OLDS — Coun. Mitch Thomson is concerned that the town may be losing businesses, as a result of business shut-downs to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
During council’s Jan. 25 meeting, he asked Larry Wright, the town’s strategy and technology officer, if the town has any data to compare the number of businesses alive today, compared to pre-pandemic numbers.
“For example, our occupancy rates in the town, are business locations being used? Has that changed over the last seven months? Are we tracking this kind of data,” Thomson asked.
"We are trying to track storefronts in different businesses. We’re walking and talking and we provided detailed listings to our business community through our websites and through our coordination efforts with all businesses,” Wright said.
“We don’t have detailed information right now and we’re using our secretariat to obtain as much information as possible.”
Wright said he had provided Jennifer Lutz, a deputy director of the town’s incident command post, with a “detailed list” of “business programs and support mechanisms.”
