Director of Kent County Economic and Tourism Development Jamie Williams has looked closely at the data for the post-pandemic shutdowns and how it has affected county businesses and discovered a more robust economy than many expected.
“There were a couple (of businesses) that either didn’t reopen or shut down shortly after, but we found that there were usually other factors involved,” Williams says. She cites community effort, business grants, innovation, and helping each other as the formula that kept businesses open during the closures.
The pandemic also challenged the operational skills of all county departments. “We had to quickly figure out how to administer grants to help our business community. It’s not something that we had done in the past.” Since administering Covid grants, the Economic and Tourism Development team has streamlined the process for grant applications and disbursement.
According to Williams, the largest roadblock to stable business-generated economy is the labor shortage or what some call “the great resignation” affecting the international workforce. Chestertown is not immune, and for whatever reasons—Covid dropouts, burnout, employment changes— some “help wanted” signs hang on business doors throughout town.
The KCE&T Director hopes that people will consider that health insurance should be weighed as a significant benefit even with a lower hourly wage.
“I really try to encourage people to look at the benefits in conjunction with the dollar per hour because it’s not always about that dollar per hour.”
Williams would like to see more marketing outreach. Currently, EC& T advertises online and in trade publications that are circulated through trade shows but the KCE&T doesn’t have the budget to send representatives to them.
“We do have community ambassadors from businesses already here who attend trade shows and talk about what it’s like to do business in Kent County.”
Another goal for the EC&T is to identify locations where businesses can locate. The properties zoned for commercial development are listed on the KCE&T website that links to the Maryland Department of Commerce.
“We’ve actually been contacted in the last three months by the Maryland Department of Commerce about a property for a specific business. I’ve been doing this for eight years, and it’s the first time Commerce has contacted us. I think Kent County is really making a sustained effort to attract businesses to our county, and our plans for growth and development is starting to pay off.”
The Spy caught up with Jamie Williams last week to talk about our current county economy and the challenges we face.
This video is approximately seven minutes in length. For more information about Kent County Economic and Tourism Development, please visit their site here, and their Facebook page here.
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