okay good evening everyone this is the economic development Commission meeting on Wednesday May 29th this is a special onehour meeting we're going to be doing primarily a lot of housekeeping and getting things um up to date so in attendance this evening Inga hotelling Greg DIY hamani Jean QB Serena Fuller and do we have any other members online not yet but we do have a quorum so that is good uh first I want to give you Julie you had given me this two weeks ago that accounting wanted to have my name removed from that in place so here you go okay it was just you want me to keep both on them yeah keep both so they didn't here's the that came in if you wanted to keep that uh what I also wanted to do is um at the last meeting Greg Pam and Serena if you weren't able to make it um we all got the pamphlet from Julie with the minutes from the previous meetings so I want to approve those tonight so that we can have Julie bring that to um the powers to be so that we are up to date with our approved meetings so let's start with you have them on file let's start with the April 17th meeting just go backwards from there yeah okay let me know when you're all ready you have from October actually I have from September September September 20th just it y April 17th is the one I have right in front of me done it okay so we're all ready to roll okay so April 17th meeting the only correction that I wanted to make was under new business number one and it's just terminology and it just didn't make sense was Master Plan board or planning board by GB Kuby so I think that's supposed to be Jean Koy oops that's okay but that's why I wanted to re um it's really creative G GB could that be your new nickname no no okay sorry that's okay and it's it's out there select Board needs to adopt it and rolls ABC to play in master plan tremendous impact on master plan what my recommendation is under that for new business in essence it's the master plan 2040 is moving forward and Jean Q attended the meeting and reported back to us that we the EDC is going to have a pretty important role in the the process of the action items for the master plan so that was the only correction that I had for the April 17th meetings did anyone have any other questions or things that they wanted to change almost to Miner to mention that m is still growing at the bottom the first page usually I don't even worry about misspelling of my oh yeah Greg Dailey okay EI what is wrong with my name that's okay I'm believe me this isn't rocket science we're cool I will say it's probably autoc correct and it just corrected it to daily daily because d proba that'sa right even you nope nope not at all so okay next one for April 3 I didn't see anything that needed to be changed so did anybody else have any changes on April 3rd no thanks so do I hear a motion then to accept April 17th and April 3rd meeting minutes for 2024 the April 3rd and April 17th meeting minutes okay second let's just go around the table do I hear a third third four okay so it's unanimous okay so on to March 20th the only change that I see is under the old business to partner or the wick to partner for the season it's $200 per sign oh okay opposed to the 260 and that was the only changes I make a motion that we accept the minutes for okay for March 20th 202 okay or is it April 3D no this was March 20th P Mark um we're reviewing the minutes of the meetings that were in our packet two weeks ago and we're right now we've approved April's minutes with a minor change for the April 17th meeting we've approved the April 3rd meeting we just approved the March 20th with with one change under old business the sign prices were 200 not the 260 okay now much so March 6 upon review of it I didn't see any corrections to be made um did anybody else recogize [Music] any so any changes okay so do I hear a motion to accept the March 6 minutes Mo picks up March six minutes okay don't I hear a second okay and a third and a fourth and a fifth so we're all set all in favor say I okay so we're at February 21st um did not see any changes to be made to any of the content and I loved how number three said yii GRE code in person meeting with the president and that went really well and I looking forward to that relationship getting better so any questions with February 21st I move to accept February 21st minutes okay do I hear a second I I okay all in favor say I all right okay okay we're cruising right through January 31st uh once again I reviewed the minutes didn't see any changes so any changes that anybody else saw that needed to be amended I move to accept January 31st okay second all in favor okay so at Wednesday December 20th uh once again the rest going forward Julie I didn't see any other than those two that needed some corrections but anybody see anything that needed to be amended I move accept Okay December 20th and November 15th to October 18th in the October 4th and unless there were any changes I didn't see any but did anybody else okay I'm all for being um asserted with that Greg so at this point then that would be a motion to accept the December 20th November 15 October 23rd October 4th and the September 20th meetings do I hear okay all in favor okay so that's bringing the EDC to date with Julie's and my diligence to get these meetings typed and put forward and great job Julie did most of them it was it was good it was a team effort but that's what the default was here with not having administrative support and not having someone taking the notes consistently that it was going back in time and watching the minutes of the meetings to pull the data so but we're up to date and you'll have for the next meeting then the May minutes to be approved all right so I would say going forward we'll just approve them each month each yeah it's going to be much easier and it'll just roll seamlessly now that we know the process okay so moving on uh with old business open Farm day volunteers as we all know with the U presentation that Bert Hansen made two weeks ago um the open Farm day is going to be August 18th it's a Sunday from 10: to 4: so we're looking at two shifts from 10 to 1 and 1 to 4 uh we want to have at least 25 volunteers I sort of put ourselves out there for the EVC to come up with 25 folks that would be willing to commit and actually follow through uh for these meetings so um I know it's under old business I just want to remind everyone um probably going into the beginning of July um we'll see what we have for numbers um I'm meeting on Friday morning at 7:30 with Maryanne who's in charge of the um NHS students at the Southwick talin Regional School District and we're going to be looking to see what we have for volun teers um at that time as well so um this is definitely rolling um I've got so far um six volunteers for open Farm day that will go under what EDC is going to deliver so um question do you have Jean because you weren't here right I have nothing you I have no concept with what goes on okay this is the second year that the agricultural commission has hosted an Farm day and what we did last year and I as a private citizen helped develop this we created a passport okay and this was at nine locations throughout town there were all different Farms along with also the historical building on the moous on um College Highway did you guys get coverage on TV or anything we had some meeting um ads and then a little coverage afterwards but this year we're definitely going to be reaching out to Mass Live and Bert and I was actually on channel 15 ionna WWLP for sure to let them know do you have a contact there well you can just send it in through okay that's what I so we're gonna want to have a little bit more beefed up coverage because we've got now a year behind us that was a quite the success that's a great program and oh think they would want to cover it it was a hoot of a day too it was a fun day so what it is Jean is this is sponsored by the Eon by the agricultural commission and um bertke came in here two weeks ago and asked if the EDC would also be like a co-sponsor but we don't have to give them any money we just have to give them our dedication to help that day as a volunteer and what that would require you to do is to dress up like a farmer and go to I'm really kidding not a problem okay um some people really went fun with it um with coveralls and straw hats and bandanas um and one Farm actually they all had handcrafted t-shirts and that was at the Bai farm so what we would be looking to do as a volunte here would be to say well what farm would you want to be at and you would either be helping direct traffic okay into the parking area safely or directing people to a handicap um parking because we that's one thing we didn't do last year but this year we're adding that in as a caveat along with also um being at the tent and putting stickers on the farms that they visited oh okay so it's a fun little