Webster Groves commissioners plan business survey and to use upcoming after-hours, coffees to collect local economic data

Commission members devoted substantial discussion to rising costs and declining customer spending at local businesses, and agreed to launch a short, confidential survey to gather local data and testimonials that could inform outreach to elected representatives. Commission members said utility bills, rent increases and supply-cost shocks were hitting Main Street businesses. One commissioner summarized local reports: "Our sales are down 6% last year. Our prices are up 25%," and other participants described businesses seeing traffic declines and significant sudden utility bills after Ameren rate increases. The commission agreed to pilot the survey at the next after-hours networking event and at a fall coffee with business owners; members proposed a QR code at events and suggested using a Google Form for easy tabulation. They discussed survey design trade-offs: keeping the instrument short and largely yes/no to maximize participation while adding an opt-in follow-up question for businesses willing to share exact figures. Commissioners identified key data priorities: rent/lease pressure (including mid-lease renegotiation by landlords), utility-bill increases, year-over-year sales changes, quantity of purchases, supply-chain impacts, employment/hours reductions, and whether businesses had reduced product lines. The group assigned next steps: three commission volunteers will draft initial questions (one commissioner offered: "I'll take the first run through") and circulate them to the group before the next meeting; organizers planned to include the survey link in the August newsletter and to use after-hours and coffee events to collect more responses and to share summarized results later. Several participants suggested aggregating responses into percentages (e.g., share of businesses reporting a specific issue) and reserving requests for exact dollar figures for later confidential follow-up to encourage participation. No formal municipal policy or legislative action resulted from the discussion; commissioners described the exercise as information-gathering to support possible advocacy or an informational letter to representatives.