Committee Recommends County create a tourism marketing job

Jeff Green | Aug 30, 2023

The Frontenac County Planning and Economic Development Advisory Committee provided support last month for proposals by the economic development department to add a new full time position to their ranks, at their meeting on August 16.

Currently there are two members of the department. Richard Allen is the manager, and he has been spending about half of his time working on the development of the K&P Trail project, which is slated to be completed within the next two years. Debbie Miller, Community Development Officer, divides her time between marketing work and developing relationships with the local business community.

The new position, which was already tabled at Frontenac County Council earlier this year, for consideration in the 2024 budget, comes with a $120,000 annual cost. The impact on the budget would likely be phased in, resulting in an increase of somewhere in the order of .4% per year, for 3 years.

Richard Allen explained to the committee that the recruitment process for the new position would be somewhat open-ended, in order to find “the right fit” to complement the skill sets of the two existing members of the department.

The new position is the lynch pin that other plans for the department depend upon. Earlier in the meeting, Allen provided background for the committee on a multi-year Destination Development Plan that was initiated by the department in 2022, which requires extra staffing to complete.

And later in the meeting, a proposal for a brand new tourism website to replace the Infrontenac.ca site that was developed a few years back, was also brought forward.

The cost of the new site was pegged at $50,000 to $70,000 – dependent on the results of an RFP process. While the cost of the project is “expected to be funded through the Community Development Reserve in 2024” according to a staff report to the committee.

Another item on the committee agenda, the establishment of a $100,000 reserve to promote doctor recruitment, also includes a reference to the proposal for a new member of the economic development team.

“The economic development team is currently working at capacity and cannot increase the support it currently provides for physician recruitment unless more human resources are added to the unit. If capacity were increased to support tourism or another element of the operation, additional attention and support could be provided to assist with physician recruitment.”

The committee, which is made up of Frontenac County Council members as well as citizen appointees, does not have the authority to approve financial requests, but its recommendations will inform the budget process that begins in late October.

“The proposal for a new staff position will be included in the budget as a project proposal, just like any other proposal for new funding, and will be debated as part of the budget as a whole,” Allen said.

“Whether we support this or not, it will come forward to the budget, will it not?” asked Warden Ron Vandwal, one of the council members on the committee.

“Yes it will,” said Allen, “but if it has been turned down by this committee it will be a bigger hill to climb for us when we get in front of Council in October,” said Allen.

Other members of the committee wondered whether contracting out the work, or making the new position a one year contract had been considered. It was also mentioned that, with the trail coming to completion, much of Richard Allen's own time will be able to be redirected, so there will be an increase in the capacity of the department, even without hiring a new person.

Joe Gallivan, the County Director of Planning and Economic Development, intervened before the vote was taken.

He pointed out that the investment by Frontenac County into Economic Development is the lowest among neighbouring rural municipalities such as Lennox and Addington, Leeds Grenville, and Hastings County, “and we don't even want to look at how many people there are in the Prince Edward County department” he said.

The committee passed a motion in support of the proposal for a new position.

The next step will be the 2024 budget process in October, which will culminate when the budget is approved, which will likely happen in early December.