stonington side but anyhow it's a

[21:16] >> from bakery

[21:18] >> yeah yeah yeah

[21:19] >> yeah Liz's yeah

[21:21] >> it's Le

[21:24] right

[21:26] >> no

[21:26] >> it's le okay yeah anyhow

[21:31] >> I To be fair, I don't know how

[21:34] any I asked the owner. I said, "How was

[21:36] it?" She goes, "Oh, I just had my best

[21:38] day ever."

[21:39] >> Thanks.

[21:40] >> Right. And so, I think they want to

[21:42] know, people want to know that

[21:44] information about what's happening.

[21:46] >> Um, and I don't know, somebody must be

[21:50] collecting this.

[21:51] >> We have, we have that data to different

[21:53] levels and like you said, the the SPDC

[21:57] um sector has some of this stuff. Um

[22:01] yeah, there's different groups who have le this

[22:05] information at varying levels. Um

[22:09] >> the only thing I'm thinking of right now

[22:10] is it would probably

[22:13] >> be more of like a quarterly update like

[22:16] it could be like monthly.

[22:17] >> Well, no even even semianual or

[22:19] annually. The state of the economy is

[22:22] broadening. Yeah. From from last year.

[22:24] The last comment is that um and I don't

[22:27] know chamber may do this but um

[22:30] sometimes you will find people who are

[22:32] offering how to get into government

[22:35] contracts.

[22:37] >> Oh, it's funny you mentioned that. We

[22:39] were just chatting. We were at an event

[22:41] um where EB's consultant was summarizing

[22:45] their last, you know, year or so effort

[22:47] of community engagement and different

[22:48] things. And one of the things um I was

[22:50] just talking with their new community

[22:52] engagement person about is they have an

[22:55] entire um process now that you can

[22:58] partner with a small business that

[23:00] doesn't have to be a government

[23:01] contractor because that takes like three

[23:02] years. And I said,

[23:04] >> "How does somebody learn how to do

[23:05] that?" And they don't have like a a

[23:08] how-to yet, but that's something that

[23:10] we're hoping to either get or we have

[23:12] enough information that we make our own

[23:14] and say contact this person because

[23:16] you're spot on. they're they're thinking

[23:19] about it and doing the work, especially

[23:20] with the new location at the Crystal

[23:22] Mall. Like, how can we have those folks

[23:25] contracting with local businesses? So,

[23:27] we could we could focus on maybe a tool

[23:30] um to help inform our businesses that

[23:32] they could partner in that way without

[23:34] having to go through the the cumbersome

[23:36] government contract. And then to your

[23:37] other point about tutorials, we could

[23:40] find tutorials from other resources such

[23:42] as like you said, how do you maximize

[23:45] your social media as a small business or

[23:46] whatever and maybe include those in our

[23:48] in the newsletter. And that's one of the

[23:50] features of, you know,

[23:52] >> um just different things that we know

[23:53] they're interested in that you

[23:54] constantly hear they have questions on.

[23:56] Um so we could do those two things and I

[23:58] think the connection to the

[23:59] non-government contract is spot on. We

[24:02] were just just talking about that. Well,

[24:04] >> if you talk to them again, my neighbors

[24:05] Carol

[24:07] H A U G E T O I

[24:10] >> Okay.

[24:10] >> And he's like just one level down from

[24:13] vice president to EB.

[24:15] >> Okay.

[24:16] >> Um and in fact, I think he's expecting

[24:18] to get promoted at some point. So I

[24:20] don't know if he would be, you know, if

[24:24] it needed someone to be helpful. He's a

[24:26] really nice guy and we just had our

[24:28] picnic or our neighborhood. Um

[24:32] and maybe he's more on the opport side.

[24:33] I don't know.

[24:35] I worked for him for two years.

[24:36] >> You work for Aaron?

[24:37] >> Yeah, he's a good guy. Yeah,

[24:38] >> he's a good guy, right?

[24:39] >> Yeah, he's great.

[24:40] >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[24:41] >> Okay.

[24:41] >> Um and so anyhow, you know, it's easy

[24:45] for me to to talk with him, right?

