Essex County council wants to know whether or not its residents are getting a good level of value when it comes to investing in tourism and economic development.
At the recent council meeting, CAO Sandra Zwiers presented a report with results of a recent survey of county council members, economic development staff of the seven local municipalities and local CAO’s regarding Tourism Windsor-Essex-Pelee Island (TWEPI) and Invest Windsor-Essex (IWE).
“It was great to see the engagement and the number of responses,” said Zwiers.
The survey was prompted by a motion from Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers who wanted to know if Essex County was getting good value for its money when it came to the two discretionary regional shared services.
Results from the survey noted that only 43 percent believe that municipalities are getting good value when it comes to the services provided by IWE.
“The data shows that what they’ve done, doesn’t have full support,” said Rogers.
Results of the survey also indicated that 56 percent felt there was no duplication in what was being done at the local level and what IWE did and 53 percent responded that they were satisfied with IWE.
In 2024, Essex County budgeted $1,122,060 with IWE.
“I’ve made it abundantly clear that they (IWE) cannot count on county council continuing if we don’t see them stepping up,” said Warden Hilda MacDonald, who is a board member of IWE.
Responding, IWE Interim CEO Joe Goncalves said in a letter that his organization’s five-year strategic plan is three years overdue.
As far as TWEPI is concerned, the survey results were more upbeat as 88 per cent responded that the services it provides either compliments or augments those of local municipalities and 96 per cent said the county should continue to support TWEPI.
Essex County budgeted $782,700 in 2024.
“Overall, the results were quite positive but with any service there is always room for improvement,” said Zwiers about the overall survey results.
Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy felt the survey results to be helpful and wanted the process repeated in two years to see if there is any improvement in services from the two groups.
“I felt we were just cutting checks and now we have data,” said Bondy.
Lakeshore Mayor Tracey Bailey asked what the contribution of the City of Windsor towards TWEPI is and IWE to which Zwiers said it was 50/50 with the county.
LaSalle Mayor Crystal Meloche urged that IWE make a presentation to county council prior to the 2025 budget talks.
“They could be asking for more,” said Meloche.
County Council looks at best bang for buck from external commitments
By Fred Groves
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