A COVID-19 relief plan brought to council today was sent right back to staff for more work - after about two hours of discussion from council.
Among other measures, the plan proposed implementing a six-month no interest loan program for local businesses.
Council has already decided to use up to $2.5 million for COVID-19 relief efforts in town, a decision that was made on March 25. The money is coming from the $18 million set aside from the airport and COLLUS sales.
Among the agenda items for today’s council meeting (April 8) was approving a terms of reference for an Economic Support and Recovery Task Force, whose mandate is to come up with practical and impactful ideas the town can implement to help its businesses and residents recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The task force will include four members of council, nine community members, and town staff , and will present ideas and information to council. The first meeting of the task force will be next week.
Staff also proposed the loan program, a grant matching program to provide matching funds for private contributions made toward COVID-19 relief, and a digital business portal to act as a one-stop source for information on economic recovery initiatives.
But four councillors spoke out against a loan program proposing loans of up to $10,000 to local businesses for a maximum budget of $1 million for the program.
Councillor Kathy Jeffery said she was surprised to see the loan program request before council.
“I thought this would all be vetted through the task force,” said Jeffery. She said she was concerned at the town’s capacity to assess risk and approve loans when it has never been part of the municipality’s work. She was, however, interested in a loan program if there was a “fence” around it and if it could be overseen by people with the experience in issuing loans.
Councillor Yvonne Hamlin said she was “extremely” concerned about the loan program as proposed.
“I’m shocked we are considering this proposal today,” said Hamlin. “Our entire economy is in jeopardy. The answer to this problem will not be local. We do not have enough funds to bail out every business in Collingwood as much as we might like to.”
In fact the federal government has promised up to $40,000 loans to Canadian businesses to deal with lost revenue and increased expenses during the pandemic.
Chief Administrative Officer Fareed Amin said he agreed it is a national crisis and should have a national response.
“The only rationale for providing this support is to try and do something for our business community,” said Amin, adding the loan proposal was intended to address a gap as federal loans have not yet come to fruition. “If the federal government is going to hit businesses tomorrow, I would defer to the federal government and the banks.”
Councillor Deb Doherty said the town is not in the “business of making loans,” and she wanted to see the task force review the idea and advise council on their findings before she could vote in favour of a loan program.
“Should the task force come back to us and say we want a loan program … we can proceed and implement one at that moment,” she said.
Councillor Mariane McLeod said she had a different vision for how the $2.5 million in COVID-19 relief funding would be used.
“I voted for the $2.5 million not because I thought it was going to be loaned to businesses, but because I thought it was going into the pockets of Lifties and servers who can’t pay their rent.” she said. “We have to feed people first and keep roofs over their head.”
Councillor Tina Comi said she wanted to see more of the money allocated to charities and not-for-profits in town who can no longer host fundraising events.
“I’m seeing those offering food and services to those in need coming out to the community and asking ‘can you help us out?’” said Comi. “I would like to hear sooner than later that we are able to cut some cheques to these groups in need.”
In the end, council voted to refer the loan program, matching grant proposal, and digital business portal plan back to staff for further clarification and input from the task force.