engaging thing with kids gotta gotta got at the farm that I did Klein Road I brought Myck tractor seat up we brought the big tractor and put the bucket down and it's amazing the amount of kids and the parents that wanted pictures taken with their child in the bucket um milk milk bottle the old milk can STS and so you can have a lot of fun with it but it's just it's attracting people to come into South and some it's as simple as having a table set up where people sign in and get their stickers and you know put their entries in so it's it's not complic not a complicated and I have a training night at the Town Hall we do a training night just so everybody understands what's in the farm bag that we're using back that that we did last year so it's just a really fun engagement we advertised in uh The Better Living magazine uh the Springfield Republican the Westfield news um I had sponsors from town actually generated over $1,400 which paid for our advertising from our sponsors and then I delivered beautiful thank you signs which were the logoice Serena's got one in her office so it's just a fun day okay and we had um for the majority of the folks that came we estimated about 400 participants and they came from all around the area not just south wicens so so that's our open Farm day in a quick little Sni it so think about any of your friends that would maybe want to hang out at a farm with you sure for a few hours sure absolutely and it's just a way to once again have fun okay and that date on that is it's going to be August 18th and it's a Sunday but there'll be more information 18th yeah that'll be more information being finnal through and shifts are first from 10 to 1 and then one to three the reason why we're doing shifts is because the feedback from all of the majority of the volunteers was they wanted to go to some of the farms and because they were working they couldn't go to the Farms right right right gotcha so okay so the discussion on Facebook uh third item I'm feeling like there's probably not a lot of buyin for the Facebook Pres for the economic development commission am I reading that correctly I'm not on Facebook s yeah I I don't do Facebook so I I don't really relate to it do Facebook every day I I think that we can only do so many things and we should do them well if we do them I I wouldn't be in favor of having it as just something that's neglected you would need like one or two people that are that are you know assigned to that specific task that you know they know okay we need to post five days a week and here are the things that we're going to post and you know you need a whole strategy right my understanding of that Medium is that if you leave it static you know people will ignore it it has to constantly get updated so we've got approval from the select board to have a Facebook page we have the front page created I say we just keep it my recommendation is let's just keep it but Library it and something that we can or you all can revisit um maybe next year depending on what direction the EDC is going I I agree we have a whole website to fill out we have a website to concentrate on yeah I think that would be step down and then if we could find a way that we could take some of the content um eventually that we get loaded into the website like items that can then be um you know cross to the Facebook site then we would have and that's what people do they they go across multiple you know Facebook and Instagram website wherever okay hi Jason think he's M me hey Jason take yourself off the mute don't mind me I'm just gonna try and figure out how to stop my face being there oh just hit your video camera I'm kind of a zoom you know not the best Zoomer there we go that's okay there you go but why would you want to be not visible I don't like I don't like to see my own face okay okay Jason so um welcome Jason Peron he's one of our select board members um I haven't even opened it up for any public comments yet Jason but you're only the only person on zo correct that is correct so any comments that you'd like to make Jason no I'm just looking forward to hearing what you guys I saw the comment uh the agenda about the open uh the business spaces so that one caught my eye especially so yes um that's something that we had looked into about two meetings ago and then Pam scapini actually talked to us about what was that website again Pam to be able to see what businesses real the real estate I'm sorry uh loop net Loop net yeah that will give you all of the open anything for sale in Southwick uh any commercial um properties for sale in Southwick so one one of the things we're going to do today is um get a volunteer to look at that and then bring it to the next meeting because now that we have our website open um we're going to start creating different tabs and one of them eventually is going to be focused on solicitation that when a few of us attended the select board meeting back in Octo or November of 2023 um one of the the things that you and the other two members of the select board said is that yeah if you want to do business solicitation you can so something we're going to start looking at but we want to understand first how properties get praised so that we can approach this with more knowledge opposed to just winging it how does that sound sounds great to me um and I should probably mention that I'm Jason prone one Noble seed Crossing I didn't bring that up initially so um yes that sound that sounds really great um you know that was one of the things when I first actually when I was running I believe if you remember Ang one of the things I said is bringing in um a balance of the right type of business to town and um not that every business isn't the right business this just might not be the right business for us um but um you know that was one of my things actually when I first got on I I spoke to Carl and I said hey who shops the city around or excuse me the town around and he's like well you can do it and I'm like okay and that's when I started digging more into the economic development commission and as you and I and everybody else found there wasn't a lot of guidance there so you guys have advanced so much just in the little bit of time that everything's been going so I'm looking forward to it well good and and Jason I'll I'll mention that one of our strategies here is to make Southwick a good environment for business that's a good thing Greg because one of the things I have heard especially you know um not to interrupt you I apologize but where I you know with my ADHD I don't want to let it slip out of my head um the uh you know like even with the Dollar General I know a lot of us myself included we're not thrilled to have another dollar store but it is a commercial Enterprise and it is tax revenue and and it's properly zoned and it's can go where it belongs so I one of the things I've heard from some of the businesses that have approached over the two years that I've been on the select board well you know South lck doesn't seem to be very business friendly and um that's one of the things that I've been that we you know I think that image needs to change and I know you guys are working towards that so uh one of the things that I want to have and i' I've reached out to Lisa Anderson a couple of times um last week haven't heard back from her so I don't know if she's on vacation Jason but I want us to be put on the agenda for if not next Monday's select board meeting then the subsequent one to discuss the response of the the business survey that Greg promoted amongst our businesses um we've got some good data and that's something that we'd like to present and once we gather the email addresses from as many of the businesses as possible um it would be in our best interest to send another survey to those businesses asking them what their opinion is of southw being a business friendly Community right and we also had had 10 actions we could take to improve the business environment and we had them pick the two or three they thought were most important and and some of those responses as I expected Rose to the top so we've got some clear priorities yeah to to pursue yeah so that was um data that we've collected or Greg collected uh through May 15th and you got an upd he's got an update through May 28th so I will actually make sure Lisa gets back to you and we'll figure out it you know I have no problem putting you on I don't think we have a really heavy load for next week um so I'll see if we can get you on the next one or the following one for sure okay so so is Lisa in the office this week she is um I was not in there today so you know I don't know what's been going on but between the uh you know she had responsibility for setting up the cemetery and all the stuff for the Memorial Day event which as we know ended up end going inside um so there was a lot of uh you know hubub