Council reviews economic-development metrics, business survey and placemaking strategy

Councilors spent the bulk of the session reviewing economic-development metrics, early results from a 2025 business survey and approaches to support small businesses and downtown activation.

Staff opened the metrics review by noting the annual goal for direct dollars invested in local businesses is $250,000 and reported the city invested more than $850,000 in 2024 across 24 grants, including targeted support for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ businesses. Staff also described the CT grant program launched in October: so far the program has awarded about $47,000 to four recipients, including Little Blue Store, Chapel Theatre, 2 Sisters Cafe and Stan Stein Funeral Homes.

On the business survey, staff said the draft data included 223–255 early responses and produced an overall grade of 71% while the survey's "percent satisfied" metric was 44%. Speaker 2 asked staff to present stacked-bar breakdowns by response category because councilors wanted to see how many respondents were "very satisfied," "somewhat satisfied," and so on before drafting corrective actions.

Councilors debated how to count and support events: several recommended distinguishing between financial sponsorship, information dissemination, and logistical support (staffing, set-up). Speaker 7 summed up the three proposed support types: "financial investment, information dissemination, and logistical support." Councilors also discussed a passport program for downtown walking and the role events play in off-season foot traffic; the first passport print run (about 2,500 copies) distributed quickly, and the council asked staff to consider sponsoring another run and including city facilities on the map.

On placemaking, members weighed whether to wait for a new market analysis or proceed with low-cost, community-driven interventions (examples discussed included electrical-box wraps, benches and small grants). Speaker 7 volunteered to draft materials and asked staff to estimate costs so the council could review a set of concrete options in advance of budget discussions.

Council agreed to convene a first round of business roundtables after the survey closes (survey closes Jan. 31), favoring a low-barrier approach with multiple short sessions at varied times and locations. Councilors volunteered to host sessions and asked for a spreadsheet of survey responses and a PDF report as follow-up.

Next steps: staff will present a deeper survey analysis in February, provide cost estimates for recommended placemaking actions, and schedule business roundtables in the coming quarter; councilors flagged possible budget asks tied to tourism strategy and placemaking.