ROCKLAND — On Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 22 and 23, Rockland Mayor Frank Isganitis will be in Los Angeles, trading ideas and business strategies with representatives from municipalities larger, by far, than the 7,000-plus population of Rockland.

As one of the winners of the Startup in a Day Initiative grant, a Rockland representative was invited to the third annual Big Ideas for Small Business Summit, sponsored by the National League of Cities and the City of Los Angeles.

Because Rockland only received the invitation last month, neither Rockland City Manager James Chaousis, nor Rockland Community Development Director Audra Caler-Bell, were available to attend. Therefore Isganitis will attend on Rockland’s behalf. The National League of Cities is underwriting everything except airfare, according to Isganitis.

As small as Rockland is, it still boasts two Maine Small Business of the Year winners (Heidi Neal of Loyal Biscuit and Kate McLeer of Bixby and Co.), and two State of Maine Community Development Block Grant winners (Midcoast Music Academy and Bixby & Co. who will both receive $50,000 grants for the purpose of expansion).

Isganitis described the summit as a brainstorming session of the grant winners on how to develop programing “so there might be some continuity, or that we could leverage ideas together on how it was going to be implemented.”

During the Sept. 14 Rockland City Council meeting, Isganitis emphasized the privilege he feels to be, “in good company of major players in urban settings to brainstorm on how we might integrate this aspect into a website and design, and hopefully be able to share some information with them on some things that we’re working on, as well.”

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com.