and you know hectic running around over the the last couple days of of the week and then you know PL plans changed so um and Elsa um I'm GNA yeah I'll let you guys I'm going to mute for now but I will make sure that gets uh addressed yeah I'll follow up with Lisa directly then tomorrow because it might have just gotten lost in the shuffle then okay thank you Jason very good I like it when the select board member Pops in like that yeah and it was a good comment from him too in regards to you know granted it's only been since September folks but a lot of good things Ely have happened so take it away Greg about the update okay is it are you up are we finished with Facebook I think we're gonna sidebar for now okay because I think I either I had mentioned it or somebody had mentioned it earlier that for those projects that we move toward next year we're going to put a tab and and review those on regular basis to make sure you that we can still do it or devote to it so I don't know if create that I'll create like kind of reminder for next year yeah so this is you know Facebook and then there was the planted souck and Bloom souck and Bloom was the so so as these those were the two but you those are those are great initiatives and I know with Diane Samuelson and I reached out to Craig earlier today to see if he was going to be able to attend haven't heard back from so and I know he's been having um some family um concerns but um that was something that we were going to revisit in the fall of this year to carry into the spring of 2025 so but great idea we can have that reminder tab so where do you think we should put that chain on every agenda I can create a separate document that says you know gos for 2025 and then I can write a list of things on a monthly basis or maybe like a parking lot yeah I like that I like having it if we know we're not GNA bring it up right till we have it for the start of the Year doesn't mean we wait till the year started something like the flowers in bloom or you might want to start in the in the fall to be ready for the that's where we I had it in my calendar for September to have Diane come in and talk about her concept so that we can work on it so we deliver a good product and not have to create it on the scram so it's G to be full discussion then yeah should we do it but see the one thing is how are we going to remember to to do it is there G what's the process going be reminder on the calendar that will pop up and I'll create an agenda for either September October and then we can start disc and just put it right into the agenda for that month that' be great it us early enough start yeah you know wrapping up things for the calendar year but at the same time yeah I'll keep it jumping into following so there may be others that come up but that's a place to put it and it keeps us keeps it out there for us to oh we were supposed to do that avoid that so right anyway okay so um but no this is what this meeting is all about is just tightening everything up so at this point then we will sidebar Facebook on the in that parking lot for future business um or initiatives for a DC along with also South and Bloom okay do I hear a motion to accept that I move to accept the scheduling okay all in favor say I I I okay and we've got the loopnet loop net who would like to take the initiative to go on Loop net to find out what's available in town I mean it's really really easy it's you just type in Southwick and everything comes up I did it like a couple like a week or so ago just to see what was available could you bring a copy in the next meeting sure okay yeah so is that what number four is about vacant commission seat or is that um that's Amber that's Amber seat but um one of the things that Jason was talking about was the vacant retail properties so we're sort of just bouncing a little bit we're not going to be as formal today as probably should be all so the vacant retail properties is going to be Lop net Al the craxy that come for commercial so that could can change daily you know depending on what's available but I can like the day of the meeting I can that would be great p and that's strictly commercial properties now is there a tab on that also for land for sale commercial land I think everything comes up yep anything that's for sale will come up okay so Pam will bring that to the next meeting and in regards to just a continue about the commercial and and Jason had mentioned it too uh last night in the planning board meeting uh Jean attended in person I was on Zoom um the third item on the agenda was 771 College Highway which is proposed um 3.5 Acres with a 10,600 ft Dollar General the um planning board did not make a decision on the approval last night they're discussing it and their answer for either a yay or a nay is going to be at the next planning board meeting which will be they didn't did they give update for that yes um June 25th I believe they said it was okay so I'm sorry Dr CH wants to come into town oh yeah over by windfields I just over by what windfields it's between it's on College Highway this side of Ash house on other side the room oh okay all right because I just pulled up Loop now okay based on pams and Family Dollar building is up for leas why can't they just move in there because it's not to the scale of their store it's it's 10,600 square feet okay and it's a big building um Family Dollar we knew well 8320 yeah and they're proposing initially they came in at 43 parking spots they've um sidebarred 14 of them with Greenery instead and unless they need it they kept it more green um because the concern that the community has had where they've been wanting to put it and I've attended all the meetings Jean's attended the majority of the meetings as well you've got the Winfield residents which is an over 55 community that um has kept that piece of property really pristine you've got then the new community next door which is the greens which is a higher end Community as well and then you've got the South bck Villages across the street no granted you got the the the convenience store I'm not really sure what the name is we went and visited Sunny's Sunny's convenience store and that rundown gas are the rundown Automotive dealership right there but it's still right between two communities um it's zoned properly so it can be put in there it's um it's it's been it's proved but um the comments obviously from the communities is the property value safety um and just appeal I have to say though LC who is the Builder the Renditions of how the Dollar General looks if you were to go to the one in Feeding Hills they have really listened to what the the residents next door have said and they have come back with continual revisions to make it more of a pitched roof a facade of gables pupula on the top Pupa on the top brick facing down on the on the bottom um an acre and a half of greenery all around the property so and then a wild flower Field behind find it so they've done a good job in regards to presenting it um it's now up to the planning board to determine if they are going to grant them the approval to break ground or not um one of my comments last night was and I did as a private citizen not as the chair of the EDC um was is there any other parcel any any parcel that could be reconsidered for them but this is the one they've chosen and I think probably because of the slope the other pieces a little bit of an angle and just a private survey that I did with a realtor outside of Southwick and regards to property values um it will affect them maybe not today because supply and demand is definitely where of the market is but in about two years when interest rates lower and there's new construction happening the value of their property could be impacted by that industrial building next door so but the planing board's got a lot of letters they've got had a lot of participation from those two communities and now they have a a decision bring in a new business or not so what doesn't have to be voted on then um between the planning board yes it does for them yeah not the town yep but not for the town I spoke in in from the position of being Ed on EDC and the major concerns uh because you have a two-lane road 45 miles an hour a gentleman spoke up last night and I have to pass I really need I'd like to get that individual's name to get up with him because he really brought forth you know the uh the issue of safety and that's always been you know it's always been my concern right kind of surprised in going through the master plan review and things of this nature that safety Road Safety is not a higher concern and I brought that up to the to the planning board but it is 45 mph it's two lane road there's no uh soft shoulder on it and you have more and more pedestrian traffic on it every time I go that uh uh from raised Family Farm up to the hash house I always see somebody