The City of Airdrie recently held a Mayor’s Forum to address concerns of local business owners in the community.
On Oct. 4, 12 business owners came together with Mayor Peter Brown, City council and administrators to hear the City’s solutions to concerns they brought up at another forum in March.
“We asked the business community, large, medium, small and home-based, what we could do better as a City,” said Brown.
“We are looking into streamlining the process for businesses. We are very business friendly. If you have a challenge, we are willing to talk about it. The City is listening”
The City provides services to businesses such as distributing business permits, building inspections, planning, marketing and other resources.
The City is also working on streamlining its website to make it more user friendly.
“We are hoping to have that up and running by early next year,” said Kent Rupert, economic development team leader.
“We are looking to continuously get feedback on our processes, customer service and what businesses and residents are looking for from us. This is just one of the tools Airdrie Economic Development uses.”
According to two local businessmen, the City is doing a very good job meeting businesses’ needs.
Jim Hassett, partner at Hassett & Reid LLP, attended the Oct. 4 Mayor’s Forum and said he was pleased to see the City taking the time to listen to local business owners.
“I was really impressed with the scope of people involved and that they would take time out of their day to give feedback,” he said.
“I saw some excellent suggestions from the crowd and some excellent responses from the City. It is nice to see they are listening and making changes.”
Hassett said two of the main concerns from businesses were transparency, being open about what is required from developers and consistency both among municipalities and between City of Airdrie staff.
“What the City is trying to do, and in my opinion they are doing a great job, is to let us know the conditions up front,” he said.
Richard Priest, chief operating officer of APEX Development, agreed.
“Airdrie is the best municipality to work with in the Calgary area,” he said.
“They have been terrific and very open and responsive. They are timely and willing to hear other people’s opinions. They are very flexible with a clear directive.”
Brown said the relationship between local businesses and the City is crucial because current companies play a big role in attracting new industry to the community.
“They are our active ambassadors. Many of our new business comes from existing businesses,” he said. “We need to grow that sector in our local economy. We have to increase our commercial and industrial base. It is the only way to cover the tax base.”
The business to residential ratio in Airdrie is currently 85 per cent to 15 per cent.
Brown said an important part of the relationship between businesses and the municipality is flexibility.
“Not every situation is identical and we need to work with each other to see what works on an individual basis,” he said.
“We need to show them that Airdrie is the place to be. We are on the Calgary-Edmonton corridor and there is no business tax here. We are set up to support them.”
Brown said he would like to see the forum become a bi-annual event.