[24:47] >> Great. And that that's a nice timely

[24:50] goal for the next year because that is

[24:53] what EB's working on right now. And they

[24:55] will be I don't think they have a very

[24:58] big plan as far as like communication

[25:01] side of all the work they just did. I

[25:03] think they're just starting to dive into

[25:04] that. Um, so we can also kind of create

[25:06] our own with what we know and have from

[25:08] them um, for our own businesses. So I

[25:10] think that'd be great.

[25:11] >> So does that move us into the goals a

[25:13] little bit or have we been talking?

[25:15] >> I think we're we're in new business

[25:16] still, right? Or the

[25:18] >> um, I'm ready to move into Yeah. into

[25:21] the seven goals. Yeah.

[25:22] >> Okay.

[25:23] >> That's the next question.

[25:26] >> To to uh, Bill's point, can we just get

[25:29] an EB liazison? somebody comes in and

[25:32] says, "Here's what EB's trying to do."

[25:35] >> I think we could and maybe

[25:38] >> not every meeting. Okay.

[25:39] >> No, no, no. I don't I'm not I'm not but

[25:41] you know twice a year maybe.

[25:43] >> Wait, what we could do is reach out and

[25:45] um invite their new communications

[25:47] director to do that or you know if he

[25:50] can't somebody else.

[25:51] >> Yeah. um and maybe a summary of the

[25:53] report and the work that they just did.

[25:56] And then um you know that I think like

[26:00] maybe once or twice a year for sure. I

[26:01] wouldn't say every meeting, but maybe

[26:02] it's something at least to update us on

[26:05] >> what they just accomplished with 10

[26:08] minute video and you put it on the

[26:09] website

[26:11] >> that would be directed at a person small

[26:13] business. You want to do a small

[26:14] business, want to work with EB, here's

[26:16] five steps you have to do.

[26:17] >> Yeah. Well, I could not agree more. And

[26:21] one of the the things that we saw with

[26:24] their presentation there, it doesn't at

[26:26] least seem yet that there's a very very

[26:30] big there's not a plan yet to turn all

[26:33] of the feedback and all those goals into

[26:35] a bite-sized tangible thing for

[26:37] everybody to see.

[26:39] >> And I think maybe that's something we

[26:41] could help encourage them to do because

[26:43] they've done the work. Like they're out there. are trying to to

[26:46] figure out how to connect these gaps and

[26:48] so we can help encourage like now what's

[26:50] the communication piece for commissions

[26:52] like ours for our residents for our

[26:54] businesses to understand what happens

[26:56] next so I

[26:57] >> I think the problem with DB2 is is it's

[26:59] not it's more than a process it's like a

[27:02] level of N security that you have to pay

[27:04] for buy install be trained on that's why

[27:08] I that's why I retired from Hillary

[27:10] because I didn't want to go through the

[27:11] next steps but I'm kidding but it's that and and and it it sounds like

[27:17] it is lucrative and I think a lot of

[27:19] people want to be involved in it. It

[27:21] almost if somebody knew a secondary that

[27:23] wanted to open a business to guide

[27:25] people through because I don't think

[27:26] it's a I don't know that there's going

[27:28] to be a step-by-step thing that people

[27:29] be able to follow like a like a chart.

[27:31] >> I thought you were describing

[27:34] doing business with small business but

[27:36] not government contracts.

[27:37] >> Oh, not government on that one. Yeah.

[27:39] >> Yeah. They have a separate like need

[27:42] catering for an event. You don't have to

[27:44] come go through through your process

[27:46] through your contractor. Okay. Partner

[27:48] with the local business. Yeah.

[27:50] >> I'm sure it's probably still cumbersome,

[27:51] but it's supposed to be a lot.

[27:54] >> And I I don't know if we have to list

[27:55] this as a goal because I think the

[27:57] breakfast already works.