there's a backup of traffic on is it Sunnyside Road right from the greens people coming out trying to head into Westfield you know so there's a lot of traffic on that road on a two-lane road and you know there was uh the the safety issue is what I pushed and this gentleman came up last night and a couple of people spoke out about the safety issue being the safety issue over and over and Levesque was on his heels last night he was backed up you know on his heels he was trying to dig in you know and saying hey you know they did this they did this and his points were valid his points were valid absolutely they were valid but he was on his heels trying to dig in you know because it is a serious safety consideration and I and I mentioned also as a per as a citizen that once the road gets widened and it will get widened you know all that screening and everything else goes away and that place is going to be right on the road you know so yeah so there's um more to be determined on what happens on June uh 25th so but that's amss cu correct correct correct so so that's where with what Jason said in regards to the businesses um once we understand the appraisal process and that's something that going forward to be great to have somebody proactively going to those meetings and asking them questions because there is there needs to be a definition we need to understand how properties are appraised and then taxed um before we would consider doing any kind of business solicitation right because I I think our role I mean planning board is commissioned with safety um we're commissioned with economic development and economic development means revenue for the town corre we have to understand the impact of businesses and our role is not to recommend or not recommend a specific business but to do kind of an analysis of what the economic impact would be of that business you risks yeah because it was clear right at the the previous meeting um I asked on an economic standpoint to the planning board you know what analysis have you done and they're well that's not our responsibility to do that right so that right there was just that trigger again that this is where you all can add such value by looking and looking um seriously at how that's done internally here in this community is it consistent is it not if so how can we position that to potentially attract as Mr Peron said the right types of businesses for our community one of the things that is in the uh adopted by the planning board the master plan okay or implementation of the master plan was a review of the tax structure as it relates to businesses because it's the same for business as it is for properties flat rate which is not Equitable okay just not Equitable so uh it's something that really needs to be looked into and you know I would I would delve into that but I'd prefer that someone else join me on it also well that's where the benefit that this commission has is because of the size of it like what happened initially with the website with Amber Pam and Greg we you can you can create small little subsets yeah let's have a subcommittee focused on um business assessment so I have a question does the town manager's office have any type of um formula that they use to assess the impact of a business both positive and negative from U economic stand meaning do they take like the square footage of a building okay and what the assessment will be the tax assessment on that building and then personal I'm sorry property of business property tax there's equipment or other things that are taxable and you know plug that into the formula so if a business like Dollar General is looking to come in they can forecast what the tax revenue would be I I think that's what we have to get on top of um I [Music] don't I think they use a standard software assessment package for you know the assessor's office right you can't make it automatic you have to you have to do a thought process in any assessment because the the principle of of assessment whether it's personal or business is that it's the based on the market value of that property no no I understand and they have to have a in a business sometimes the the value of that as a as a business location affects the market value of the property so you can't just use a standard square footage for example right no but what I'm saying is they they must have a way right of looking at a new business and saying this is what we project just for projection purposes what we project the tax revenue will be I don't I don't think we have that is my point well we should dig into understanding if if there is something I'm not aware of it right Jason said there isn't so let's Jason can you come off a mute yep I can chime in on that the answer to that is no it would basically that is going to be contingent on what the assessors come in and say after the fact because they really have to look at everything after it's in place they can't and there's numerous factors that when I was going over things and trying to as Mr QB said too the uh you know the business tax ing trying to bring that up the the it would not be Equitable to the businesses in town I just wanted to chime in on that because I was originally one of the folks that when I even when I was running that wanted to say we need to look at raising the business tax and unfortunately I mean it is unfortunate that we don't have more businesses where we really could consider that but if you really do that and bring their rate up based on the the what am I the percentages I guess would be the best way to put that of how much residential versus commercial that completely skews the um what's the word I want to use here the just the averages really it brings up that percentage you're you're hammering the businesses with more of a percentage that they're they're that they're kind of eating for the rest of us you know it's it's unfortunate and I'll add to Jason the numbers that I've the most recent numbers I've read is that our tax revenues from businesses are only 7% of the total town it's not very high yes raise to raise their rate would make very little difference and punish the businesses I mean if you compare it to businesses rates around us you know if we were to look to do that is it you know raising taxes is not a thing you want you want to bring up right now in this town anyways but um all right Town especially with the assessments and and you know just a quick example of her personally we just found out the the payment on our house is going up $300 a month just because of the assessed values and the way things are selling around here so um so it's really not beneficial at least not at this time it's not it's definitely something we can continue to look at and if things ever get to the point where the percentages would make sense to to maybe approach the businesses about looking into that but you have so many small businesses that really one of a lot of thing like people don't realize is if you're running a business out of your house you're not being taxed on that your house is already taxed there's are you you would not be taxed on that yet again unless you're using it as a commercial base um there's some that's what a lot of people look at and they see oh well you got a business and so you should be paying taxes um yeah that was one of the things that came up because I do have my small business with the uh with this the skid steer and the excavation and they're like oh well you you don't want to you don't want to do that because it benefits you and I know even prior to me being on the board that that was made that comment was made because you had two of the former um select board members that had businesses here in town and um I don't think that was the case I think it's just a simple fact that the numbers don't work and don't make it fair to the businesses here in town right now um and to go back to the other topic no we don't have anything with the town manager um as I stated when I first got on Carl said I said well who shops the town who brings businesses in who you know it's he said well you can do it he could he could have done it as well it seems like that was not something that you know really that's kind of why I think Diane and I went to engga and Greg and said we need to make the really for lack better term make the econom IC development commission functional that you know that's to help to bring folks in I would love to honestly like Westfield has um I think there's is a full-time position and I even mentioned that I said would it be something where we could look into bring even a part-time Economic Development excuse me coordinator or I didn't tell John Gard I said this but could we throw that on John God hers please but um he might have a mutiny there might be yeah yeah he's got enough on his plate already but um you know that's something depending on where things go in