WILTON — The Board of Selectpersons agreed Tuesday to continue discussions with the Buxton Group and three other towns regarding use of the company’s services as a potential economic development tool.

Town managers and two selectpersons from four towns – Wilton, Farmington, Jay and Livermore Falls – met this week with representatives from Buxton Group and Alison Hagerstrom from Greater Franklin Development Corporation.

“It is really to our advantage to explore,” Chairman Tiffany Maiuri said of what she called a “data mining company” which has an exclusive contract with VISA to secure customer spending data and social economic demographics.

Maiuri and Selectperson John Black attended the meeting with Town Manager Rhonda Irish for Wilton.

While Buxton’s role is not to recruit brand restaurants or major franchise retailers, the data they can provide will help indicate the potential customer base for restaurants and businesses to use while considering development here, Irish said.

According to the Buxton Group website, Tom Buxton founded the company based on his belief that “any retailer can achieve greater success and growth by understanding its customer and that there is a science behind identifying who that customer is, where that customer is, and which customers are the most valuable.”

The data provided by Buxton Group may help identify which retail businesses or restaurants could be a good fit for economic development in this area, she said.

“It is not a magic bullet for any community but it is just one more egg in the basket,” she said of tools used for economic development.

With a $50,000-per-year price tag along with $10,000 extra charged for the first year, the four towns may have the option of banding together as one customer and share the expense, she said.

The towns are within a 15-minute drive of each other which is considered the potential distance, by the group, many diners will travel to eat out, she said.

There is also potential for current businesses in town to learn about and carry items that local people want and buy according to the data received, Black said.

Each town is going back to the their own boards for approval to continue the discussions on a three-year contract with the Buxton Group so the towns can work as a region instead of independently, Irish said.

“We work well together,” Maiuri said of the towns. “There is less competition now. We need to look at what is the outcome at the end.” 

There is potential for using town Tax Increment Financing(TIF) funds to help pay the expense although one town does not have that option, Irish said.

In other business, the board approved the purchase of a tire changer/balancer for the Highway Department using the $3,507 realized from the sale of the 2011 police cruiser.

Two quotes were received on the piece of equipment, Irish said. One from Motor Supply for $3,700 and one from NAPA for $4,877.99.

Irish checked with the insurance company and the department is covered as long as it is used for town vehicles only, she said.

Police Chief Heidi Wilcox gave her approval for the use of the funds. The police department spends a minimum of $400 a year to secure tire work from area garages.

The equipment will only be used on light town vehicles and not on any large trucks or equipment, Irish said.

The board unanimously approved the Motor Supply bid.

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