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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/26/2016 Southold Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday January 26, 2016 In attendance: Rona Smith, John McLane, John Stype, Carolyn Fahey, Councilman Bill Ruland Excused: Steve Latham, Donielle Cardinale, Sara Garretson, Tony Cocheo, Supervisor Scott Russell The meeting began at 4 pm and ended at 5:30 pm. The meeting was called to specifically review the survey proposed for distribution to Southold businesses in the food industry - agriculture, distribution, manufacturing, processing, restaurant/catering, and retailing. The survey under review was prepared by Karen Karp following earlier discussions and input from the EDC. The discussion began when one member made the observation that the questionnaire in hand appeared to be lengthy and asked for detail that was likely not going to be provided by survey participants and not useful for work the EDC could undertake and accomplish. Consequently, the discussion shifted to address three points: 1. What is the EDC trying accomplish with the businesses involved with food in the Town of Southold? 2. How can the EDC actually impact the food business in Southold? 3. What specifically should the objective be for any proposed meeting of food industry businesses? After extensive open discussion and input from Town Board Liaison, Councilman Ruland, the group reached consensus on the following points • EDC Mission Defined: It was discussed and agreed that the objective of the EDC in general is to help foster employment, business growth, business sustainability and new business in the Town of Southold. • Better defined objective in food supply chain: The objective of EDC focus on the food business in Southold is to improve business profitability, growth and sustainability by encouraging stronger collaboration and dialogue among Southold participants at all points in the food supply chain. This would include local end use as well as export out of Southold. • Work on problems defined by the participants in the food supply chain and change sequence of survey and meeting. It was also agreed the group should approach this mission in this case with clearly defined problem areas, issues and hurdles as presented directly by the participants in the food supply chain rather than ideas or objectives we bring to the table. On this point, it was agreed this would be best accomplished by hosting the meeting with food supply chain participants, distributing and collecting the survey at the meeting, and afterwards have further survey distribution and follow up with other industry participants who could not attend the meeting. • Restructure the survey: With that objective in mind, it was agreed the questionnaire asked for information and detail that went beyond what would be useful to the EDC in the short and intermediate term. Furthermore, it was agreed the first step for the EDC to undertake would be to ask industry participants to identify what problems and issues they perceive in doing their business. Consequently, Carolyn Fahey volunteered to do an edit of the existing draft and condense it to a shorter questionnaire. It was also agreed no further work on the questionnaire would be requested from Karen Karp at this point. This point also shaped discussion noted below on the objective of a meeting of industry participants to be hosted by EDC. • Bring in Cornell and LI Farm Bureau: During discussion it was mentioned that Cornell Extension and Long Island Farm Bureau have met with a variety of segments of the food and agriculture businesses in a variety of formats and the EDC should host representatives from these 2 organizations for 30 minutes each to hear specifically what they have done, and what information they may have collected, in the recent past • Timeline for Meeting and Survey - With all these points in mind, the following timeline was agreed o Carolyn Fahey would edit and condense the survey and resubmit that to the EDC Chair o John Stype would solicit the participation of representatives of Cornell and LI Farm Bureau to the next EDC meeting on Feb 19. They would have a total of 60 minutes of "air time" at the meeting and the balance of the meeting would be to finalize the survey, set the industry meeting date now targeted for end of March, and agree on meeting agenda and other particulars. o The industry meeting remains targeted for end of March and consensus was reached that the Peconic Lane Community Center would be used. • How does meeting get presented to the public - The time taken to focus on the purpose and role of the Economic Development Committee, what we plan to accomplish with a survey and workshop for the local food supply chain allowed for more focused and clearer thinking and discussion in our meeting. It was agreed that in order for the EDC team to properly plan a successful meeting and discussion with industry participants, we need to be able to articulate very clearly a title and brief description that will manage the expectations of any participants, and promote and attract local businesses in the food supply chain. After hearing from Cornell and the LI Farm Bureau on Feb 19, this topic will be a key agenda item at the EDC meeting on Feb 29. ACTION ITEM FOR MEMBERS OF EDC BEFORE NEXT MEETING ON FRIDAY FEB. 19 A proposed meeting title and objective follows. Please return any comments, edits and ideas to John McLane (john_t_mclane@hotmail.com) as soon as you have them, and be ready to discuss and finalize this point at our meeting on Feb 19 A Proposed Title: Workshop to Improve Profitability, Growth and Sustainability for Businesses in the Food Supply Chain in Southold (to be discussed, edited and agreed at next meeting) Workshop Objectives: Create opportunities for improved profitability, growth and sustainability for Southold companies in the food supply chain by exploring improved communications, collaboration or shared resources across the business segments, and identifying hurdles that get in the way of that improvement. (to be discussed, edited and agree at next meeting) Who Should Attend: Owners or representatives of Southold businesses in food production, manufacturing or processing, distributors, restaurants and caterers, retailers (to be discussed, edited and agreed at next meeting)