[27:59] >> I think that would be something that for this year

[28:01] >> to keep that. But then I think a lot of

[28:04] our businesses close on Monday and maybe

[28:08] we do the breakfast in April and maybe

[28:10] before that a few months before we do

[28:13] see how nighttime works like a not night

[28:16] but it could be after like a after hours

[28:17] thing

[28:18] >> and then and then then have other

[28:20] businesses come in and say this is we

[28:23] were up we were down and then having

[28:25] that like a open discussion like really

[28:28] kind of because we're everything else we

[28:29] would be guessing at like unless unless

[28:31] you heard it from the person that owned

[28:33] the business that said we had a great

[28:34] year or hey we really could use help. Um

[28:37] and then and then having the

[28:39] conversation amongst each other and

[28:40] maybe that might even make it better for

[28:42] the the appreciation breakfast because

[28:44] the people that come to that say hey oh

[28:46] by the way you know we have this thing

[28:48] in April and then and then we can talk

[28:50] about everything we discussed at that

[28:51] meeting and see if anything worked

[28:53] >> and the amount of businesses that are

[28:54] closed on Monday it it may be and and

[28:58] then the other point is some people say

[28:59] well that's the day I have off I'm not

[29:00] coming

[29:01] >> but but it's also maybe they don't go to

[29:04] it because they have to get something

[29:07] and go to the bank before they go to

[29:08] work that day before. So it could be

[29:10] something that they enjoy and they and

[29:12] then that could be like at a senior

[29:14] center

[29:15] >> where where that is set up and then we

[29:17] you know work with business something

[29:19] like that and there's two events

[29:20] >> and sorry do you mean like a best

[29:23] practices panel almost like a few

[29:24] businesses are saying here's what was

[29:26] tough this year here's what we did that

[29:28] kind of thing that folks are are

[29:29] learning from and then there's a

[29:30] discussion people can ask question

[29:32] >> like even like a pulse of the town

[29:34] discussion like

[29:36] >> different businesses coming in and just

[29:38] talking about

[29:38] >> yeah what work for them. Um, and then other businesses talking to

[29:43] each other like some

[29:44] >> and then there's like a Q&A

[29:45] >> the restaurants. We could both own

[29:47] restaurants and not know each other

[29:48] >> and come in and you're like, man, I'm

[29:50] looking for something to do in my

[29:50] Christmas party this year and all of a

[29:52] sudden we're we're doing each other's

[29:54] Christmas party. Like the little just

[29:56] those little things and connections that

[29:58] >> that might be neat. It's it'll be fun.

[30:00] >> Yeah. So, it's a learning opportunity

[30:02] with also the engagement part after

[30:03] where they can continue to meet folks

[30:05] and network.

[30:06] >> Yeah. cuz I think then on a on a meeting

[30:08] like that you guys could take 15 minutes

[30:10] to say these grants are available if

[30:12] >> if the council so chooses. Do do we have

[30:15] a balance? Well, we don't.

[30:16] >> Oh, for pivot specifically, no, we

[30:18] expended everything. Um, but we may be

[30:20] making requests in future budget to to

[30:23] add some funds to that to re to do like

[30:25] a part two.

[30:26] >> That's we get one and a half%. That's a

[30:28] lot of money.

[30:29] >> Yeah. And but one and one of the uh one

[30:32] of the parts of that night on the Monday

[30:35] night could be the person that got the

[30:37] grant the year before.

[30:38] >> Yeah.

[30:38] >> And they talk about

[30:39] >> Yeah.

[30:40] >> Just say, "Hey, this is what we did

[30:41] where they worked for me." And I mean, I

[30:42] think that builds excitement like come

[30:44] listen to another business owner talk

[30:46] about what they did with the grant from

[30:47] the town.

[30:48] >> Yeah. We had Raj's Cash and Carrie do

[30:50] that and they set up and they um who was

[30:53] our other one? The golf course.

[30:54] >> Yeah. When we did it at par four, par

[30:56] four also.

[30:57] >> Yeah. They switched. That was great

[30:58] because it was like this actually works.

[31:00] It's not a scam. Yeah, we did something.

[31:04] >> Not a scam. We get But you get t-shirts

[31:06] made. Not a scam.

[31:08] >> Um and so what were you what Sorry, I

[31:10] wasn't following the that breakfast

[31:12] event versus the one you were saying

[31:14] that would be previous.

[31:15] >> No, I say it could be both and it's not

[31:18] so much versus, but I think the

[31:19] appreciation breakfast is exactly

[31:21] >> gotcha.

[31:22] >> Works the way it does. And then maybe

[31:24] recognizing the person could be twice.

[31:26] could they could get the pivot grant and

[31:28] then win it and then you bring them in

[31:30] on for the Monday night and they talk

[31:31] about it

[31:32] >> and then maybe an update on the like

[31:34] later on of you know how it worked out

[31:36] for him.

[31:37] >> Okay, awesome. Thank you.

[31:40] >> Oh, George has joined us and his hand is

[31:42] raised.

