Carmel newsletter gently pumps local firms

CARMEL – As part of his quarterly community newsletter, Carmel Town Manager Tom Richmond likes to add a little splash of business.

For about a year now, Richmond has included business features in the newsletter, focusing attention on local operations including a woodshop and a snowmobile, motorcycle and small-engine repair shop. Some may be familiar to local residents, others not so familiar.

These brief features add a light touch to such weighty matters as the town budget, the tax-cap proposal and a pedophile who moved into town.

“We’re just trying to serve the community, to make people aware of what is going on around them,” Richmond said.

Hank’s Repair was featured in the spring issue of the newsletter. After that, owner Craig Babcock said he saw interest increase in his business, tucked away on a dead-end road off Route 2.

“I think it definitely generated some attention,” said Babcock, who took the operation over from his father, Henry Babcock, in 1996. “A lot of people didn’t know it was here.”

Over the years, Hank’s Repair has expanded to include lawn and forest equipment and Japanese motorcycle repairs. Empty storage space has been turned into a redemption center.

“Henry, was it a well worked out plan or did it just work out well,” Richmond wrote in the newsletter. “In either case, it’s nice to have a local service business for the residents.”

Discount Towing is the latest business to be featured.

Owner Mike Mellott said Discount Towing started out as a trucking company in 1988 and has become one of the largest towing companies in the country. Part of his work includes free towing for municipal vehicles, such as school buses or fire department vehicles, in a half-dozen communities in the area, service he provides a couple of dozen times a year.

“I feel that every citizen should give back to the community, and that’s my way of giving back to the community,” Mellott said.

For Mellott, the feature story was much appreciated, and he said it is recognition for the community service his and other businesses provide.