the future I would love to see somebody that we could dedicate 20 hours or so a week to to to help you guys as well because you know I know my even myself as a select board member it is you know trying to balance everything in a part-time position is not the easiest that's why it's almost really beneficial to find somebody that is in that building that we could maybe you know and that's something I'm going to talk to Nicole about when she comes on our new our new Town Administrator and obviously all these things where they cost money have to go in front of the voters here in Southwick so even if it's something we prove and we want to do you know if the the finance committee Jo jumps on board we can't necessarily do it but to go back to the other thing no it's simply based on once everything's built put in place assessment I mean I learned so much the amount of things that you get taxed on if you have a chimney that if you have air conditioning if you have obviously if you have the pool the shed there are so many different things that are actually built into your house that are part of the assessment it's it's quite interesting so really that right now depends solely on what the assessors or actually um sug gor comes out and goes out and says okay you're done she's going to look at your your asphalt the area that's taken up of the non-permeable surfaces you know how things look and that's really how it's all assessed right now we don't have a program or anything in place where the town manager or the select board or the finance committee um right now honestly that would probably be more in your in your uh your court right at the moment yeah that's where my recommendation is going to be Jason that we create a subcommittee and that's definitely going to be part of the next new initiatives with the EDC that our website is up to be able to understand how the assessors do what they do so that when it comes time for us to look at that solicitation piece we've got that knowledge in the meantime Greg and I did have a meeting with Rick Sullivan two months ago the president of the western Mass Economic Council and we are on a list of anyone that comes into their Hopper looking to buy land or or open a business with pre-existing um brick and mortar uh we're on that list of getting that information so um so at least there's a Hulse on the um businesses wanting to come into the area yeah I think we just got to develop a a set of tools on analyzing the benefits of a business I think a key metric is uh tax revenue per acre because a it's a it's a misnomer a lot of people think well you get a big box store or a big franchise or something that that it's really profitable for a town and I've seen a lot of analysis of towns where a lot of the small businesses are the more dense the smaller uh lower footprint ones are a lot more profitable than any of the big box stories so th that's an important metric because the The Limited resource of a town is the land um and you've got to maximize that Revenue per acre and more more dense Business Development and often the smaller Footprints are are better it really begins with the SIC code okay uh you take say like um uh what's the name um the lumber yard lumber yard next to the gra greate Brook you you know all those uh pulpwood truck we call pulpwood trucks you know other parts of the country a lot of wear and tear on the highway and on the road and whatnot and to say that that's not impact negatively impacting everybody else that has to use that road you know is just not the case the same and right across the street is that uh land developer and all the heavy equipment that goes in and out of there and you consider uh marks uh Landscaping uh down on the Industrial Road you know and all the heavy equipment that he comes in and out of loads his you know graders on go out on the highway and excuse me Jason but I understand you have something I may be shooting myself to the foot here but the fact of the matter is you know it it's a you know it's a greater impact on the infrastructure to the town and should be taxed accordingly right infrastructure impact is another thing but again I don't know that that's allowed for in in the formula for for taxing a business I have no idea either and so that's an area as you point out but it's something you consider if you have a new business coming in that was a big concern about carv is the impact on the infrastructure on the infrastructure that they could have easily cause more costs to the town than Revenue a barber shop is not going to have the same impact on the infrastructure as does you know those things we just mentioned you know that's part of what we could do correct come up with those analysis to be able to understand so when a new business is knocking on our door we would be able to make a presentation to the powers to be as what we've been able to analyze which is a lot of what some of the edc's in our region does it offers value gonna say that that you could reach out to um like I said Westfield has had one for many years you know even just talked to the coordinator I don't I know for a fact there's no formula that includes the uh infrastructure like the roadway or anything like that that's as we know that's all chapter 90 money and whatever money we can get uh back from excise tax and stuff like that but unfortunately um you know and I and I hear exactly what Mr QBE is saying um is um it does it doesn't Pi I mean one of the things that when they had the diverted traffic going down Sunnyside um there is a Formula when things like that when the state mandates it but when private businesses or you know towns do it like when we were being forced basically to have all that additional truck traffic running down Sunny Side uh to go into Westfield to go over the bridge the back way there is a Formula I forget what Carl called it um but there's a formula that they approach the state with I don't know that was prior to me getting on I don't know if there was anything actually done with it as far as was there any Kickback from the state for for lack of a better term um but that's something I could ask Randy about um but I do know there is no formula at least not in Southwick I don't even know if we'd be allowed to do that that'd be something we'd have to actually ask probably the state as well because of the chapter 90 money and the regulations that are done through dot um I don't think there's anything we could do like that but uh like you guys said that's where probably all those years ago as I said when I ran originally I was like well what's the big deal with carvana I don't think it's that big deal but as I dug more and more into it it's like that did that would have never worked for this town that there was it belonged in the agam industrial park if anything something where it was easy access off a highway you are going to be having the truck traffic going down 10 and 202 towards Bradley and you would have had it going up in the center of Westfield and um you know not to get back to that from so many years ago but that that was what really turned me off to it was that and the additional damage like Mr QB said that it would have done to the roads and you know back then they were oh we're only going to help you pay for part of the traffic light no you're going to pay for the whole traffic if you're going to do that there's certain things that I I've have asked you know actually one of the things when I was talking to the planning board is where we're talking about development is I asked John is there anything with the housing being a big thing where we could put in regulations when developers come in to um mandate a percentage of of market rate housings housing Connecticut is now doing that it's a state mandate if anything over a certain amount of um units they actually have to do that so um that's you know not really in your guys wheelhouse but there's other ways that you know I've been looking to try and make things more affordable and whatnot so I'm gonna get off my 90 degree turn here okay I appreciate that comment though Jason and I really like having you part of the the meeting tonight it's great when a select word member Pops in so thank you well it's gonna I'm going to be around a lot more I'm out of work again and might need a shoulder replacement so okay okay so on to um oh go ahead J oh you were asking for people to volunteer yeah said I'm you know taxes here you know I'm and there's other people that are hemorrhaging in in town suppose we have a a subcommittee of maybe three of us and we should meet with the assessment board and understand that would be the starting point meet with them to understand the process then work to develop some tools to analyze the potential for new businesses as noted nobody's looking forward they're looking back afterward but I think the mission of economic development is to be