Clearwater town council and Wells Gray Country services committee have identified five key goals for economic development, councillor Gord Heisterman announced during a town council meeting held Sept. 8.
Heisterman is the chair of District of Clearwater's economic development committee.
The goals are:
1. Business retention and expansion – strengthen the existing businesses operating in the community, measured by growth among local businesses and the expansion of their local labour forces. It should also be recognized another key outcome will be the support provided to businesses that face challenges but remain in business in the community.
2. Supporting business – To increase the effectiveness and efficiency with which the DOC is able to work with the business community. The focus will be to ensure client satisfaction and timeliness of responses to their enquiries and would be measured by personal testimonials from the business community.
3. Marketing – Ensuring that the DOC website becomes a more effective tool in communication that Clearwater is a desirable place t live and do business, and that data on the website remains current and relevant. Success will be measured by improvements in usage metrics such as the number of people visiting the site and the length of time they are on the site.
4. Support for business attraction and expansion – To expand the business services offered in the community with the measure highlighting how tasks are being translated to actual new business opportunities.
5. Labor force support and success planning – To see local business attract and retain local workers that they need for their operations with the measure being a higher satisfaction among local businesses in their success in identifying and hiring local workers.
The five goals were identified out of a list of 15 during a joint goal-setting exercise held Aug. 18.
According to the minutes of the economic development committee meeting in August, it was suggested during that the District host a “pub night” (provide snacks but no alcohol) with Clearwater and District Chamber of Commerce to discuss economic development priorities, including a small survey.
Councillor Merlin Blackwell reported that MercurySpeed has doubled the speed of its Internet service in the Clearwater area.
Chief administrative officer Leslie Groulx agreed to contact Telus about its expansion into rural areas.