Focus group tabled due to lack of volunteers

Village of Fredonia officials were hoping for as many as three dozen participants in a brainstorming session planned for next week to help determine a branding strategy for Fredonia.

Tuesday night they counted up the number of volunteers.

Zero.

“Nobody signed up,” Economic Development Committee Chairman T.J. Meyers-Jansky told committee members at their Tuesday meeting.

“I’m shocked. I had a lot of people say they were interested,” Village Trustee Joshua Haas said. “It just blows my mind.”

“Me too,” Meyers-Jansky said. “I wasn’t thinking this would even happen.”

“Not exactly a rollicking success,” Village President Don Dohrwardt said.

Trying to figure out why there was no response, committee members theorized that their effort competed with residents preparing for school and dealing with the aftermath of the recent storms.

“People are still fighting their way back out of the storm,” Meyers-Jansky said.

They decided to scuttle, at least temporarily, the plan to hold a focus group meeting next Tuesday.

They instead focused on another plan to get feedback from residents, ultimately deciding to include a list of questions in the monthly water bill that will go out in October.

With about 500 water and sewer customers, they are hoping to get at least 20 responses, they said.

To provide an incentive for residents to respond, those who fill out the questionnaire will get a coupon for a free cookie or doughnut from Miriam’s Bakery in Fredonia, they said.

They also are inviting non-residents to share their impressions of Fredonia.

“I think it might be interesting to hear what outsiders think of Fredonia,” Haas said.

Questions they are posing to non-residents are:

When you think about community, what three words come to mind?

What three things are most important to you in a community?

What communities do you admire?

When you drive through other com-munities, what is the first thing you look for?

Non-residents and residents are invited to answer those three questions and send their answers to Meyers-Jansky at tjmeyersjansky@village.fredonia.wi.us.

Respondents are asked to include their hometown in their responses.

Village residents will be asked at least two additional questions, including:

What is unique about the Village of Fredonia?

If you were convincing someone to move to the Village of Fredonia, what would you tell them?

Committee members also discussed plans to launch Small Business Saturday on Nov. 24, a citizen of the year program, an effort to honor local veterans through street signs and a social media campaign to recognize local businesses.

The next Economic Development Committee meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19.