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Economic board discusses pilot community calendar with school interns and chamber tie-in
Summary
Members discussed creating a community calendar to promote small businesses and events, explored using high-school interns for setup and maintenance, and agreed to ask a Chamber/school representative to brief the board at a future meeting.
Members of the Grand Island Economic Development Advisory Board spent the largest portion of the meeting discussing the design and governance of a proposed community calendar intended to promote local events and small businesses.
Board members described two possible approaches: integrate a community calendar as a town-hosted page that permits layered feeds (school, chamber, town), or host a separate visitor-and-locals site focused on economic development and promotions. Several members proposed a one-year pilot and suggested using high-school interns to set up the calendar and assist with content, with the Chamber and school contributing students and staff oversight.
Jen told the board the school could provide students who need internship hours and gave specific hour ranges for program requirements: "80 hours over the summer or 52 hours over the fall," which the board cited when discussing intern capacity and scheduling.
Why it matters: Board members said an accessible, aggregated calendar could help small businesses promote events, avoid scheduling conflicts, and attract visitors. They discussed technical options such as widgets, layering school/chamber/town calendars, and whether the town or a separate site should host the content.
Decisions and next steps: The board agreed to ask Cheryl (the Chamber/school contact referenced in materials) to brief the group at a future meeting and to prepare a short scope of objectives before that meeting so Cheryl and any students can propose a feasible work plan. Members asked Jose to share town process documents and asked Dave to locate the board—s most recent mission statement to include at the top of future meeting packets as a "North Star" for scope decisions.
No formal vote was required; the board deferred final decisions about hosting, approval workflows, and budgets until they receive input from Cheryl and can more precisely define desired outcomes.
