Williamstown Economic Development Panel Divides Workload
 Jeffrey Thomas, center, chairs Monday's meeting of the Economic Development Committee. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town's Economic Development Committtee on Monday discussed how it will break up the sizable task it faces over the next 12 months.
Chairman Jeffrey Thomas recommended that the 11-person panel break up into three working groups to tackle the task of creating an economic development plan that can be submitted to the Board of Selectmen by next December.
"My thinking is if we can work in smaller groups that don't represent a quorum [of the full committee], we can operate a little more nimbly," Thomas said.
The 11-person committee, which includes two members of the Board of Selectmen and representatives pulled from the local business community, has met twice and plans to meet every other Monday, alternating with the select board's standing schedule of meeting the second and fourth Mondays of each month.
Based on his communication with most of the EDC membership, Thomas came to Monday's meeting with tentative rosters for each of the three working groups, which he expects to report to the full committee at each of the bimonthly meetings.
The outreach work group's task will be to develop a strategy to solicit feedback from the broader community — either by survey or public fora or both — report that feedback to the full committee and compile it in a way that can be included in the final report. Thomas penciled in Tracy Baker (co-owner of the Spirit Shop), Realtor Paul Harsch, Selectman Andrew Hogeland, Williamstown Chamber of Commerce interim Executive Director Sandra Thomas and himself on that group.
The group Jeffrey Thomas identified as the "best practices" group is charged with developing a data-driven perspective, identifying exemplars (i.e. towns/cities that have implemented economic development plans) and determining whether the committee needs the help of paid consultants. On that group, he included Selectman Hugh Daley, dentist Karen Lartin, Williams College economist Stephen Sheppard and Williams Vice President for Finance and Administration Fred Puddester.
The third group, which Thomas said likely will not have as much to do in the beginning stages of the process, is the reporting work group, which will maintain a working draft of the committee's recommendations and deliver interim, draft and final copies of the EDC's report. Thomas put himself on that group along with Hogeland, Sheppard, attorney Jamie Art and Clark Art Institute Associate Director Tom Loughman.
Thomas used Monday's meeting to remind the group that the ad hoc committee's mission is to produce a plan — not to implement changes.
"The plan should increase the probability of economic growth in Williamstown," he said. "It's unlikely to know if our work had an impact. I think it's about identifying strategies where we can increase the odds of economic developoment here in Williamstown.
"There will be macrofactors we have no control over."
 Williams College economics professor Stephen Sheppard, left, shared data with his colleagues on Williamstown's Economic Development Committee. |
For example, Williamstown is suceptible to larger economic trends in Berkshire County, the Northeast and the nation, as the committee was reminded by a statistical analysis presented by Sheppard.
Sheppard walked the group through a series of data he collected to help the committee understand the current state of the town's economy — looking at everything from population trends to home sales to a list of the town's larger employers.
The committee discussed posting Sheppard's data — along with other outside information it gathers — on its page of the town's website to provide context for the coming discussion of economic development.
To help put its own work in perspective, Thomas invited North Adams City Planner Mackenzie Greer to talk about the city's Vision 2030 master plan.
Although Greer was not able to attend Monday's meeting due to the inclement weather, Thomas walked the EDC through the PowerPoint presentation she planned to give.
Among the highlights he stressed were recommendations that the process includes outreach (as the EDC already has discussed), the development of planning principles, a relatively brief time horizon (Vision 2030 was developed over the course of more than three years) and a brief final document. North Adams' Vision 2030, which covers more than economic development, is 132 pages long.
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