the forward looking amen part yes absolutely is that a motion um what I would also add to that though Greg is we don't want to recreate the wheel I think it'd be beneficial to once you have that conversation with with the assessor's office to contact hfield and meet with them and see what their processes like as well and they already have tools to assess yeah I'm on an economic to agree I've done a lot of you know touring of other towns and discussions with other groups to compare right so once you met with them then meeting with the um the individual in Westfield that does and leads the economic development as a coordinator meet with them to understand what tools they use and if there's any that we can just absorb okay so what are your thoughts on this Mark so what was um driving my question was I do because you're the one who started this well I do think there needs to be an objective way to evaluate uh the potential e EIC impact of the business coming into town absolutely and it should include things not only like tax revenue but jobs jobs um and that's on the sort of the plus side or the you know the the put side Tak side or the downside some of the things are mentioned impact on infrastructure infrastructure demands um you know what kind of Demands would a business put on you know sewer system for example but but to be able to look objectively at what a business would bring to town and what it would require to support that business even from you know police and fire and um you know other impacts if it's something that could impact you know um population then you have to think about schools and other and social services that could be impacted um by that by that particular business um so I that's what was behind my question if we're going to look at um well when the question or the discussion came up about looking at Dollar General and um I know there's issues that you know neighbors have brought up there's traffic issues but I also think there should be an objective evaluation situation like that of you know what what impact net impact act defenses without that's why I was asking if there is any form or anything that the I would totally agree with that I think we're the one in position to look forward I I think we should do not just the shortterm but out five and 10 20 years yes what would be the long-term impact of of that because you know a lot of the a lot of the other areas are looking very shortterm planning board look short shortterm assessment look you know after they're here they'll assess it U you need somebody to look ahead 5 10 20 years because there's a lot of things that may look good after the first year but when you project It Forward um there's the idea some of these are almost like Ponzi schemes they give you a benefit in the short run but then cause a lot of costs in the long run that you have to go then more things to pay for that right exactly yeah I totally agree but as far as the motion goes are we prepared to look about creating a subcommittee to start looking at how the town assesses and then coming up with the value as what Mark is projecting as to the analysis I I wouldn't Focus so much on just the assessment I would you know focus on on you know the overall economic impact and under that would be the assessment part of it you know tax assessment on a business but but there's there's more to it than that oh oh yeah you have abely the assessment is important because it's the revenue side a lot of the other things are the cost side and you got to do the cost side but yeah you got to understand the revenue before you can put the costs perspective because I think maybe at times um communities look at just the tax revenue they don't look at all the other layers that creates that that business is going to create so um you're right on target Mark with what um my projection was about that business analysis so I'd like to make a motion that we create a subcommittee and who would like to volunteer to be on that subcommittee of three no I would I would okay okay so as of tonight we have a subcommittee for how would you what would you want to call it business assessment business economic impact economic business impact yeah let's let's keep that flexible it can be a discussion at the begin first meeting of that because we we want it to make sense and part of it is is you have to develop it has to be done in the context of what are the goals for the town we don't want to just grow for growth sake no no we want the town to be I've always put it in the terms of we want the town to be healthier correct economically necessarily mean huge growth sometimes you're healthy if you grow more modestly yeah yeah uncontrolled growth I say uncontrolled you know I go back to you I go coming from Charlotte and last time I was down there a couple years ago there's 100 people a day going into that town you know the housing situation there is just horrendous I mean it just through the roof okay and so the goal from a neighborhood perspective there has always been this controlled growth and of course businesses don't buy in that okay concept of controlling growth but again it's looking at the overall impact on the infrastructure you know and things like backing up and sitting on a side street for 30 minutes to get to a job because another industry comes in and you know has that kind of impact it's it has to be weighed out and that's what we would be charged with so there's a priority for filling vacant commercial properties for what some people call infill right as opposed to you know sprawl correct right I I would love to see more infill in the Town Center as opposed to just extending the spraw absolutely right absolutely right yeah no question about it next no question about it and it's a quality that goes in yeah and what you said in terms of the uh exacts I don't say exacts from Dollar General in terms of the building the facade and everything else they've done a lot of work and they've gone that way they have so it pays to push a little bit it does it does it does it definitely does so in regards to then um this new subcommittee right now we're just going to call it an economic business impact subcommittee um but the for the next meeting um would you see bring that to an agenda item in regards to how you want to facilitate that new subcommittee it's going to it'll be probably after the or not during the meetings right we we I I see us meeting separately and that you know we need to we need several meetings get it going get the I would suggest we kind of propose a time when we can meet on the side to develop a strategy and okay an agreement on on how we we handle it okay well motion is on the table motion is on the table I second that okay all in favor I I wow we're going in the right direction yay this is huge really is what needed to be done I want do want do want to ask you Eng if are you aware or you heard anything about the master plan implementation um it still in process of determining who those members are going to be okay okay well I think that this step that we just took right here is going to have a an impact in that in that regard yeah so okay great um back to Old business item number four we're at 10 after 7 we're going to be a or let's wrap it up at 7:30 then um vacant commission seat has anybody thought of any potential member that they would like to introduce to the commission since I heard of whether or not I don't know whether or not this individual would be willing to get bogged into it well the only person right uh would be Jennifer in Alaska and she has her hand and on Industries here and whatnot but you know she has a you know a lot of business that she's doing and so you know I just don't know how much she would be interested in or able to you know but I'll throw it out there um for those who don't know who Jennifer and alasco is um she is the owner of The Brass Rail she has the lease of the um New Blackboard Conan and also the oh it used to be Norah's the bar shop bar shop bar shop J so she is a Shaker and a mover and she's not afraid to go toe-to-toe with anyone so that she's a scrapper that's this way I could describe Jen true survivor um great um great lady anyone else that was the only person that came to my mind you know any thoughts Pam oh I like Jen I met her a few months ago she yeah she be a nice addition if she's interested yeah any thoughts on anyone Mark okay Greg there's a it's important to have some someone that has the time commitment we have a challenge sometimes in meeting our right our quum um there's a woman that um actually um she and Jen and I go out and do things occasionally together and um her name is um H I'm having a problem with memory so I apologize for that um she's the president of the Conan Heights Association and her name is carolan and carolan she's very well spoken she's um a South wian Born and Raised on the lakes and