WESTBROOK – Selden Von Herten, a property owner in Westbrook for the past 50 years, told Bill Baker last week that city officials need to be more open to the needs of businesspeople if they want to encourage new companies to move into town.

“It’s pretty hard for an investor or a developer to go to the city and get kicked in the pants,” he said.

Baker, Westbrook’s assistant city administrator for business and community relations, invited Von Herten and other business and property owners to an open-house event Sept. 20 at Flaherty Group and Northeast Properties, at 386 Bridgton Road.

The meeting was the second in a series Baker is hosting throughout the city to introduce himself to the business community and solicit ideas on how the city can help them. The next will be at noon on Thursday, Oct. 4, at Pike Industries at 58 Main St., and the final meeting will be at noon on Thursday, Oct. 18, at Acadia Insurance at 250 County Road.

“My function is at least to be an honest broker between you and the city,” Baker told group of about 10 people.

Gov. Paul LePage recently declared Westbrook to be a “business-friendly” community, but Von Herten said he could recall some years ago how a client who wanted to move into a building he owns on Bridgton Road wanted a drive-through window.

At the time, Von Herten said, a city official he approached on the subject said he wouldn’t permit a drive-through business of any kind, saying, “Not in my city.”

“Once (my client) heard that, he was out the door,” Von Herten said.

To illustrate that times may have changed since then, Baker responded, “Well, you’re in my city now,” and promised to be more open-minded in the future. At one time, he said, drive-through businesses were out of favor because of data suggesting they can cause traffic problems. But, he added, that depends upon the business, and rubber-stamp rejecting a business just because it may need a drive-through window is bad for development in the city.

“To say that all properties (wanting a drive-through) should be treated equally doesn’t make sense,” he said. “We come up with these zoning solutions that are one-size-fits-all, and that screws everybody up.”

Tim Flaherty, a broker at the Bridgton Road firm, also mentioned an ordinance set up in 2009 requiring homeowners who are building or expanding on property to put sprinklers in, with no exceptions.

Westbrook City Councilor Mike Sanphy, who attended Thursday’s meeting, said he fought to change that ordinance, because he knew it was hurting business.

“I said, that’s not right,” he said.

The ordinance was amended earlier this year to exempt single- and two-family homes. But Flaherty said enacting the ordinance in the first place was short-sighted by the city.

“It started to become a deal-killer for us,” he said.

While Flaherty understood the need to protect public safety, he said, there’s such a thing as over-regulating, as in the case of the sprinkler ordinance.

“We thought it was overkill,” he said.