Tay council feels the Economic Development Corporation of North Simcoe (EDCNS) needs to match its representation of the township with the cheques the municipality cuts for it.
The matter was brought up by Coun. Jeff Bumstead at a recent meeting.
"We all pay into EDCNS, but when I see programs that could benefit Tay, not happening in Tay, and one business being featured, it raises questions," he said.
Bumstead was talking about the farm crawl video series that the EDCNS produced in partnership with Tiny Township, Bruce Grey Simcoe and Tourism Simcoe County.
"It was a great series," he said, adding, "I was disappointed, but also pleased, that there was a business in there located in Tay Township."
However, Bumstead said the featured business actually has a Tiny Township mailing address.
"One of the campaigns they did was a buy local promotion," he said. "A lot of our businesses, because we don't have a downtown core, you don't know about them. I'd like to see more emphasis by the EDCNS in promoting them better through a video series and with generating some type of communication with businesses. The misnomer is if they're not on Facebook, they're not there. Not all businesses are on Facebook."
Coun. Paul Raymond agreed, but added it needed fleshing out
"I would appreciate it if this were brought back for more discussion," he said. "Tay Township is sorely underrepresented by EDCNS. When I look at the amount of cheques we're writing, most businesses don't even know about them."
The money Raymond was referring to is funding that the township gives to the EDCNS, which claims to "promote and foster sustainable economic growth" in the area.
Tay has paid the non-profit 66,460 in 2019, increasing it to 67,980 in 2020 and has budgeted the same for 2021.
Daryl O'Shea, general manager, corporate services manager of technology services, said he had recently scheduled a meeting with Melissa Elsdon, tourism coordinator – Heart of Georgian Bay, to discuss engaging Tay in a better way.
"We had a lengthy conversation about different ways we'd like to see EDCNS and Heart of Georgian Bay engaging Tay," said O'Shea. "We're in the hunt for a local business owner that skates. We'd like to get hem over to the Tay Community Rink to spotlight them as part of We Live It, You Love It campaign. (And) we've talked about some wayfinding signage."
However, with the Tay Rink closed for the season, plans may have changed.
The matter is set to make a comeback to council for further discussion at a future meeting.
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