COCHRANE— The COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force presented a unique idea to Council Monday (Feb. 8) intended to help local businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
Town of Cochrane Business Development Manager and Task Force lead Mike Korman was on hand for the meeting and proposed the idea of creating a COVID Recovery Grant Program as a form of aid to local businesses.
The idea was inspired by Mayor Jeff Genung who introduced the Task Force to the $20,000 COVID Recovery Grant Program in the City of Leduc after learning of the program at a Mid-Sized Cities meeting.
The municipality partnered with the Leduc and Wetaskiwin Regional Chamber of Commerce to roll out the program and provide additional assistance to small businesses to cover COVID-19 related expenses up to $600 per business. The funds were flagged for businesses requiring a third-party qualified local accountant or bookkeeper that could aid in understanding government support available and help businesses apply.
The goal was to have businesses receive aid in understanding program details, collecting the required information and preparing or completing documentation needed for government support including the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, Canada Emergency Business Account, Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, Canada Recovery Benefit and Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant.
Korman proposed a similar program be established in Cochrane.
The Leduc COVID-19 grant was put in place about three weeks ago and has seen an uptake of around 100 businesses, Genung said. He added Airdrie and Chestermere are investigating implementing similar grant programs.
"What I particularly liked about this is, it's been no secret that municipally we don't have a lot that we can do financially to assist businesses either than small tweaks here and there," Genung said. "We are at the whim of the COVID pandemic just like every other community. With a relatively small amount of money ... Could we potentially save a business and have them have access to these provincial and federal levels of financial assistance and maybe create jobs and have a greater impact on our local economy."
The Cochrane and District Chamber of Commerce supported the idea of launching a grant program, Korman said. He added they are ready and willing to work with the Town to help roll it out if Council approves the grant funding.
"The Chamber is excited about the potential of this program," Korman said.
The total funding for the grant will need to be investigated. If the grant is approved the funds will likely be taken from the Economic Development budget.
"Right now, we don't know where we take the money to provide this grant," Korman said. "$20,000 would be about as much as the budget could potentially afford. But, we would have to determine what project wouldn't be done this year because we have allocated all of our money to projects already."
Councillor Marni Fedeyko said she questioned the merits of providing the business grant to help local businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic. She added to her knowledge she does not know of a business that is unaware of the current COVID-19 government grants available.
"I don't know if hiring an accountant or bookkeepers to tell them about grants that are already available that they've had the last year or so to investigate on their own— I'm not sure our business community has already done that," Fedeyko said.
If the Town agrees to use $20,000 it needs to ensure it serves as the best way to meet the needs of local businesses, Fedeyko said. She noted there are other ideas being talked about behind the scenes that could also serve to aid the local economy.
"I'm just skeptical as to whether or not this is where we should be planting all our eggs in a basket," Fedeyko said. "I just wonder if there are not some other ideas we could talk about before we vote on this and give it the push forward."
Coun. Susan Flowers said she spoke with Leduc and Wetaskiwin and was told businesses have already accessed the program and greatly appreciate the impact it is having.
Flowers said she believes $20,000 may not be enough to match the expected demand in the community and was concerned about where the funding would come from.
"It would be a shame to have to stop it halfway through and say no more," Flowers said.
Council directed Town administration to explore creating a COVID Recovery Grant program that will appear before Council for consideration at a future meeting.
