R. Phillips provided an overview of the major initiatives that the Economic Development & Culture office had worked on from January to November 2021.
Highlighted items included the delivery of a Virtual Advisory program that had assisted local business owners in overcoming challenges and barriers in their ventures as a result of COVID. The program was delivered with a $32,000 grant from the province and additional divisional operating funds were redirected to the program to enable more businesses to access specialized professional advice.
R. Phillips said that the Economic Development & Culture office had offered two Digital Main Street programs in 2021. The second version of the program ended in March and contributed $115,000 to businesses in Dufferin County. The third version of the Digital Transformation Grant program, which began in August, had, to date, awarded $2,500 grants to 28 businesses with another 22 applications approved for funding. R. Phillips advised that the third Digital program would wrap up in late February 2022.
R. Phillips advised that work on the Community Improvement Plan (CIP) continued and that a virtual public meeting was held in November to provide updates and an overview of emerging proposed directions for the Town's new CIP.
R. Phillips reported that an Economic Impact Study and Phase 1 & 2 Environmental Assessments for the vacant land at 82, 86-90 Broadway had been completed in 2021, and that no remediation would be required at the location. She said that a Parking Review would also be presented to Council in early 2022.
R. Phillips said that site remediation of the property at 30 Centennial Road was completed in the Fall and that the site was now ready for development of the new Orangeville Fire Station.
R. Phillips said that with the adoption of the Tourism Strategy in January 2021, staff had moved forward to complete a number of first year recommendations, including the introduction of a new tourism blog and Driftscape app featuring tourism attractions, new additions to the photography library, and updated Way Finding Signage.
She presented the new tourism brand, 'Love, Orangeville" which was adopted by Council in November and advised that the new brand 'Love, Orangeville' would be incorporated to tourism promotional materials. She said that a Tourism micro-website would be launched early in 2022 using the new branding.
Goals for 2022 were outlined. R. Phillips said that if a grant application was successful, the Economic Development & Culture office would offer a Local Business Accelerator program to downtown Orangeville entrepreneurs in 2022. The Local Business Accelerator program would provide a detailed market analysis of the downtown core and help identify and fill gaps for participating area businesses. She stated that the Local Business Accelerator program would help offset the impact of the Broadway reconstruction scheduled for Fall 2022.
R. Phillips said that in 2022 the Economic Development & Culture office would work with the Planning Division to initiate steps towards the implementation of the CIP after its approval by Council.
She indicated that the Economic Development & Culture office would continue to respond to the impact of COVID on businesses and give priority to supporting business recovery efforts.
R. Phillips said that the current Small Business Enterprise Centre contract would expire in March 2022 and that staff would be working on a new SBEC business plan to guide the program over the next contractual period.
R. Phillips advised that the operational agreements with Theatre Orangeville for Opera House Management and the Visitor Information Centre would expire in December 2022, and that new contracts would be developed in the coming year.
She indicated that a Memorandum of Understanding with the BIA to clarify roles in joint services delivered by the Town and BIA would be drafted for Council review and approval.