On the job

Despite accomplishments, community and economic development file faces uphill battle at council table

It was a long presentation—perhaps too long for some of the grey hairs around the council table. But there was a lot to cover. Neil Carbone pointed to nearly $2.5 million in earned media—the County’s story told in publications as diverse as the Guardian newspaper, Conde Nast, The Washington Post and the LCBO’s Food & Drink magazine. He talked about 66 new business start-ups so far in 2016 and 60 investment leads and inquiries representing $32 million in potential investment.

He pointed to his department’s revival of the Build a New Life portal and that it now attracts thousands of prospective investors, entrepreneurs and families to consider life in the County.

The department manages a wide range of files, including destination marketing, surplus lands and real estate, economic development, visitor services, grants and contracts, and downtown revitalization as well as providing input on development approvals and stewarding the development of the County’s overall corporate strategic plan.

Carbone, along with members of the Community and Economic Development Commission outlined a long list of accomplishments and successes. This included an explanatory presentation by commission member Christine Winiarz Searle on a comprehensive set of key performance measures, established for and implemented by the commission tied directly to its strategic goals.

But for some on council, this file is hard to process. When they approve the rebuilding of Union Road—they can see the new road. When they spend money on Picton infrastructure they can see the road blocked and rusty pipes being replaced. Community development is harder to measure.

Some figure the money spent doesn’t go far enough, others figure it goes to far. One councillor raised his hand to say that he’d rather see the department do five things, instead of trying 20 things and failing. He offered no indication of the 15 or so things he figured the department might stop doing, nor evidence of any failing.

“I hope you have a plan B,” cautioned Councillor Gord Fox. He had nothing more. It is hard to know what the councillor has in mind. But Fox’s argument ran counter to that of the Commission’s newest member, Adam Busscher.

Busscher and his family has owned and operated the Home Hardware business in Picton for 40 years. Despite a track record as an employer and investor in this community, he noted with some chagrin that his business had only recently appeared on the County’s economic development radar.

“We were always surprised that the economic development office had never asked how they could help us,” said Busscher.

Unlike Fox, Busscher says he is impressed by the number and range of files pursued by the Community and Economic Development Commission. In particular, Busscher was pleased to see of the County’s recent business retention and expansion study that examined the issues around staffing in the building and agriculture sectors in the County.

“This is a tool our business can use,” Busscher told council.

Most council members were impressed by the depth and breadth of the department’s activities, as well as the success achieved this year.

“I am impressed and frankly a bit amazed that with the small budget you have the distance this department has covered,” said Picton councillor Lenny Epstein. “Do you have the capacity to execute some of these big files?”

Carbone said that when asked this question in the past his answer was always that he had the resources to do the job. He admitted to feeling the strain recently—particularly as development inquiries begin to consume more of CDC time. He noted, too, that his department was absorbing the visitor services role from the Chamber of Commerce with little impact on the cost to provide this service.

Despite a thorough presentation, there remain skeptics when council spends money on things it can’t see.

Councillor Roy Pennell, for one, has a narrow view of community and economic development. He says he needs proof, in the form of numbers of jobs created, to justify the County’s investment in community and economic development and priming the economic engine—the equivalent of a farmer withholding seeds until the soil can guarantee him a satisfactory return even though it has done so year after year.

Fellow Ameliasburgh councillor Janice Maynard, on the other hand, says pointing to job gains is cherry picking—she wants to know who is investing in the County and how many have been lost.

“Who are these businesses?” asked Maynard, unsure whether the investment these businesses made warranted the County’s efforts to attract them. “What have we lost?”

They were, on this day in any event, in the minority.