[31:44] >> Thank you,

[31:48] » George. I think I have to let you in as

[31:49] a um as a moderator. Give me one second.

[31:56] Okay, I think you're good to go if you

[31:58] unmute.

[32:05] » Can you see me?

[32:07] >> There we go. We can hear you now.

[32:09] >> But can you see me?

[32:12] >> No,

[32:15] >> we can hear you.

[32:16] >> We see your name.

[32:18] >> Oh, that's not good enough. I'm sorry. I

[32:19] don't know what happened. Uh

[32:23] nevertheless, uh

[32:25] I appreciate the conversations that all

[32:27] of you are having. Um I wanted to come

[32:30] back to Eric's point. Um, part of the

[32:33] dilemma that we have

[32:35] with EB is uh as what

[32:39] Joe alluded to is something called CMMC

[32:43] which is a security classification

[32:46] and most of the supply chain vendors

[32:50] which are in this day and time are

[32:53] non-traditional

[32:55] suppliers to General Dynamics and EB.

[33:00] So it's rather confusing and quite uh a

[33:04] huge heavy lift even for a small

[33:07] business either Connecticut or domestic

[33:10] US or even non US.

[33:13] So that's a challenge that EB

[33:17] has still a long way to go on trying

[33:20] resolving it because it has to tethe it

[33:23] with the Department of Homeland Security

[33:25] and whatnot. And it's it's it's been

[33:29] ongoing since 2001

[33:32] 2021 sorry. So aside from that all the

[33:36] other kind of

[33:39] nonsecurity

[33:41] related

[33:43] roles and whatnot is simpler but I don't

[33:46] think there is a billboard out there at

[33:50] EB that shows what they want. So I it's

[33:55] kind of a difficult for suppliers to

[33:58] identify whether they could provide that

[34:00] service as well.

[34:03] >> So that's number one. Um

[34:08] I would like ideally um on on the new

[34:12] website more information on score and

[34:16] SBDC with the contact names there

[34:21] instead of just a web link. so that we

[34:24] can have them within our website to

[34:27] read, digest and at some point later

[34:31] click the link and reach out to the

[34:33] contact person.

[34:35] For a long long time, we had SBDC at

[34:38] Avery Point and then they we got them

[34:42] set up at uh at uh uh uh at the EN

[34:48] Chamber office, the old office.

[34:51] Uh I believe they have nothing here now

[34:53] in Eastern Connecticut unless sector is

[34:55] hosting them.

[34:57] But it will be a good avenue to reach

[35:00] out to

[35:01] because all these uh small businesses

[35:05] that we are talking about retail rather

[35:08] consumer businesses

[35:10] >> Mhm.

[35:11] uh may not be using an SBDC but the

[35:16] potential supply chain companies and to

[35:19] EB or anywhere else uh it behooves them

[35:23] to reach out to SBDC to help them with

[35:28] the development and prototyping and all

[35:32] those kind of things.

[35:34] So that's one thing I would like to

[35:36] encourage for greater graten

[35:39] uh entrepreneurs to have access to that they could speak with

[35:44] on the retail side. I think we all have

[35:47] heard of SCORE. It'll be good to have

[35:51] the same kind of a model of what SCORE

[35:54] does and that typically goes to

[35:56] restaurant owners, hair stylists and

[35:58] whatnot who are looking to start a

[36:01] business. That's what they are for and

[36:03] they are underutilized. SBDC is equally

[36:07] underutilized in the state. So it is

[36:10] worthwhile

[36:12] trying to get them to to collaborate

[36:15] with us.

[36:17] And the third thing I like on our

[36:19] website is a regular update on a

[36:24] bimonthly basis of the grants that are

[36:27] posted by the SBA.

[36:30] They have variety of grants and

[36:34] you can reach out to your local SBA

[36:37] Connecticut office and got get them to

[36:40] help you establish some kind of a

[36:44] updated website. I doubt it's dynamic,

[36:47] but at least if it's updated every other

[36:49] month with whatever the new grants that

[36:52] are coming along the federal pipeline,

[36:56] so they can get a better visual and

[36:58] eyeballs. So those are the three things

[37:01] I'd like to this new website to to

[37:05] expand on.

