New Group To Advocate For Blackstone Valley
When a casino developer called the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce several years ago to ask about potential properties, chamber President Jeannie Hebert was more than happy to show him around.
The Legislature was in the midst of a heated debate on casinos in Massachusetts, and big money interests were sniffing out locations across the state. But Hebert, who did not hear back from the developer, said she was painfully aware of how limited her time and resources were in promoting the area to a business looking to locate there.
“When we got the call about casinos, I hopped in the car and brought people around to look at areas we might have open,” Hebert recalled. “But you know, I’m running the chamber and I love the chamber.”
Not that everyone would like to see a casino in the valley, but it was clear to chamber members that the Blackstone Valley needed a stronger way to market itself to businesses, which tend to call upon the chamber for help.
“The chamber will happily show people around,” said Joe Deliso, the first vice chairman of the chamber and owner of Sutton-based Blackstone Management & Consulting LLP. “What the chamber doesn’t have is the staff or resources to do that on a regular basis.”
Now the chamber has spawned a new entity that aims to fill that need.
Getting Organized
The Blackstone Valley Regional Economic Development Council incorporated and received nonprofit status late last year. The council, like the seven others across the state, hopes to create a stronger economic image for the region and capitalize on an abundance of open, developable land that is surrounded by several major highways.
The council already faces an uphill climb as it seeks operational funding from strapped Blackstone Valley communities and businesses. The council has proposed that communities pay $1 per resident per year with a $10,000 cap and businesses pay $495 per year.
So member community Millbury, for example, would owe the full $10,000 with its population of approximately 13,000 people. Douglas, on the other hand, would owe just over $ 7,000.
Council members estimate they will need between $200,000 and $300,000 per year to fund a two- to three-person staff. The council plans to ask for financial commitments in 2013, once it has built up its membership base. The council hopes to receive $100,000 from area towns, $100,000 from area businesses and another $100,000 from the Massachusetts Office of Business Development, which has funding available for such groups under a bill passed last year.
The challenge for the time being, said Hebert, is showing those communities and businesses value in spending their money on the initiative.
“This is not just another organization popping up somewhere,” Hebert said.
Deliso, who is heading the new economic council, said that he was asked recently by an area selectman what the town would receive in return for its investment.
“The answer is difficult to say,” Deliso said. “All you need is one hit. One business to locate to your town.”
The council will need 11 or more member communities to become eligible for the state money, which could be around $100,000 per year, Deliso said.
So far, four area companies have joined the council — Waltham-based National Grid, Worcester-based Fletcher, Tilton & Whipple, Worcester-based Kelleher & Sadowski and Watertown-based VHB Inc.
Six communities have also joined: Douglas, Mendon, Millbury, Sutton, Upton and Uxbridge.
But the financial commitments on the not-too-distant horizon are another matter.
Mendon Town Coordinator Dale Pleau, who joined the council as a director at the behest of the Mendon Board of Selectmen, said that towns are looking at their budgets for fiscal year 2012, and money is tight.
“We’re definitely trying to work with the council,” Pleau said. “It’s difficult to find any additional funding.”
Pleau said he is in discussions with selectmen to allocate Mendon’s share, which amounts to approximately $6,000.
“It’s not highly promising,” Pleau said. “At this point, it’s just extremely difficult financially for most communities.”
It’s not that Pleau doesn’t support the council’s mission. He thinks the concept would be beneficial to all of the regions towns, which could all use the infusions of jobs and tax dollars that development brings.
“It has an awful lot of potential,” he said.
Competition
So what does the addition of a ninth economic council in Massachusetts mean for the rest?
Paul Matthews, executive director of the 495/MetroWest Partnership, said that yes, the groups will have to compete for state money when it is available, but there is also collaboration between the groups, which share common goals.
They all agree that more money from the state is needed and that the state should view regions as economic entities.
“It’s very helpful for us to present a united front,” Matthews said.
But Matthews also noted that state funding of economic development has fluctuated over the years. For the past two fiscal years, the funds have been slashed entirely. So Matthews’ advice for the Blackstone Valley council is to do what they are doing: build their membership and support outside state coffers.
“It’s really important for these regional economic entities to be sustainable in terms of having enough other sources of support,” he said.
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