WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Economic Development Committee on Monday finalized the report it will submit to the Board of Selectmen next week.

 

The two selectmen who serve on the EDC were in accord about the message they want the committee's chairman to send when he presents the report.

 

"We've done this work not to write a report and stick it somewhere," Selectman Hugh Daley said. Then, referring to the EDC's recommendations, he continued, "Please, pick three and go to town. Start somewhere.

 

"It's incumbent on [the board] to make sure this effort gets pushed forward."

 

Selectman Andrew Hogeland agreed, telling Chairman Jeffrey Thomas to, "Put a little pressure on them. Say, this is not the last meeting. This is your first meeting on this."

 

The committee has been meeting twice a month for nearly a year to draft a report that covers more than 60 pages, plus appendices.

 

It incorporates the input from several community forums, expert testimony and a townwide survey conducted at the beginning of the ad hoc committee's term of service.

 

On Monday, the committee approved changes from its final outreach efforts: a Nov. 10 forum at the Williams Inn and a public comment period held since the publication of a draft report last month.

 

"We wanted to make it easy for people to provide feedback," member Sandra Thomas said. "They could do so in one of four ways: email, snail mail, an online form or in person."

 

The draft report was posted on the town and Chamber of Commerce websites, emailed to people who participated in one of the committee's listening sessions and available in hard copy form at Town Hall.

 

"In my survey of the feedback we got, I was encouraged by two things," EDC Chairman Jeffrey Thomas said. "One, there were not a lot of new things there — not a lot of things we hadn't heard in one way or another. Two, there was a lot of positive feedback, a lot of nice, kind comments made thanking us for our work and appreciating the report."

 

On Monday, the committee approved new recommendations that reflect a couple of the new things it has heard since the draft.

 

At the Nov. 10 forum, resident Donald Dubendorf recommended that the town consider how high energy costs in the region impact new or growing businesses.

 

On Monday, the panel unanimously approved a recommendation that encourages the Selectmen to look at "local and regional strategies for energy cost reduction."

 

At its Nov. 16 meeting, the committee heard from state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams, who is sponsoring a bill in Boston that would encourage tax increment financing zones in the commonwealth that would offer tax breaks for 10 years to new businesses.

 

The committee previously had eschewed the idea of recommending the town explore local tax incentives, but Cariddi's comments raised the prospect of a state-led program.

 

On Monday, committee member Stephen Sheppard said he thinks short-term tax incentives in general are ineffective because businesses attracted by them will pull up stakes when the incentive runs out.

 

But the committee decided its objection to the idea of tax programs at the local level is that town incentives are not strong enough to "move the needle." A program that forgives state taxes might be worth looking at.

 

"If there were state or federal monies Williamstown could leverage to incentivize businesses to come or be here, would we recommend that happen?" Thomas asked.

 

"I think we should leave no stones unturned," committee member Paul Harsch said.

 

The committee voted unanimously to adopt a recommendation that the town look at such state or federal programs if available.