Woburn To Add Economic Development Role With $332K Donation

WOBURN, MA — Woburn officials will use over $300,000 in donated funds to hire an economic development manager for a three-year term, after the City Council voted to accept the donation at a recent meeting.

The city received $332,380.25 from the Woburn Development and Financial Corporation as a gift, Mayor Scott Galvin told the council in a memo Jan. 18.

The corporation, described by the Daily Times Chronicle as a "quasi-public entity that had spent much of the past half-century eying economic incentives and redevelopment opportunities for the Woburn Center area," is dissolving itself, Galvin said.

Recent initiatives funded by the corporation include the 2018 DowntownStorefront Improvement Program.

The corporation gave its remaining assets to the city "on the condition those funds be spent

only on economic development-related matters and initiatives," according to Galvin's memo.

"It is my intention to use the bulk of this funding to hire an economic development manager to
work under the daily supervision of Planning Board Director Tina Cassidy," Galvin said. "The position would be a three-year term (contract) position paid for exclusively by this gift."

The council quickly approved the donation at their Jan. 18 meeting but asked that Galvin or Cassidy appear before them at some point soon to offer more details.

The full meeting is available here from Woburn Public Media Center.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.