The Woodstock Town Selectboard is receiving pushback from residents and local business and community leaders over plans to establish an economic development office in Town Hall, even as interviews are underway for the hiring of a full-time director for the recently created municipal office by the end of next month.
Representatives of the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce, the founding chair of the town’s Economic Development Commission (EDC), leaders of the local hospitality and restaurant business sectors, and prominent community activists have spoken publicly in the past week to voice their opposition to the creation of economic development director and marketing posts under the supervision of town government and municipal manager Eric Duffy — part of a short- and long-term strategic planning process hammered out jointly by the Town Selectboard and Village Trustees over the course of the past year.
At a regular meeting of the Woodstock Town Selectboard last Thursday, selectperson Laura Powell, who has spearheaded the effort to appoint a full-time economic development director for the town, said town municipal chief of staff Stephanie Appelfeller began vetting applicants for the leadership post two weeks ago. Four candidates for the economic development director slot have been forwarded on to a selection committee consisting of representatives of the selectboard, trustees, the EDC, and the Chamber for further interviews and vetting. Powell said the names, resumes, and letters of interest of the finalists for the post will be forwarded to Duffy for final-round interviews later this month. Powell said the town hopes to have a new economic development director in place by late August so that his or her term overlaps with that of Woodstock housing development consultant Trena Tolliver, whose contract with the municipality, initially negotiated by the EDC and recently turned over to the town’s control, expires at the end of next month.
The criticism that the town has received from area business leaders and former municipal officials has focused both on the proposed economic development director post and on the selectboard’s plans to shift all responsibilities for municipal oversight of housing, business support and expansion, tourism, special events, and marketing initiatives from the EDC (which is soon-to-be redefined) over to the new economic development office.
Some business community leaders and local residents have been vociferous in their opposition to the proposed changes in Woodstock’s economic development posture, while others have voiced support for the new approach moving forward.
For more on this, please see our July 3 edition of the Vermont Standard.
