Draft report on post-COVID economic recovery headed to council, but doubts linger

The draft report of Mayor Fred Eiesenberger's economic recovery task force lists dozens upondozens of suggestions to help the city rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic's toll on business.

But one question remains: will they even be implemented?

"How do we then ensure we act upon these recommendations None of us want our time to have gone to waste and for this report to end up on a shelf, gathering dust," Keanin Loomis, president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, said during a task force meeting on Thursday.

That question comes after months of the task force meeting and planning as the pandemic has bulliedbusinesses and ended thousands of jobs.

The draft report offers "quick wins" and long-term goals created by seven working groups:

• Small business, restaurants, Main Street areas and not-for-profits.
• Manufacturing and life sciences.
• Agriculture and circular economy.
• Arts and culture.
• Tourism and hospitality.
• Workplace and office.
• Transportation, building and infrastructure.

While there are some points that contradict each other in the report, the working groups point outthere are alsocommon themes. In both cases, it's unclear how city staff will work out contending issues or merge similar recommendations.

Read the full draft report of the Mayor's Task Force On Economic Recovery here:

But Jason Thorne, the city's general manager of planning and economic development, expressed optimism when responding to Loomis's question.

"We will see the recommendations of the report emerging through a few different ways through motions championed by individual councillors, some coming forwardthrough future staff reports and some coming through the update to the economic developmentaction plan," he said.

Coun. John-Paul Danko(Ward 8) acknowledged city council can be hesitantto act, but said he thinks Eisenberger will want to take on some of the recommendations immediately,as other councillors look to the "quick wins."

He also suggested groups could nudge councillors about recommendations that could be implemented sooner rather than later.

Coun. Nrinder Nann(Ward 3)said recommendations that council can advocate for to higher levels of government would also be "quite doable."

"I don't think, Keanin, we will be shelving this report. I think many of us are paying really close attention to what's being recommended here. Some of these recommendationsare going to continue needing to evolve as well over the next year into 2022," she said.

"One of the recommendations in the report could be that until the list is exhaustedand while we remain in a recovery phase, that councilreview the recommendations on an annual basis to see what's been accomplished and what remains to be done."