[37:07] Um

[37:10] in terms of uh

[37:12] getting more engagement,

[37:15] it would be wonderful

[37:18] that we could have a either quarterly or

[37:22] bimonthly joint affair with the Mystic

[37:27] Chamber

[37:29] because that's where the bunch of uh uh

[37:33] small business owners and retailers and

[37:35] consumer businesses are in and long time

[37:39] ago they used to be called downtown

[37:42] business mer downtown

[37:44] mystic merchants association

[37:47] and I used to attend most of those and

[37:51] uh most of them thought we are political

[37:54] and I had to uh time after time on my

[37:57] trips there was to say that we are

[37:59] apolitical

[38:01] commission so it is a good analysis they

[38:04] are merged with DM DM and is now merged

[38:08] with Mystic Chamber.

[38:11] It is more worthwhile for us to show up

[38:14] at our regular events

[38:16] so at least the commission is seen and and able to hear the conversations

[38:24] and all those kind of stuff. The Eastern

[38:26] Chamber

[38:28] uh maybe every quarter or half a year is

[38:32] worthwhile. they do run these uh

[38:36] breakfast sessions

[38:38] um and EB uses them for their uh

[38:43] outreach in terms of what they want to

[38:46] do and this and that and is generally

[38:48] hosted together with uh representative

[38:50] Courtney oftent times. So that is

[38:53] another good engagement for the ch our

[38:56] commission to participate and block at a

[38:59] table or something like that. We pay

[39:02] them membership dues and

[39:06] it's worthwhile for us to since we're

[39:09] paying for these things as well as the

[39:10] mystic chamber, might as well take

[39:14] advantage of it by participating in in

[39:17] the chamber uh Eastern Chambers event.

[39:19] Not all of them are worth our time in my

[39:22] opinion. Uh unless some of you like to

[39:25] play golf and whatnot.

[39:27] Uh but then the business meetings that

[39:30] they have are good and they also have

[39:32] the young entrepreneurs uh uh session as

[39:36] well. Uh I don't know whether they would

[39:38] want us oldies showing up for that kind

[39:41] of thing but

[39:42] >> speak for yourself George.

[39:44] >> I'm very young.

[39:46] >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Future senator. Um so but

[39:51] nonetheless that is worth exploring. And

[39:54] finally, I would like uh from the staff

[39:59] a monthly update on business queries if

[40:03] just shared with the commission alone,

[40:06] not for public note. I am keen to know

[40:11] not so much of the retail business but

[40:13] the small businesses that are reaching

[40:15] out here or redevelopers that are

[40:17] reaching out here

[40:19] to greater ground

[40:22] and to see how they are progressing and

[40:25] if they are advancing with us and if

[40:27] they are not advancing with us I would

[40:29] like to know why

[40:31] they are not looking to set up shop here

[40:34] or satellite here.

[40:36] So if you could kindly furnish us with

[40:39] that uh just to the commission alone

[40:42] with

[40:44] the caveat that it is confidential.

[40:48] >> That's it.

[40:49] >> Thank you.

[40:50] so much, George. And um to

[40:53] your point about the the chambers, I

[40:56] know you've attended those on behalf of

[40:58] the EDC before. Thank you. And I think

[41:00] kind of to Bill's point earlier, maybe

[41:02] it's something that we we dive in a

[41:04] little bit deeper and actually assign

[41:05] like these months, these are going to be

[41:07] the networking events, you know, Jake's

[41:09] going to this one or whatever, so that

[41:10] we're they don't go by as easily without

[41:13] us us um taking those opportunities. And

[41:17] then um when you mentioned a monthly

[41:19] update for queries, Clayton sends out

[41:22] trade name certificates, how many new

[41:23] businesses, things like that. Is that

[41:25] what you mean? Or do you mean something

[41:27] additional like if somebody's reaching

[41:29] out and asking about setting up a

[41:30] business because um some of those don't

[41:32] always come through to us a lot of you

[41:35] know what what do you mean in a little

[41:37] bit more detail about that?

