HomeMy WebLinkAboutIDC COMM 01/17/2017MINUTES OF MEETING
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
January 17, 2017
Members present:
Bob Krentzman, Chair
Beth Ashman Collins, Clerk
Nancy Wall
Krista Hill Cummings, Vice Chair
Matthew Cummings
David Martin
Others Present:
Jen McCabe, Mansfield High School Student, Marketing Intern for IDC
Emily Sullivan, Mansfield High School Student, Marketing Intern for IDC
Maria Correia arrived at 7:20.
Call to Order: Chairman Krentzman called the meeting to order at 7:07 PM with six members
present.
Approval of minutes: MOTION (Martin/Wall) to approve minutes of December 16, 2017,
PASSED.
Discuss regarding Boston Globe article on Mansfield Municipal Airport seeking a caf6-style
restaurant'
The airport has had a RFP out for a while seeking a restaurant tenant. The question is whether the
IDC wants to play any role in helping the airport reach out to potential business tenants and if we
do, what would be the most effective ways to market this? Do we want to encourage an existing
restaurant to open a location at the airport or reach out to the types of cafe's that our survey,
identified as wanted. Krista talked about doing the broad calls to businesses that were identified in
the survey. Krentzman noted that it takes some work to identify who the buyer is and reach out
effectively and Mansfield has no Economic Development staff person to do this work. He went on to
say that we have no complete list of current restaurants, so if we do outreach, we may leave
businesses out inadvertently. Hill -Cummings suggested that we also post on our Facebook page so
our outreach will be public.
Hill -Cummings asked the interns how involved they want to be? We want each activity to be a good
learning activity, for example crafting a letter or social media post to reach out to restaurants is a
good assignment. Identifying the names of all the contacts is often the first step in marketing, but is
probably the wrong use of a high school intern's time.
Matt Cummings thinks that Tweets and Instagram would be a better method to get noticed by
decision makers than letters. You could tag culinary schools, small business groups. i McCabe and
Sullivan are game to do outreach on social media. Using jpeg of specific survey results charts could
be good supporting visuals. McCabe and Sullivan will setup a Twitter account and will email us the
info.
Step 1. Reach out to restaurant operators. Krentzman will pull together a list of local restaurants
that the interns can use. We have lists we can use via our contacts: Downtown Business
Association, Ellen Fleshner at Mansfield Crossing, Tri Town Chamber.
1 Cushman Carroll, Elaine. December 30, 2016. Boston Globe. "Mansfield seeking bids for restaurant at airport."
Mansfield, Massachusetts Industrial Development Commission MINUTES 1
Step 2. McCabe and Sullivan will tag named businesses from the survey then expand to desired
categories of businesses sharing with them what we found in our survey. Cummings said that is a
good idea to reach to businesses that do not seem plausible because the Tweet might be seen by
other followers.
Cummings said you can Tweet at the xFinity performers to create connections. Mansfield Police do
a great job being funny on Facebook.
Discussion of SEED marketing and informational materials
SEED marketing materials were shared.
Discussion with members of GATRA
GATRA is now on the website and was highlighted on Facebook. Krentman suggested Hootsuite as
a tool for posting to multiple platforms or for scheduling future postings. Nancy Wall is in
discussions with GATRA.
Discussion of Board of Selectmen Downtown Strategy Advisory Committee- Nancy Wall IDC
Representative.
Wall reported that the group met once since our last meeting - on January 10. The group is talking
about a set of improvements that tie downtown together including cleaning up Old Colony Way
between the bike path proper and the train station, new banners along Main Street, an information
kiosk near station, bike racks, and upgrading the walkway connecting Fulton's Pond on Rumford to
the Public Parking next to Mansfield Bank. Krentzman requested to seethe list of projects from the
BOS Downtown Strategy Committee.
Krentzman asked how the work of this committee dovetails with the IDC's Downtown Committee.
How are the two committees different? Wall said the committees are complementary. IDC's
Downtown Subcommittee is getting down to business with downtown marketing and events. We
have generated a lot of ideas to move downtown forward that would require the involvement of
others to implement. The BOS advisory brings together committees and departments so the people
who are needed to implement downtown improvements are at the table.
Update from the IDC Downtown Subcommittee
• Six restaurants are ready to launch the Wheaton Student Downtown Discount Program
• We will need press release when we are ready for launch
• We are finalizing the design for custom banners
• Discussing potential Spring Events such as a restaurant week with opportunities for local
musicians to perform or a family bike path event.
Report on progress on IDC website, social media and marketing campaign
Krista Hill -Cummings will put the tri -town video on the website. Wall would like to move the
picture of the committee to the IDC page. There should be more photos. Everyone is invited to take
pictures and contribute.
Discussion on IDC Brochure and Mansfield presentation folder
What is missing is graphic design. Can we ask Bill Ross for funds for professional graphic design?
Krentzman will reach out to Mr. Connelly and Mr. Ross seeking graphic design assistance.
Mansfield, Massachusetts Industrial Development Commission MINUTES
Member questions and comments
We keep returning to the need for an Economic Development director or coordinator on the town
staff. How do we get a large item like that in the budget? What needs to happen when? Krentzman
will do some outreach on this and we will return to the topic at a future meeting.
Krentzman will pull together a list of restaurants that the interns can use.
Resident questions and comments (none)
Any other items not anticipated 48 hours in advance of the meeting (none)
Future Meetings: Next Scheduled Meeting: Tuesday, February 21, 2017 7 PM. The Downtown
Subcommittee will meet the same evening at 6 PM.
MOTION to Adjourn passes Martin/Wall)
ei
Signature of Clerk, Beth Ashman -Collins
Mansfield, Massachusetts Industrial Development Commission MINUTES
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