as I said she's the president of the KGAN Heights Association so she's well spoken she's known in the community as speaking um very eloquently to the point so um her name is Caroline gothier goth yeah car and I was thinking of reaching out to her to see if she wanted to look at being a member of the commission um she's business savvy she doesn't have a business but she's a smart lady and I like the fact that she's born and raised in town so she's really passionate about the community has a lot of contacts has a lot cont and she's you know between if her and Jen would have interest um we would capture a whole area of Southwick of contacts and representation so so with that being said um I'd like to make a motion of reaching out to Jen and Caroline and seeing if they have interest and I would do that myself on behalf of the EDC second motion and what I'll do is um send out a group email as probably within 24 hours to see if they would have interest in meeting with you all in regards to the commission so okay sounds good I vote I oh well you already said okay do I hear um all in favor Sor all in favor Oh Lordy okay um Greg can you do an update of quick update on the Southwick directory appreciate the ones the chop Southwick is want we launched to the meeting thanks for those that came out and helped pass it out that's just the first step of an ongoing push to promote it both to businesses and to Residents and we have ideas on both of them first on getting addition in terms of businesses we have 61 who have actively responded and signed up I added another 84 that I thought were key restaurants and Town Center uh businesses uh so we've got 145 on the site um then we have a another 300 or so that that potentially could be although some of them were were finding or not active and whatever right and my proposal for reaching out to business is the next step I I'm suggesting reaching out find as many emails as we can because the businesses with a website often have an email they got the letter follow up with an email the advantage of an email is you can put a link to the actual free listing sign up so all to do it get the email click on the link they have the nine questions no excuse not to take five minutes and fill them out um so I could I will go in and see how many email addresses I can I can find and and I would see doing a couple versions of the letter one to people that says we sent you a letter we we put your listing in but we still need to hear from you to confirm that we've got it describe the way you want you know please click here and respond because we also want permission to put them on our email list then the the ones that I didn't put in I would selectively go through there there's some that I defin I want to get all the plumbers and electricians and you know service people like that uh I want to get the bark mulch people I want to get the hillside septic things that are are key businesses that should be in there and I'll try to find an email that I can send to them actually most of them advertise in Southwoods so we'll probably have their email addresses right in Southwoods um usually they they have websites I I should be able to find most of the email addresses as I say even if it's just most websites sites have a tab called contact contact us and they don't often they don't like to publish an email address because they'll get spammed so they have a contact form I can send the message out on your contact form and how are we letting Southwick know about this website okay then the second part is is in promoting it to the residents we passed out as many as we could at the town meeting I also we have a number of those left over s we have about about 50 left over oh 50 left yes yes um my sister and I handed out probably close to 125 of them on Sunday oh to to work at Tractor Supply great wow that many yeah well that's we can print more if we need to that's a I think is a great way to reach residen is to find businesses like tractor supplyer IBS that would be willing to to display if we could put them in a little stand or something that would hang on a boltin board that would hold a bunch of these take please take one these are the ones we passed out at the meeting that said announcing shop Southwick here's what it looks like here's how you can put it on your phone here's how you click through and find the details you know you can search by search bar by category and then click on the business and find the details so kind of is a how to use the website and the more of those we get out the better that's much better than just putting a you know go to shop southw well what do I do there this is a whole instruction sheet plus they take it they W less likely to forget it than if they just see a sign did he when yeah he said had to leave so good night um some of the businesses that I talked to I.E blossoming acres and IBS about the other about doing that yep um they're like where do we put it on our counters their counters are already full do they have a bulletin board so that's where we can either put it on a bulletin board or come up with a sign that could be put on the door that's exiting it or off to the side like our thank you for shopping local so it would have to be um an item that they could maybe just scan with their phone yeah that's another alternative the longer run I see trying to distribute signs that that have a QR code um but I'm just thinking initially is the more of these we can get out that they can actually take with them yep so I have because they're in a rush they maybe they carrying stuff and they they don't want to stop and scan something but they'll pull this and then look at it later and yep so but to answer your question though too Pam uh an article was just put on Mass Live I I connected with Clark to Greg last week and so an article has been put out I just gave Greg prices for a half and a full page ad in Southwoods PR or Southwoods um those numbers reflect color May 30 yeah there's no rush on this the next one it's for half page 482 and full page 965 and that's with color I I just have to say this that the amount of visibility that you can get online for that money is ridiculous print is just know what to say you know like you could spend you could spend onethird of that TI online would you do it I would do Facebook but what how can you target Southwick residents so easy Target South quick there's this is what I do this is what nine for for in South no no no you can do that you can do the sou the forums you absolutely can but I would place an ad and Target South quick well that's what I would do in fact I'm probably just gonna do that I'm just gonna promote shop South quick on on my uh my Facebook page and then I'll boost it so that everybody can see it so South can can identify people Facebook can identify people Town yes okay and everything else you can think of anything else you can think I've done millions of dollars through my company I didn't place the ads but I've done millions of dollars Facebook but I didn't realize you could Target a specific okay so okay well then is going to plaster Facebook well we'll we'll give you a budget we'll we'll we'll is it free no no it's not free the Boost it you gotta pay yeah you gotta pay I me I'm happy Mone I'm happy to do it because on my Facebook page and then boost it my business Facebook page and then boost it I wouldn't I mean I think that if this committee had a Facebook page and was using it that's what it's used for that's what it should be used for to place ads and you know tons of different things really promote new businesses the key is be able to go beyond a specific page if you just your page but you want something that anybody from Southwick that goes online it pops up that's ideal so can we put those also on the forums yeah you can yeah so what does it cost to boost you can spend $5 if you want you can spend 150 you can spend 10,000 spend whatever you want spend whatever you want and it'll tell you right on the side Facebook will tell you right on the side you spend $10 you're going to reach like 142 people day for seven days if you spend you know $50 you're going to reach a thousand people a day I'm just making these numbers up yes I'd like to do a campaign that is better than this totally I didn't realize you could Target the town or you can yeah so that's that's I can Target people with blue eyes right who live in South lck and have a dog named Jake okay that's how good Facebook is some Facebook is much better because you can give them the actual link click even that it's that everybody is online everybody is online and we and we're promoting a website except for this yeah and we have to you have to realize everybody's online everybody but to have a clickable link is so let's do this then Pam if you can get back to me by say Friday and let me know what the options are for the Boost because right