Small Business Committee, June & July 2025
June 10, 2025
City Website’s New Small Business Resource
Staff worked on adding it to the dropdown menu (not just on the rotating banner at the top of the home page). You can now find it as a link under the Business menu.
Staff still need to follow up with Lacy (owner of This ‘N That Consignments) to get her thoughts on the small business resource. (She came to our committee in the spring to share some of her less-than-desirable experiences as a small business owner moving locations.)
Kurt followed up with staff on improving their processes to better serve small business owners looking to start or move a business within the city.
Staff have created small business cards promoting the resource, and they are updating the application for permits to also include more information. Staff are still trying to figure out how to reach people before they make purchases or sign leases. People don’t know about zoning - don’t know to ask. Councilmember Haake suggested talking with the CDC and Mike Stater at the SBDC.
Community Impact Award
Nominations are ongoing and close on August 1. We have received 11 so far. The committee agreed to help promote the award.
Duke Energy Grant via Warren County Foundation
The city of Mason is receiving this grant, but the award is being delayed as the CEO of WCF is very ill.
Flow chart of development process.
I asked about how the city will share the new flowchart showing what the process is when a new development of any kind comes into the city. We talked about where this will go - it hasn’t been implemented yet as the city is in transition between systems now. They will add it as a resource when people get letters about a request for a zoning variance or conditional use.
July 15, 2025
Community Impact Award
Awards nominations continue to be slow to come in. As of that day, the city had received 13 award nominations. We need to push nominations through the deadline.
MADE Chamber president Sherry Taylor shared a concern she received from a chamber member about this award. (Last year, we presented the award during the chamber’s annual Gems of Excellence event.) The member wanted to know if the chamber was involved in selecting the winner of the Community Impact Award, and if the winner was required to be a chamber member. The implication was that they believed if the award was given during the chamber’s event, the chamber should be involved and/or recipients should be chamber members. We clarified again that this is a city award selected by our committee.
In light of that, we discussed another time/place to present the award. Staff member Jenna suggested we do it at the Heritage Festival, which is Sept 20. We all agreed that is an excellent alternative and will give the finalists and winning business a lot of publicity in the process.
Duke Energy Small Business Grants
Mayor Nelson updated our committee on the details of this grant. We will convene a small board of folks who will set the parameters for these grants and select winners. The funds will go from Duke through the Warren County Foundation to the grant recipients. We will announce the award winners in our November council meeting.
Small Business Guide
Staff shared that they published an article about the guide in most recent Centerpointe, along with an ad with a QR code to the guide.
They have also add information about the guide to the new online permit portal.
