Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff, along with Chatham-Kent senior staff, are inviting the public you to join an online discussion on April 17, 2020, from 8:30 am to 9:30 am.
Municipal officials say the goal of the meeting is to discuss economic recovery and to bring community leaders together from a wide-variety of businesses from the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.
“It is imperative that we strategically plan so that we come out of this crisis better and stronger,” stated Mayor Darrin Caniff, in a media release.
“We have discussed this at Council and already implemented steps to counter the impact of this unprecedented situation. The Economic Development team has been reaching out to businesses across Chatham-Kent on a regular basis over the past several weeks. In addition, the Building and Planning Departments have been assisting businesses to follow through with plans for construction and development.”
Canniff added: “Now is the time to hear from everyone. We want to listen and learn so that we can develop a strategy for the future.”
The online facilitated event and will use a combination of tools including an interactive application called Thought Exchange, will look at:
– Economic impacts of COVID-19
– Identify pain-points and opportunities for businesses
– Discuss ways that we can plan together for economic recovery
– The opportunity to form a task force with potential sub-groups
Municipal officials say the feedback from this discussion will help determine next steps and actions that the municipality and businesses can take, opportunities for informed discussion important to industry, and tactics that businesses can integrate into their recovery plans.
“Our challenge is to help businesses successfully come out of this COVID-19 crisis,” stated John Norton, general manager of community development, in a media release.
“We laid out an ambitious Growth Strategy in the first part of 2020. This Growth Strategy will now need to be retooled in light of the economic impact of COVID-19. In the same way, some businesses might have to pivot towards new ways of doing things. It’s time to reach out to the community to get their thoughts on next steps.”
Norton added: “We know that a task force is not going to solve every problem or address economic conditions out of our control, but we also know that coming together and listening to each other can identify actions to be taken.”
To register for this event, visit www.investck.ca or email karenl@chatham-kent.ca.