[41:39] So this was not uh it was something that

[41:44] was institutionalized long ago

[41:47] uh when Paige came on board Paige Brown

[41:50] that is uh part of the effort was a

[41:54] joint effort of the commission together

[41:56] with the uh uh the staff to try and help

[42:00] advocate

[42:02] those uh uh interested parties that may

[42:05] be looking or more more serious

[42:08] interested parties that were looking to

[42:10] set up shopping ground that you get some

[42:12] kind of engagement from a member or two

[42:15] from the commission

[42:18] if they are uh keen on. And in the old

[42:23] days, I used to uh you might say

[42:27] evangelize

[42:28] to those interested uh uh entities that

[42:32] are looking to set up shop in Grton to

[42:35] try and uh

[42:38] you know get them to set up shop here or

[42:41] do something here instead of the next

[42:43] town. And that was uh so it was not so

[42:48] much relying on the staff alone to that

[42:51] but it is more of a advocacy kind of

[42:53] thing and you know uh for me because I

[42:58] was also involved in the state and and in the country and elsewhere. So I

[43:03] was able to provide a more nuance

[43:06] guidance for uh businesses not not

[43:09] retail unfortunately or neither consumer

[43:12] but more for uh corporate kind of stuff.

[43:17] >> Okay, great. Thank you.

[43:19] >> Just to put some boundaries here. We're

[43:21] not anticipating voting on these goals

[43:23] tonight. Right.

[43:24] >> Correct. It's more a brainstorm. We'll

[43:26] summarize what we feel like we heard,

[43:28] bring it back to you, and you can say

[43:30] yes, this is spot on, or you forgot

[43:31] this, and then you vote on them in

[43:33] November.

[43:33] >> Great. Um,

[43:36] could

[43:36] >> we make some sort of requirement that we

[43:39] have to attend other town council

[43:40] meetings or other town meetings that

[43:43] like it doesn't have to be a lot of

[43:44] them, but like EDC has to represent

[43:49] in like two to four meetings over the

[43:52] year or something just so that way like

[43:54] we have a presence and because I haven't

[43:56] been to another town meeting so Okay.

[43:58] >> I think it'd be useful just to like see

[44:01] what other thoughts.

[44:03] >> Excellent. Thank you.

[44:04] >> Okay.

[44:08] » All right. Is that good for 2027 goals?

[44:10] We'll move on to the chair report and uh

[44:13] just only a couple things I think is

[44:15] impasto opened up. I don't know if

[44:17] everyone got a chance to go there.

[44:18] Another new Very very good. Yeah. Very

[44:21] good. Um, and then I wanted to let

[44:23] everyone know they're invited October

[44:25] 9th at 2:00 p.m. Uh, they're going to

[44:30] they've broken ground currently for the

[44:32] submarine sale. It's been literally like

[44:34] a 15-year project. And, uh, you know, we

[44:37] talk about the businesses all the time

[44:39] that happen in our town and and and they

[44:41] do make a lot move, but the volunteers

[44:43] do, too. and the the actual collection

[44:47] of people that have volunteered to do

[44:48] that it's astounding. Mayor, former

[44:52] mayor Galbreth and former town manager

[44:55] um or Jim Strereer. I mean, if I don't

[44:59] want I don't want to start naming names

[45:00] because I'll forget half the people. Um

[45:02] there's a lot of them and and uh if you

[45:05] can go as if you're a town member or if

[45:07] you guys want to go um it's going to be

[45:09] I I think it's going to be a great great

[45:11] park. It'd be good to see a lot of towns

[45:13] folks come out and if they're listening

[45:15] at home or if they can see this anywhere

[45:17] to come on out. It's gonna be

[45:19] >> a flyer or post or anything because we

[45:20] can also share that.

[45:21] >> I'll share it with you. It's been

[45:22] emailed to me. I don't know that they

[45:24] made actual a paper poster, but we could

[45:26] um email it to each other.

[45:28] >> Digital's better.

[45:28] >> Yeah. And you do have to RSVP by October

[45:31] 5th. I should let you know that.

[45:32] >> Okay.

[45:33] >> And October 9th at 2 p.m.

[45:35] >> Yep.

[45:36] >> Okay. Just a heads up.

[45:37] >> Yep.

[45:38] >> Um that's a that's a Friday, right?

[45:41] Yeah.

[45:41] >> So staff, a lot of staff will be at

[45:45] Sneepa that day. Okay. So

[45:47] >> if it's looking thin from this area,

[45:49] that's probably why.

[45:50] >> So for the staff that got left out, they

[45:53] have something to do

[45:54] >> over there.

[45:57] >> All right. Uh staff report.

[45:59] >> Oh, yeah. I can

[46:03] >> All right. So um we just have a couple

[46:06] items. Our uh resilience improvement

[46:08] district was the first one or a RID RI.

