Montville ―The town has hired consultant Robert W. Santy, the former president and CEO of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC), to help grow its economy and attract new businesses.

“Listen, we need help. We’re a small staff,” Economic Development Commission Director Liz Burdick emphasized Wednesday.

“We need someone that can help us put together a strategic plan for economic development in the town and give us ideas on what the next step could be for the town to attract more business,” she said.

Burdick took over as director in October 2021, and quickly realized that the commission was understaffed. It lacked an economic development coordinator, a position that a lot of larger towns, like New London, have to handle economic issues, Burdick said.

“Staff are the catalysts for projects in town,” Burdick said.

So she contacted other economic development specialists about who the the town could hire.

Santy heard the cries for help and and offered his services. Together, Burdick and Mayor Ron McDaniel vetted and hired him.

Upon being hired, Santy’s first task was a meeting last Monday with the EDC. He presented the commission with a three-part plan, which outlined his new role to the commission’s other members.

First, Santy will perform a “community scan,” where he will interview leaders of the community about what the town is currently doing and what their priorities are.

Second, he will invite 20-40 residents who impact economic development to a 2-hour training program called the “Fundamentals of Municipal Economic Development.” There, they will be taught about what economic development is, why they should care, and what their role should be.

Lastly, attending members will have the opportunity to review what they learned and set priorities for future activities and decide Santy’s role, if there is one, going forward.

McDaniel said he believes that as the former head of CERC, Santy has the qualifications to grow the town’s economy.

In 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont announced that CERC, then a Rocky Hill nonprofit, would sign a contract with the Department for Economic Community Development, and be rebranded as AdvanceCT. Since then, it has served as the umbrella economic development arm for the entire state, which Burdick meets with regularly.

“He can set the EDC on the right path. Sometimes you can sit there and spin your wheels if you don’t have a plan to follow or a goal to achieve,” McDaniel said.

“Everybody wants to say ‘How do we bring in business?’ We need infrastructure - the hard thing is finding money for it,” McDaniel said.

According to Santy, he will be paid a fee of $1,500 for the community scan, $1,200 for the training course and $125 an hour for anything else the town needs going forward.

Burdick said she hopes to see empty storefronts filled, vacant buildings restored or remodeled and new buildings, all of which would benefit the town, she said.

d.drainville@theday.com