Paul said:

I'm a newcomer to Economic Development and I have a strong passion for it. I started this position four years ago but didn't have a background in economic development. I did have 25 years of city planning at the municipal and state level. I knew econ devel was a blind spot even a year and a half into the job then COVID hit. I was unprepared and wasn't ready to help our local businesses that were struggling to keep their doors open. While information regarding COVID funding was coming at us, I had no good way of communicating to our businesses. This kept me up at night. We were also not focusing on attracting new growth to Town. I should mention my department is two people (me + an administrative assistant). Also, there was nobody in the department when I started and had to learn about planning and development in Massachusetts as this was my first planning position in the state. Also, the Town had no prior economic strategy from which to build. With the help of many people both inside the Town and out (as well as podcasts, websites, books, etc), I learned to focus on certain economic development activities which are starting to pay off. While we are not where I'd like us to be, we have made improvements.