[46:12] Essentially in 2025, the state passed

[46:14] legislation allowing municipalities to

[46:16] establish resilency improvement

[46:18] districts. And these are areas that

[46:21] experience are likely to experience

[46:22] adverse impacts from hazards or climate

[46:24] change such as sea level rise, rising

[46:27] groundwater, etc. a lot of things that

[46:28] we deal with in Grten and our town staff

[46:32] um from economic development, from our

[46:34] sustainability department as well as our

[46:36] planning department have um been working

[46:38] with the resilient cities catalyst or

[46:39] RCC in California forward as part of a

[46:42] small nationwide cohort that's exploring

[46:45] the possibilities of it. Um just to be

[46:47] clear, it is not required. No decisions

[46:50] have been made about it. We're just

[46:51] doing the due diligence to see how do

[46:53] these work, how are they financed, how

[46:55] can how do you even decide where one

[46:57] goes. Um, so getting through a lot of

[46:59] those exercises to see if it could be a

[47:01] good fit for Grten. Um, Clayton already

[47:04] mentioned this, but we have been working

[47:06] the last year on updating our Explore

[47:09] More website. We've launched the new

[47:11] design, but it still has a lot of

[47:12] content we have to backfill. um we're

[47:14] going through all the pages and finding,

[47:16] you know, maybe old links or there's too

[47:18] much information here and that will take

[47:20] another year. There's a lot of

[47:22] information um

[47:23] >> hopefully not yet but

[47:24] >> not earlier but um but we are really

[47:28] doing so with a focus on currently it

[47:31] really appeals to developers or to you

[47:34] know companies that may want to come

[47:35] larger scale which we're keeping but we

[47:37] also want it to really be a resource for

[47:40] residents visitors uh local businesses

[47:42] or smaller business owners um as well.

[47:45] Um, one key feature I'm really excited

[47:47] about that Clayton put together with

[47:49] Lauren um is a kind of a a day in Grten.

[47:53] Hey, it's it's a rainy day. Where should

[47:55] we go? If you have kids, where should we

[47:56] go? And it it ties into our local

[47:58] businesses, our parks. It's it's

[48:00] phenomenal. So, I'll let Clayton present

[48:02] that to you once we actually have it

[48:04] live. Um, another thing we're excited

[48:06] about with that that we're working on,

[48:08] not launched yet, but is um meet your

[48:10] neighbors feature that will be in the

[48:12] front. So, we'll be working with local

[48:13] businesses, but also hopefully residents

[48:16] um as just an opportunity for folks to

[48:18] get to meet people in Graten because I

[48:21] think, you know, a lot of our bureaus

[48:22] may think kind of that's the

[48:24] neighborhood and that's it. They're not

[48:25] a bigger part of Graten or different

[48:27] things. So, we want to get folks

[48:28] comfortable with all the different types

[48:31] of folks that live here, all the types

[48:32] of businesses they might not know about.

[48:34] Um so, yeah, we're calling that meet

[48:36] your neighbors and that will be on the

[48:37] homepage as well. Um so, some cool stuff

[48:39] coming there. It's crazy how much work

[48:42] it is. Once you start digging in, you're

[48:43] like, "Oh, well, this links here and

[48:45] this is old or this

[48:46] >> physical event."

[48:47] >> Uh, no, no, those will just be online.

[48:49] And um we actually two um networking

[48:54] businesses, excuse me, events ago, um

[48:57] breakfast events ago, we asked if folks

[49:00] wanted to participate. So, we've been

[49:01] collecting different businesses and we have a FEMA line that will just

[49:04] launch as our first one. But kind of to

[49:07] your point about what can you offer to

[49:09] businesses, we can also once that's

[49:11] ready, you know, can just be like, "Hey,

[49:13] do you want to be on our website?" And

[49:14] we'll also archive them. They they'll be

[49:16] featured for say, you know, a quarter

[49:19] >> or two quarters. Um but they don't go

[49:21] away once they're not in the homepage.

[49:22] They'll just go and eventually we'll

[49:24] just have this really nice, you know,

[49:26] long glossery of different um features

[49:28] you can see.

