Hartford mayor announces City Hall veteran to head new small business office
Michael Puffer | Hartford Business Journal
Don Chapman, center, speaks at a Tuesday press conference at which Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, right, announced his appointment to head up the new Office of the Small Business One-Stop.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam has named a veteran planner with two decades of experience in City Hall to head a newly created office intended to help small businesses navigate city bureaucracy and thrive.
Don Chapman, a figure already known to city businesses and officials, will take the role of director of the new Office of the Business One-Stop, Arulampalam announced at a Tuesday morning press conference at the Blue Hills Café, a social club struggling to gain traction on Asylum Avenue.
Chapman, speaking after the event, said he expects to start in late January.
“If you want to start a new business and you want to know who to call up, what permits you need, what the process looks like, there’s one place to go to, one number to call,” Arulampalam said. “If you have an existing business in this city and you have an issue with City Hall and you don’t know which department it is or who you need to talk to, there's one number for you to call, one place to go to.”
Declaring he wanted to make Hartford “the easiest place to do business in the entire state of Connecticut,” Arulampalam said Chapman’s name had repeatedly come up in his discussions with business owners when he was on the campaign trail.
Chapman had worked for the city as a senior planner from 2000 to 2003, according to his LinkedIn profile, and then again as a principal planner for 11 years starting in 2003.
Chapman next served as director of Community and Small Business Development for seven years until December 2021. For the past two years, he served as executive director of Rebuilding Together Hartford Inc., a nonprofit that helps disadvantaged Hartford residents repair their homes.
The Office of the Business One-Stop will be located in the Department of Development Services, allowing close access to relevant staff, but Chapman will report directly to Arulampalam. He will also have a subordinate, a position that has not yet been filled.
Chapman will begin with a $124,186 annual salary.
The new office and Chapman’s appointment to head it were welcomed by business owners in the crowd at Tuesday’s press conference.
Kirkland Brown and Damian Levy, co-owners of the Blue Hills Café, said they hoped Chapman would help them with their application for a city matching “forgivable” loan to repair the façade of their business. The café is open now for events, but the partners hope to open with regular hours.
Carlos Mouta, a prominent commercial and residential developer focused on the Parkville neighborhood, said he has long advocated for this type of position.
“We need a voice to help small businesses get things done faster,” Mouta said. “Not that we couldn’t get things done, it just should be faster.”
Amber “Ace” Andaleeb, whose family business has bought and rehabbed multiple multifamily and mixed-use properties in the Albany Avenue area, recalled Chapman had helped him with a zoning issue when the Andaleeb family began investing in Hartford 16 years ago.
“When I came to the city of Hartford, he was a big help,” Andaleeb said. “He’s the right guy for the job because that’s what he does.”
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