The borough has started a newsletter, the first in a series of initiatives to provide more information for the public, particularly focused on promoting economic growth.
The second initiative will be monthly informal discussions titled “Our Town, Our Future.” The “economic coffee chats” will be held the third Friday every month, starting Oct. 18, said Kate Thomas, the borough’s economic development director.
The meetings will be held at a different location each month, she said, with the first location undecided as of last week.
The series will run through March.
“Join us for informal discussions on the future of our community,” says in the invite in the first issue of the borough newsletter, distributed last week. “Share your knowledge, generate ideas and take an active role in shaping our future.”
“It’s up to people to realize we’ve got to look at ourselves” and decide what residents want for their community, Thomas said.
Wrangell has suffered through years of population decline, and the latest state forecast predicts the town could drop to 1,400 residents by 2050 from 2,000 now.
The borough manager reported this summer that sales tax revenues — an indication of economic activity in town — are starting to show signs of weakness. And businesses continue to come up short on hiring staff, with multiple unfilled job openings.
“The newsletter is part of a three-pronged approach to providing the community with resources,” Thomas said. “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for some time.”
The third piece of the borough’s new economic development effort will be training and educational opportunities for small businesses, she said. Those could include, for example, sessions on marketing, IT and learning how to use social media to promote business.
Besides being informative, the newsletter is intended as a time-saver. It would take people a lot of time individually to sift through multiple websites, sorting the information that could be helpful and putting it together, Thomas said. The free newsletter will provide easy access to useful information.
The digital newsletter will be distributed by email to people who sign up and will be posted on the borough website.
It also will report on local business opportunities and success stories, initiatives and government programs of interest to businesses. “If you're a local business owner with a success story to share or have information you’d like to contribute to the newsletter, we encourage you to get in touch,” the newsletter announced.
The first newsletter included information on the start of school last week, inviting people to file for office in the Oct. 1 municipal election, information on maritime training programs, the start of the new Wrangell Kids Club with after-school activities program, and a push for locals to shop downtown and support the community’s economy.
People can sign up to get the newsletter delivered by email by going to http://eepurl.com/iW6YPE.
For more information, contact Thomas at 907-874-2381, or email kthomas@wrangell.com.
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