[49:30] And then um for our Graten Heights and

[49:33] Pleasant Valley properties, uh those are

[49:35] moving along. Pleasant Valley um as you

[49:38] know is going to be a 300 unit

[49:39] multifamily community um with a suburban

[49:43] um walkable suburban village field and a

[49:46] publicly accessible park. Our the town

[49:49] signed our purchase and sale agreement

[49:51] um in November and now they're in their

[49:53] technical due diligence phase which

[49:54] takes a while to you know get the site

[49:56] planning done etc. Um we anticipate we

[50:00] will have a community engagement um

[50:02] meeting coming up at the end of this

[50:03] month. We're going to we're finalizing

[50:05] those details now. They'll go out next

[50:07] week. Um because as part of that um they

[50:10] agreed to do a community engagement

[50:12] session to help inform what that public

[50:13] park looks like as far as the amenities

[50:16] um and hearing from the community what

[50:17] they'd like those to be before they

[50:18] finalized design. And so that's coming

[50:21] soon. And the Graten Heights property is

[50:24] at an earlier stage. But also moving

[50:26] along um the town selected Eastern

[50:29] Connecticut Housing Opportunities or

[50:31] Echo. They'll be preserving the 1912

[50:34] building and adaptively reusing it as 17

[50:37] units of affordable housing. And um we

[50:40] are currently just finalizing that

[50:41] purchased sale agreement with them now.

[50:43] So um that's about it. Oh, we also have

[50:46] upcoming meetings. Oh, that was just an

[50:49] update. That's actually older. And oh,

[50:52] Clayton, did you want to chat about the

[50:54] new businesses?

[50:56] >> I've just been keeping tally on the new

[50:57] businesses. Uh this list is available in

[51:01] the economic development drive on on

[51:04] Google. Um I don't have September's

[51:07] numbers because it's October 1st. Um but

[51:10] there was a downtick over the summer.

[51:13] July's numbers are low, August almost

[51:15] the lowest yet. And

[51:18] the trends really that I remember coming

[51:20] out of um like May and June was a lot

[51:23] more home services, lawn care services,

[51:27] contractors in that regard who you know

[51:30] starting businesses over the summer. I

[51:32] imagine you know jobs start ticking up

[51:33] and in the spring folks probably say you

[51:35] know let me uh start my LLC and do their

[51:39] thing. Um but other than that

[51:43] it's primar you know the each month it's

[51:46] generally

[51:48] business services, personal care

[51:50] services and uh contractors

[51:54] whichever is top just kind of rotates.

[51:58] >> So they they have data for businesses

[52:00] started. Do they have data that

[52:02] businesses that are like closed?

[52:04] >> No, that is there's no reporting

[52:06] requirement.

[52:06] >> Exactly. Right.

[52:07] >> Yeah. your business does and

[52:10] >> I don't know feel like it would be nice

[52:12] if there was like I'm just letting you

[52:13] know don't tax me you want to come out

[52:16] >> we really we try to

[52:20] keep an eye on things honestly it's

[52:22] really like you know folks who live in

[52:23] town as we're driving as people are just

[52:25] driving around town or somebody wants to

[52:27] go get something from Lee's and finds

[52:30] out Liz's is gone

[52:33] yeah so if you do see stuff like oh this

[52:35] place open but I see it's closed like

[52:37] you can let me know. That is helpful.

[52:39] >> Yeah.

[52:41] Yeah. You get scissors and a

[52:42] ribbon when you open.

[52:44] >> When you close it's no one's there.

[52:46] >> No, no one no one comes to

[52:49] you and another.

[52:51] >> All right. Uh staff reports good

[52:53] liaison. We have counselor uh aino here

[52:57] tonight.

[52:58] >> No. Yeah. I I was gonna say got a guy,

[53:00] but that that's not really professional

[53:02] of me.

[53:05] I I don't have anything to to pass from

[53:08] the council.

[53:09] Just uh Great. I'm here to pass stuff to

[53:13] the council.

[53:14] >> Excellent.

[53:14] >> So, just listening

[53:17] for the most part.

[53:18] >> All right. Other business.

[53:22] >> Right. I just need a motion to adjurnn

[53:24] then.

[53:26] >> Take a second. Motion for a second. All

[53:28] in favor?

[53:29] >> I

[53:31] >> Excellent. Very efficient first meeting.

[53:33] Thank you. George, have a good night.

[53:35] >> Good night, George.

[53:37] >> Good night.

Groton Economic Development Commission - 10/1/26

Transcript