Economic Development Commission Seeks New Members

By Andrew Gorosko

With the planned departure of three members of the Economic Development Commission (EDC), the town is seeking volunteers who are interested in serving on the advisory panel, which works to promote the growth of the town’s property tax base and job base.

The town’s economic development was a prominent issue in the recent municipal elections.

Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker said this week that three members of the panel are leaving the agency because they have served two consecutive full three-year terms, which is the term limit for membership on the EDC. When their terms expire on January 6, 2004, Chairman A. Winthrop Ballard, Vice Chairman Geoffrey Dent, and Secretary Denise David will leave the panel.

The EDC is authorized to have nine members. There has been a vacancy on the panel since last June, when member Louis Calabrese resigned. Current members include Stephen Small, Naveen Kapur, Kim Danziger, Kevin O’Neill, and Chet Hopper.

Ms Stocker said that members of the Republican and Democratic parties who are interested in becoming EDC members should contact their respective political parties’ town chairmen. The political town committees make recommendations on EDC appointments.

People who are not members of political parties, but who are interested in becoming EDC members, may directly contact the selectmen’s office in Edmond Town Hall.

EDC members are appointed by the first selectman, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen.

Ms Stocker said the two-term limit on EDC members unfortunately prevents people who may want to serve additional time on the panel from doing so.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said that the EDC is one of the few local agencies that have term limits. The Commission on Aging and the Booth Library Board of Trustees also have term limits, he said.

“We’re losing three very good people. I’m sorry we’re losing the three of them,” Mr Rosenthal said.

 People who want to become EDC members need not have a business background, but a business background is preferable for such membership, he said.

Mr Ballard said of the EDC, “It works better if you’ve got a full complement of [nine] people.

“Those [five members], that are left, are good. There’s a good [membership] base for the future,” he said.

“Elizabeth Stocker is a very knowledgeable, dedicated individual, and hard working…She keeps things on path,” Mr Ballard said.

Town Ordinance #66, as amended by the Legislative Council in September 1995, addresses the existence of a local EDC “for the promotion and development of the economic resources of the town.”

The purpose of such the advisory agency is “to implement orderly and planned economic development, while always keeping in mind the character of the town.”  

One of the EDC’s prime tasks is the formulation of a strategic plan of economic development, which is updated every five years. The EDC also maintains a current inventory of developed and undeveloped industrial, business, and commercial land, as well as unused public land. Also, vacant industrial, business, and commercial real estate is inventoried.

The EDC makes recommendations to local land use agencies on various development applications. It also conducts research on economic conditions and trends. It advertises the town as a location for economic growth. The EDC conducts public opinion surveys on future land use, among other tasks.