(A) There is hereby created and established a Commission, to be known and designated as Manchester’s Economic Growth Advocacy (MEGA).
(1) Membership. The Commission shall consist of the following members: two members nominated by the town’s Chamber of Commerce, approved by the Town Council; two members from the town’s community-at-large, one of whom may be a member of the Town Forum Steering Committee, nominated by MEGA and approved by the Town Council; the Town Manager; not more than two members of the Town Council, whose appointment by its Presiding Officer shall be ratified by the Town Council; and the Executive Officer of the town’s contracted marketing group. All members of the Commission, except ex-officio members, shall be appointed and, where ratification is required, ratified annually.
(2) Advisory members. MEGA is authorized to appoint advisory members to the Commission at any meeting of the Commission at which a quorum is present. Advisory members may serve for so long as the Commission shall determine and shall not have the right to vote.
(3) Chair. The Chair of MEGA shall be elected at its first meeting and annually thereafter at its meeting in the month of January, upon nomination by a member of the Commission and election by a majority of the Commission membership. The Chair shall preside at meetings and shall be the executive officer of the Commission.
(4) Secretary. The Chair of the Commission shall appoint the Secretary of the Commission, whose duty it shall be to deliver written notices to members for special meetings of the Commission; keep and preserve its minutes; transmit its reports and recommendations to the Town Council; and to place all documents and official papers of the Commission for safekeeping with the Clerk-Treasurer of the town.
(5) Meetings. The Commission shall meet during the month of January and not less frequently than quarter annually at predetermined times and places and shall convene in special meetings on the call of the Chair or on call by a majority of its membership, upon 48 hours’ written notice.
(6) Quorum. Five members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business or the making of any recommendation, and all actions of the Commission, except the election of a Chair shall be deemed authorized if carried by a majority of a quorum. Voting at Commission meetings shall not be permitted by proxy.
(Prior Code, Title I, Ch. I, Art. XVI, § 4)
(B) The Commission shall bear primary responsibility for the following activities and recommendations.
(1) The Commission shall maintain a database of jobs, pay rates, skills and the like to be used in targeting specific enterprises for solicitation and for measuring the long-term success of economic development initiatives.
(2) The Commission shall use the database to encourage growth conforming to standards which it perceives to be desirable to the community increase, but not at a rate which suddenly and adversely diminishes the existing job-wage base. The database should be designed to permit measurement and documentation of expansion of existing enterprises.
(3) The Commission shall work with, and aggressively supplement, the marketing efforts of the town’s contractual industrial development agency. A Town Council designated contractual industrial development agency shall serve as the official community contact for industrial growth prospects.
(4) The Commission shall identify and recommend to the Town Council such measures and actions including, but not limited to, zoning, taxes, tax relief and benefits, regulatory relief, infrastructure improvements, capital loans, and work training, by which the town can encourage economic development within the stated objectives. The Commission shall also recommend different mixes of the options available to the town as, in its judgment, are designed to create incentive packages to meet specific needs of individual enterprises, both existing and prospective.
(Prior Code, Title I, Ch. I, Art. XVI, § 5)