HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Economic Development Committee - 04/11/2023SOUTH BURLINGTON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
April 11, 2023 MINUTES
Members present: John Burton, Ken Linge, Charles Johnston, Tom Bailey and Michael Biama
Members absent: Sriram Srinivasan
Others in attendance: Jessie Baker, City Manager, Ilona Blanchard, City Development Director & Tim
Barrett, City Councilor
John Burton welcomed all and called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM.
1. Welcome, agenda review and approval: The agenda was approved as presented.
2. Public Comments on items not on the agenda: There were no public comments.
3. Use of ARPA funds to support Childcare: The committee was provided with a presentation from
Jonathan Spector and Larry Niles from the Woodstock Economic Commission with a report on how
they structured and conducted their proposal process to grow the capacity of their Childcare
centers. They gave out 5 grants that funded 90 new openings to serve children and expect them to
be fully available by the end of this year. They also worked with the childcare centers around their
financial management practices to help them be successful with the expansion costs.
4. Update on city data collection/economic dashboard efforts: Ilona indicated that they are preparing
for a city-wide data analyst who will continue with this effort as a part of this position.
5. Climate Action recommendation involvement: John mentioned that the committee hasn’t revisited
the Climate Action recommendations and their implementation for some time. Mike mentioned that
he is on the Transportation Committee and a survey has gone out to help determine the community
thinking about various transportation suggestions. He will report on the results of this survey when
it is completed. John also mentioned that Sriram was our connection to the original Climate Action
Committee, and we can get a report from him in a future meeting.
6. Ways to increase engagement with the business community: John reported that several of the local
Green Technology businesses have started to meet to determine the benefits of working together in
areas of common interest. He will report more on this as it develops.
7. Scheduling Next Meeting; Adjournment: The next scheduled meeting is on May 9th, 2023 at 5:30pm.
The meeting adjourned at 7:00 PM.