Squamish's new economic sustainability co-ordinator's activities are missing one crucial ingredient: a marketing strategy, says Coun. Ron Sander.
On Tuesday (Feb. 14), Dan McRae, whom the district hired last June, presented an update on the municipality's economic development activities to council's Committee of the Whole meeting. Since taking on the role, McRae has been developing relationships with local businesses and economic development organizations. McRae has followed up with companies interested in moving to the municipality and worked on maximizing business opportunities for local events.
"We generated a couple of referrals from the business retention and action plan that are considering working in Squamish," he said.
While the work so far is sound, Sander questioned why economic marketing wasn't a part of the new co-ordinator's work scope.
"These are key to really bringing in some really big-ticket jobs," he said.
The marketing strategy is a part of the district's economic development three-year plan, said Cameron Chalmers, the district's general manager of community services. The plan doesn't have to run in a linear fashion, he noted. The biggest question municipal officials wanted to answer was what to market, Chalmers said.
Coun. Susan Chapelle agreed with that logic. She said she hopes the co-ordinator is given enough resources to undertake such a project.
"You have to have your house in order before you invite people in," Chapelle said.
McRae's presentation followed the findings in Squamish's business retention and expansion study. Having interviewed 73 companies in industries from health care to retail, the report provided a snapshot of Squamish's economy.
Fifty-four per cent of business owners interviewed in the survey stated that their businesses were growing. On average, Squamish businesses are planning for a five per cent growth in the coming year and 19 per cent in the next three years.
Of the 52 per cent of companies that stated they planned to expand in the next three years, 91 per cent of them said they would remain in Squamish.
More than 78 per cent of companies said they had no problems retaining employees, but 41 per cent noted they had difficulty recruiting employees.
On the down side, the businesses stated there wasn't enough sites to allow for business expansion. Fifty-eight per cent of businesses said the district needed more areas for commercial development.
The district plans to compile a draft strategic action plan using the information. Workshops will be held with stakeholders to come up with solutions addressing the highlighted problems, McRae said. District officials expect to bring those recommendations back to council in April.
Chapelle suggested the district would get more accurate information by breaking down the survey into different areas.
"There is not a lot of space for professionals to work in our town yet," she noted.
Coun. Bryan Raiser asked how the district's survey compared to that of the Squamish Chamber of Commerce business survey. Chalmers said he had not seen the survey.
