Douglas EDC approves minutes, sets August grant strategy session with CMRPC

DOUGLAS -- July 1, 2026, Douglas Economic Development Commission sets August grant session as downtown projects await funding. The commission, meeting July 1, voted unanimously to accept its June 10 minutes with two corrections, a director title update and a commission name fix, then spent the bulk of the session reviewing an economic development webpage members said had not been updated in roughly 15 years, with population data still citing the 2010 census and at least one listed property already occupied. Guest Bob Minerich presented maps of two trail corridors: a mill parking lot parcel carrying approximately $88,000 in back taxes that blocks access to a town-held trail piece on Gilboa Street, and a roughly 730-foot B Street Riverwalk between Mechanic and Cook streets where the town owns land on both sides of the river. On downtown beautification, members identified sidewalk improvements, period lighting, and flower plantings as near-term goals and pointed to a T-Mobile grant that distributed $250,000 to five Massachusetts towns on June 25 as a possible model source; Unibank and Webster First were named as potential local funders for smaller plantings. The commission agreed its critical next step is bringing CMRPC staff in person to the August 5 meeting to walk through grant availability, with member Carrie expected to attend, because, as one member put it, "we can't do any of this without money."