A group of about 35 local businessmen and -women are trying to come up with a new “brand” for Brunswick, to help the town find a new marketing identity.
Dissatisfaction with a slogan effort coined two years ago — “Its All Here, All Year” — led to the current “doover,” Town Manager Gary Brown said during Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting.
Although in its embryonic stage, town Business Development Manager Denise Clavette said the redefinition effort is slated to be complete by April, in time for the coming tourism season. The group will pitch numerous ideas and find the new slogan by an asyet undefined consensus.
Councilors also set a March 4 public hearing to discuss proposed tax increment financing, or TIF, districts for Brunswick Landing.
The districts would allow the town to shield new property tax revenue on the former base without adversely affecting state school funding and county tax formulas.
At-large Councilor John Richardson explained that getting the hearing done as quickly as possible is a “critically important” step for the town to preserve the former base’s low 2012 property valuation.
Brunswick also must determine the percentage of tax revenue to be sheltered within the TIFs, as well as designate how, and for what, the funds would be reinvested.
In other business, the status of the town’s proposed railroad “quiet zones” remains in a holding pattern. Pan Am Railways, which controls the local tracks, and the Federal Railroad Authority disagree over how traffic over railroad crossings is calculated. The result is that Brunswick remains caught in the middle, and until agreement between the two bodies is reached, trains will continue to blow their whistles when they pass through town.
Brown added that construction of the new police station at Stanwood and Pleasant streets is on-track for September completion. According to general contractor Ledgewood Construction, all of the foundation will be poured by the end of the week, three weeks of steel work are to begin on March 4, and that by completion 162 local people will have been employed to work on the project.
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