(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Sheldon Spackman

Supporting The Community

Lacombe Economic Action Partnership launched in support of local businesses

Apr 17, 2020 | 12:13 PM

Wheels are in motion to help support Lacombe businesses weather the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, Lacombe city council approved allocating up to $20,000 worth of rental space at the Lacombe Memorial Centre in 2020 for the newly-created Lacombe Economic Action Partnership (LEAP) initiative, a sub-committee of Echo Lacombe.

Monica Bartman, LEAP spokesperson, says their aim is to figure out how they can have the most impact on the community and its businesses, both during and after the pandemic.

“We sort of joined forces with the Echo board. We have representation from Burman University School of Business, the Chamber obviously, and trying to partner with other businesses here locally to find out exactly that, what do they need and how can we make the most impact,” she explained.

Essentially, Bartman says the goal is to provide as much support as possible in whatever form that needs to take.

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“A lot of times, it’s just about making sure that correct information is available, and so that’s one of the priorities for sure,” she points out.

An additional LEAP request for $90,000 in city funding was voted down by city council. The money was to come from funds previously allocated to BOLT Transit, which the City of Lacombe has withdrawn from.

Councilor Reuben Konnik applauds the forward thinking of LEAP, but said he couldn’t support the $90,000 request, feeling it might be best for the City to hold onto the money for now.

“I’m really nervous about what our 2020 budget is going to look like in four or five months,” admits Konnik. “I would sooner just bank this money and see where we are in six months, because I suspect we’re going to need this $90,000 just to help the shortages in our current budget.”

“I am completely in support of this group forming and coming up with ideas and initiatives,” added Councillor Jonathan Jacobson. “But I think I’d be a lot more open to looking at something if it was a specific idea brought from the committee through the business community, that we can see some concrete ideas and measurables as to how this money is going to be deployed and we can see what the success of this is going to look like.”

Mayor Grant Creasey echoed similar sentiments, saying the $90,000 would do precious little to address the economic crisis businesses are facing right now.

“In saying that, I commend this group on their lofty goals and I think we need to support them in many of the focuses they have here,” says Creasey. “But to expect the taxpayer to spend additional dollars to make this happen is irresponsible as far as I’m concerned.”

“It wouldn’t have been money that the Echo Lacombe Association would be using,” noted Bartman about the $90,000. “It would be money that the LEAP initiative would be using for that purpose of helping to support businesses, whatever that may look like.”

Bartman says LEAP appreciates council’s decision and understands where they’re coming from.

“Anytime you’re using taxpayer dollars you need to be very prudent, and because at this time we don’t have specific projects lined-up and decisions made on exactly how the money would be spent, we can appreciate that that request was not approved,” explains Bartman. “But I can also say that council was supportive of the initiative, of the direction we’re trying to go, and the activities that we’re pursuing.”

In the meantime, as ideas and opportunities to help local businesses come up, Bartman says their plan is to return to council at that time and make further requests that are more specific.

“Specific projects with deadlines and objectives and budgets and all those kinds of things,” she suggests. “So we’re hopeful that they (council) would consider supporting some of those projects in a financial capacity as well.”

Bartman points to the recently-launched openlacombe.ca website as an example of a step already taken to help local businesses and the community during the pandemic.

“It’s our local version of a website to help Lacombe residents find out what businesses are operational and in what capacity,” she explains, “just trying to keep that information updated and available, so that the businesses that are able to continue operating, can get that word out to their clients and customers.”