Adam Prudhomme
Editor
County of Lennox & Addington’s Economic Development Coalition has formed a new task force to help businesses get ready to re-launch the local economy.
Expanding on the already existing Economic Development Coalition that comprises business leaders across all sectors of L&A, coalition membership has expanded to include staff representation from L&A’s four partner municipalities (Addington Highlands, Greater Napanee, Loyalist and Stone Mills).
In total, membership will be expanded to 17 individuals: three members of L&A County Council, 10 business representatives and four representatives from Lennox and Addington partner municipalities.
“It’s to make sure they were included within plans for us starting to get ready to open up,” L&A County warden Marg Isbester said of expanding to include lower tier representation. “Larger and smaller municipalities have never had to do this before. It isn’t like we’ve had a practice run. Part of it was to inform businesses that are wanting to re-open of the things that will be mandatory. Physical distancing, hand washing. The same sorts of things that we’re doing as individuals. It’s to provide support for that.”
Among the responsibilities for the task force will be providing advice and support for re-starting, re-opening, and re-launching the local economy when given the appropriate authority from provincial and federal government officials. Each member of the coalition will bring a unique perspective to the table based on their geography.
“You can imagine how differently retail is looked at in Greater Napanee to say, Loyalist,” said Isbester. “It is looked at very differently because we have our downtown and we have our uptown. They don’t have as much, they have more service industry and maybe they depend more on Kingston for where people do their shopping. Stone Mills has all kinds of things like tourism and campgrounds and artisans and so on that they need to look at. Addington Highlands, same thing. It’s a huge cottage country and they’re trying to serve people that are there full time and part time. Just to get everybody on board to make sure that we’re all looking out of the same lens and adjusting it to the lens that goes with the different area.”
The members will also keep in touch with L&A County Council to share information in support of advocating for the needs of the local business community to the provincial and federal governments.
“Also a huge part of it is to help people that have started online sales and setting up their websites and getting used to what might be the new normal,” added Isbester.
That help will include online courses and webinars for local businesses.
The task force will also keep in contact with L&A’s Economic Development Office on business impacts across the County.
“The task force will provide insight to our economic development staff, and as a collective we can help support businesses through these very difficult circumstances,” stated Isbester. “As the economy slowly begins to open up, the task force will help our businesses and residents find the right path going forward.”
Over the weekend the first stages of the Ontario economy began to re-open with the likes of garden centres, home improvement stores and retail stores with a street entrance getting the nod from Premier Doug Ford to re-open. Isbester credited the provincial government for being a great resource throughout the lockdown.
To keep up with ongoing updates, L&A County’s task force will meet monthly for the foreseeable future. They’ll also discuss safety measures to put in place in the event they have to close certain businesses to prevent an outbreak. They’ll work closely with Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public health to ensure all bases are covered.
“Our local community and economy are preparing for the staged reopening in confidence that we will apply the lessons learned from the first wave to all subsequent waves,” said KFLA Public Health’s officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore. “We have worked very well together to minimize the impact of this disease and will continue to do so. We are very proud of our community.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, KFLA Public Health reported all 61 of their total cases had been resolved. That bodes well for the region as they get set to slowly open once given approval from the upper levels of government.
In the meantime, there have been some local success stories from businesses who have managed to still serve the community through a virtual format or have stayed open.
“We should be proud of a lot of our businesses no matter where they are,” added Isbester. “They really have done a lot for themselves, certainly with the help of the County’s economic development and all the lower tiers getting them information and so on as to advance wages, information as to who can be open and who can be closed, but there have been some amazing innovations that have allowed people to get going. I applaud them. Then there are some that have really struggled with it and we need to make sure that we help everyone.”
For more information about support services available to local businesses, visit www.lennox-addington.on.ca/covid-19.