ST. PAUL/ELK POINT - The St. Paul/Elk Point region will be getting a little help to bounce back from the trying economic times being felt before and during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to some grant funds aimed at economic development.
Earlier this month, the Town of St. Paul, County of St. Paul and Town of Elk Point were each presented with information from Mark Baxter of Outlook Market Research and Consulting. Baxter had been working with the St. Paul & District Chamber of Commerce on a project before the pandemic occurred, and work was put on pause for a period of time.
On July 13, Baxter joined the Town of St. Paul online council meeting, and then spoke with the County of St. Paul council the following day through similar means.
Baxter explained that he felt it would be beneficial to put the Chamber of Commerce's remaining funds from its Labour Scan and Plan project with the Alberta Community Partnership (ACP) grant accessed by the County of St. Paul, Town of St. Paul, Town of Elk Point and Summer Village of Horseshoe Bay. The ACP grant is meant to help the partners put together an economic development service delivery framework and is worth $125,000.
The proposal put forward by Baxter and the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce has three main components. The first includes a clear intent to hire an Economic Development Officer (EDO) to represent the partnership. Also, a Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) project will gather data and create the business relationships necessary for the partnership and EDO to succeed, according to information presented to councils.
Lastly, the St. Paul and District Chamber of Commerce has $50,000 remaining in its Labour Scan and Plan project that it can leverage to augment the BRE project with a Workforce Development (WD) project.
Baxter said he felt approaching the project in this way would be much more efficient, while acknowledging a fairly aggressive timeline would be in place. Obviously, part of the focus of the project is to get businesses back on their feet, heard council. It was also noted that by the time an EDO is hired, there will already be a structure in place to work off. An EDO could be hired as early as January 2021.
If the partners don't feel anything is being accomplished by March of 2022, the project can easily be shut down.
During the Town of St. Paul's meeting, Baxter said he felt it was a "unique opportunity" for the municipalities and Chamber of Commerce to be able to leverage the funds in this way and respond to the effects of the pandemic in real time.
During the July 16 Committee of the Whole meeting, Town of St. Paul council agreed to award the Business Retention and Expansion Project to Outlook Market Research and collaborate with the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce. A second motion to award the St. Paul Regional Economic Development Committee Set-up Project to Outlook Market Research was also approved. The County of St. Paul made similar motions at the July 14 regular meeting, which were also approved.
Town of St. Paul CAO Kim Heyman said she felt the project was one of the most positive things the municipalities could do to help businesses move forward and hopefully stabilize the local economy.
Elk Point
Asked by Town of Elk Point Coun. Tim Smereka at the July 13 council meeting if he had previously worked successfully with groups of small communities, Baxter said, “It can be a challenge, but the chances of success are much better than they were 20 years ago,” with all levels of government encouraging cooperation. “It’s a good fit for business engagement if councils can see eye to eye. I have seen it succeed, and I have seen it fail.”
The project is “not just something the CAOs thought would work,” noted Elk Point CAO Ken Gwozdz, during discussions on July 13.
“The Elk Point chamber would be the first point of contact” for the local businesses, Baxter told the council. “It’s really key to successfully finishing this project.”
Deputy Mayor Terri Hampson, who is also the president of the Elk Point and District Chamber of Commerce, agreed and said the chamber “would absolutely be on board.”
Later in the meeting, after council moved to support the County of St. Paul to award the Regional Economic Development Committee setup project and the Business Retention and Expansion project to Outlook Market Research, Mayor Lorne Young told council, “I look forward to seeing where this will take us.”
*With files from Vicki Booker - Elk Point Review
