HUNTINGTON – After one week on the job as the Gateway HIlltowns Economic Development Director, Jeanne LeClair is setting her priorities. Her first goal is to set up a website which will contain a calendar linking to activities in the six towns who have hired her through a Community Compact grant. She said the website at gatewayhilltowns.org is just getting up and running.
Jeanne LeClair, Gateway Hilltowns Economic Development Director. (Photo by Amy Porter)
“It’s part of the tourism push,” LeClair said. She will also be working on identifying available properties in the six towns of Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery and Russell, and developing a business welcome packet.
Most of the goals LeClair is working on were outlined in the Economic Development Strategy recently completed by Elan Design & Planning, and sponsored by the Hilltown Collaborative and Mass Development through a previous Community Compact grant.
LeClair said she will be organizing the priorities identified in the plan and putting them into chronological order. “Officially I’m here for 12 months. In that time, my priorities are limited,” she said, adding that she’d love to stay beyond that. Part of the goal of the Hilltown Collaborative is to have the towns share the cost of the position in their budgets next year.
LeClair, who received her master’s in public policy from Brandeis University after completing her undergraduate degree at Boston College, said she loves rural America. She grew up on a farm in rural Missouri near a town with a population of 500 on the Mississippi River.
“I love getting outside,” LeClair said, citing kayaking and hiking among her passions. After getting her master’s degree, she started looking for a position in local government, small town, small business, local politics, community development. Having married a “Boston boy,” LeClair, who lives in Haverhill, looked for a job in Massachusetts.
She saw the ad for an economic development coordinator for the hilltowns on the Massachusetts Municipal Association website and applied. She calls it her “dream job.”
Now she is busy getting to know local people and the towns she will be serving. She’s already toured Chester with Andrew Myers, who chairs the Hilltown Collaborative, and will be touring Huntington, Russell and Blandford next. She will also be meeting with Michael Knapik, director of Governor Baker’s Western Mass Regional Office in Springfield this week.
Another goal LeClair has is opening a welcome center for the Gateway Hilltowns. For now, she will be using the office she is sharing in the Huntington Town Hall. She says a couple of big signs are needed for visitors, like “Start Here,” “Come to this Restaurant,” or “Go to the River.” She’s also building a day visit to the towns, with recommendations on where to stay, and places to buy post cards.
Even though she has encountered some resistance from residents to the idea of tourists, she believes promoting the assets in the towns will also help locals, who may never have visited them. It will also help businesses who are interested in the area. Previously, LeClair said they had to track down the town websites and select board members, or hear about opportunities through word of mouth. She said there was no centralized person to connect someone looking to relocate or invest in the area. Now, she said, if someone does get in touch, she will know who to point them to.
Her first day on the job, last Monday, LeClair sent out 40 emails to people she wanted to connect with, telling them she had started. Replies started flooding back, and now her meeting calendar is filling up. She encourages people to contact her with ideas, observations, gripes, questions, or concerns.
“Our approach with this whole project – enthusiasm is welcome in any form,” LeClair said.
To contact her, email [email protected], or call 413-636-3476. Leave a message, and she’ll get back to you.
