The Town of Okotoks – with the help of the entrepreneurial ecosystem to which it belongs – has developed a short-and-long-term plan to assist businesses during the COVID-19 crisis, it was announced on April 6.
Angela Groeneveld, Okotoks economic development manager, along with members of the Okotoks Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, discussed the COVID-19 situation with business owners and entrepreneurs. She then presented a plan to the Okotoks Emergency Advisory Committee on April 1 on behalf of the ecosystem and economic development.
“I brought forward how we would be changing the economic development priorities for 2020 and what specifically the Town of Okotoks’ role will be,” Groeneveld said in an interview on April 3.
Groeneveld is also a specialist in economic disaster recovery, previously having worked with the High River 2013 flood recovery, assisting Fort McMurray in 2016 and others — going as far back as the BSE outbreak of 2003.
She presented a two-year-plan to the committee. The proposal has the first year based on sustainability and short-term recovery. The second year is based on long-term recovery.
“This plan will be adjusted every 30 days because we need to listen to the ecosystem as they talk to their members and we do these surveys – we will build the plan based on the needs of the business owners.”
The ecosystem consists of the Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce, Community Futures, Bow Valley College, McBride Career Group, Okotoks Arts Council, Okotoks Business Association, the Downtown Business Association and the Town of Okotoks.
A Businesses Resources and Recovery page has also been established on the town website with the assistance of the ecosystem.
“That recovery page is one we will try to drive all the business owners in town to get the information they need,” said Jayme Hall, executive director of the Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce. “So there is one cohesive place where they can go for information.”
All of the stakeholders in the ecosystem have contributed to that website.
“It’s not just the Chamber, or just Okotoks Business Association, it’s all of us working together to provide that resource for the greater business community,” Hall said. “That website is being constantly updated.”
Some of the information includes how to receive government funding, EI for employees and maintaining mental health.
Groeneveld said “where do we go to get information?” has been a common question among Okotoks area business owners.
“There is a specific tab that says ‘Business Recovery’ and we have a dedicated person that is researching resources all the time,” Groeneveld said. “If I was a business owner I would check that every day.”
There is also a dedicated person who will take phone calls and emails from 1 to 4 p.m. at 403-938-8052.
The no. 1 question is how long is this going to last?
“For a while, myself included, I thought this is a two-week event, in April we will be open,” Hall said. “As the data continues to come in, it is looking to be much longer than that. It is tricky to navigate.”
Groeneveld said it will be a long haul.
“The truth is they (business owners) have a very long road ahead of them,” Groeneveld said. “It’s a suppression level that is out of control… We need to sustain our businesses until July. We can get through this. We plan to give them hope with a plan with timelines… if we don’t have it right, we need to have them contact us and tell us what their plans are,” Groeneveld said.
She said businesses can contact the website, a town councillor or economic development.
“This message will give them some hope,” she said.
The emergency committee does not have final say on the plan. That is up to town council, which has it on its agenda for the April 27 meeting.
“One of council’s top priorities is providing the right support to help our business community’s long-term recovery and this plan will help direct those actions,” said Mayor Bill Robertson in a prepared statement. “One of the main agenda items at our next council meeting on April 27 will be to discuss the strategies and actions that will help achieve this.”
For the link to the Businesses Resources and Recovery go to https://www.okotoks.ca/doing-business/business-support-and-recovery
