CEDC going paperless, hiring help with marketing

Members of the Canton Economic Development Corporation agreed to purchase tablets and software to allow for paperless board meetings.

At the Nov. 24 meeting, the board agreed to purchase 10 Lenovo Yoga tablets at a cost of $199 each. The tablets will be used by the seven board members and three staff members.

Information for the meetings will be placed in a Dropbox account for download, CEDC Executive Director Seymore said.

The tablets perform “like a digital book,” Seymore said, and won’t have other aps or programs on them. “It’s just a reader,” she said.

The total cost for the tablets, protective covers and software is $3,088. The funds will come from the CEDC office equipment budget.

The board also agreed to spend its marketing money with a company called Site Location Partnership, a business that offers site selection services and business recruitment for economic development.

The company, based in Flower Mound, “helps EDCs implement business attraction strategies,” Seymore said.

Seymore recommended the CEDC spent $12,500 of its $20,000 marketing budget to employ SLP.

“They do promotion and development – introduce you to developers and site selectors,” she said. “We have a $20,000 marketing budget and we have been spending it on industry publications. That’s a crapshoot.”

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