Temporary Council to Steer Economic Development in South Windsor

A newly created team of experts will soon take up the mission of helping South Windsor grow its grand list and cultivate a business-friendly atmosphere.

“South Windsor is both literally and figuratively at a crossroads,” Mayor Saud Anwar wrote recently. “In order to maintain and enhance our infrastructure, public services and our quality of life, the town will require additional resources. However, adding to the residential tax burden is something none of us want to happen. So, how can we enhance income without raising taxes? One solution lies in attracting new businesses to South Windsor.”

To do that, Anwar proposed creating a temporary economic development advisory council, to be composed of South Windsor residents and business experts.

The measure proved controversial, with Republicans saying council would detract from the powers of the existing Economic Development Commission and other bodies. They also said that Town Manager Matthew Galligan was already doing an excellent job of attracting business to South Windsor.

Councilor Cary Prague objected, saying he didn’t want South Windsor to become like Springfield or Hartford and so the town doesn’t need experts advising it on how to imitate them.

Nonetheless, the measure passed 6-3 on Jan. 6.

The council will be appointed by the mayor, with up to 15 members, several of whom are identified in the resolution, including Galligan, one town councilor from each of the political parties, Economic Development Coordinator Shari Fiveash, a representative of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Economic Development Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission.

“It’s really a forum, an idea exchange for experts to convey their knowledge on a voluntary basis to the town,” explained Peter DeMallie, president and principal of Design Professionals in South Windsor. DeMallie served the town in various capacities for about 10 years and has advised the mayor.

Workforce development, transportation issues and marketing are among the issues DeMallie said the town needs to look at, with the help of the council.

“In and ideal world we have a large budget for marketing the town to the outside world, a large budget for developing talent internally and retaining youth in the area. That isn’t the case so we have to figure out ways of doing it without the budget that other regions have,” DeMallie said.

The council is only to serve for two years - enough time for those experts to offer their recommendations and turn over their execution, possibly to Galligan and possibly to someone else.

Though South Windsor has had economic development directors in the past, many business representatives and developers preferred dealing directly with Galligan and eventually he just took on the role.

Fiveash, the town’s part-time economic development coordinator and also head of the Chamber of Commerce, was hired to work with Galligan, in part because she had held the dual roles in a previous municipality, working in support of a town manager.

There is however, a lot of work to do and Galligan is supportive of the newly created committee. Once things get rolling, he says there may be more work than he is able to do and he is in favor of possibly hiring a fulltime director.

Some Republicans have called for Galligan to instead be allowed an assistant town manager.