now in our budget for our website and this is um up to date today we have $520 left in our website budget in our budget budget we have $882 but coming out of that is going to be the um signs you have to leave Jean yeah then starting in July starting starting in July and that's our last item number except for one more um I did make a public announcement um at the annual town meeting asking for our gift account to be a revolving account and it was unanimously voted yes so that's going to be effective as of the end of June for the 2425 annual budget and and that will be $3,743 so the thing about though the website budget of 520 we can use that to promote our website yeah so that's where give me some boost numbers and then we can figure out where we want to spend those and I'll then immediately or can you put through a PO for Facebook and let's just be a little assertive right now so I would like to make a motion out of the $520 that we have left in our website budget maybe 300 that's and that's ideal because what you want to do is start with a task because I have Google analytics on the site so I'll be able to to track not only the the traffic but where it comes from so I'll know how effective Facebook is so let's I'll be able to track the let's put a $300 so I was we can do I don't think we're going to do like an actual po because because you're going to be probably paying it right online so we'll have to probably do another reimbursement because Facebook will not really send you invo right right right they will send me an invoice but but you will be paying right it would be yeah you have to pay up front so we would have to reimburse pay yes so it' be a re a reimbursable p okay yes so that's a good thing we have this and I I need your signature right okay so that would be $300 then um do I hear a motion to um create a reimbursement for Pam onb question is there no way to give her the reimbursement in advance is there's no way to say there should be you know a fund for Facebook to be spat they would need an invoice no the town they they actually reached out to me and they told me that I have to let you know before requesting like before actual paying someone or ordering something you have to request so they have to approve if this is okay right they have there's there's such a process Greg right yeah we can't y can't change Town Hall it's it's just what it is but when we have a revolving account can we do it have to do it the same way we'll have to do the exact because it's money credit card but it's it's not it's the towns it's money that's in in our account but we have the money to spend so that's $33,700 more than what we had which we were only approved for fiscal year 2425 2000 that was our budget well if it's now we have 3743 plus it's it's just unreasonable as but I will K Money advance to we can work out something yeah we can work out something okay so let's see here we've done all of our initiatives um as I had shared with everyone two weeks ago I am resigning so today's my last day um I know this is just emotional forming I have a neurological disorder and I have a cardiac problem problem so I'm going to Boston for a whole bunch of testing and I'm not going to be able to do this and do what I need to do so it just sucks so I'm sorry IEM motion um so I would like to make a motion that Greg is the chair and I'd like to see if I have another motion to accept Greg as the chair can we call it acting chair so it's you know keeps the spot open for when you come back um I don't know about that Greg okay so I would rather not have it as an acting chair if you if we don't have that position I'd like to have the understanding that that I'm holding the place for whatever Point can hopefully be able to come back um the select board had um Doug had actually asked if I could do something a little creative with the commission and I just can't commit I simply can't commit to that yeah not asking for a commitment just saying that there's an understanding that that you can come back whenever you you feel like you did um what my ambition is um because I've already had one test and that's why I'm having now to to go um elsewhere um would be that um I'm still going to be involved with that um open Farm day because I've made a commitment I'm still going to want to be aware of what's happening and see how I could support however I can but I don't want any false promises because I don't know what's going to happen no that that's not a concern yeah so um I'm a very tough woman but this is I'm reacting very emotionally with this so I apologize for that no apologies please completely understand Ango it's something that I've really been passionate about I know that's an understatement you think well the whole thing that started with carvana and then being part of um that process and it was a very small Elite group and it was amazing what relationships were formed from that Greg being one of those um spearheading uh Jason's campaign and Diane's campaign there's been such a passion to bring Harmony into this community and this commission has such an opportunity moving forward and what we just did here this evening is exactly what I was envisioning because we have to have business analysis we have to be able to sit at a planning board meeting and be heard with good data and not just well it's going to increase tax revenue but it's it goes so much deeper than that and that's what we really drove with what some of those initiatives were couple years ago so so I still want to go back to my original motion that um I am resigning but I would like to have Greg um I would like to nominate Greg as the chair who is resigning um as um the chair of the economic development commission um do I hear a motion I'll make that motion regrettably yes anything regret regrets totally understand we have to take the action I'll I'll second it so all in favor say I I uh have you submitted your letter um I've spoke to them all personally and I am submitting a letter this even so so um I didn't count all all the um um so I'm going to have to repeat that cuz I didn't hear it I'd like to make a motion to have Greg be accepted as the chair do I hear a second second okay um all in favor say I Greg would you like to appoint a vice chair i' like to know who might be interested in in that commitment don't all raise your hands at once um we got a couple people missing so we do Jack and Craig y Jack and Craig and and you know both of them have had had attendance issues and you know one of the important things with leadership is to be here most of the time right and and have the time to to do do it so that's a a big part of it it's a real big part of it h so Craig is is definitely not with his the issues he's dealing with um and we've got Jack Jack has has he's the treasurer at some point if he retires maybe you'll have more time I think he is he's not retiring anytime soon really I don't think so no so um that's something then that you can bring up at the next meeting okay and everybody just digest think about it and and because I you know who whoever does it want to know they want really want to do it and right and have the the commitment to do it because a lot of things we're planning to do we're going to have to you know distribute uh tasks as much as possible right we hopefully we'll get a couple more poal members that's that's going to be key is finding two new members that are going to be able to make that commitment and is going to bring value to the commission and drive the vision so um like I said I will reach out to both Caroline Jen who do not know that we're talking about them tonight but they were brought up and see what their thoughts are um other than that my other thought was let's look at some of the businesses that are in town that have very proactive owners or general managers because as we know members of the commission here do not need to live in town they need to be a business owner or work in town and Serena is a perfect example of that she lives in Westfield so that's where um if Caroline and Jen both say no then we need to put on our thinking caps because I would rather us make the selection process than being told that well this person showed up the selectboard meeting and because they said I want to join right because there's going to be that appointment time from June into July we don't want just and I'm not sounding snobby but I just don't want anyone to just come in if we can sort of hand choose and select someone because we know of their ethics their commitment their follow through that's what's going to be critical to drive these initiatives especially with the 2040 coming up and with this business so Jean we'll talk later okay well I don't want to but then no quum so we have one so we're good so with that being said then um do I hear a motion to adourn the meeting second okay all in favor hi okay so I am