Elgin County 2011 Year In Review

20 1 1 Y E A R I N R E V I E W

Message from the Warden On behalf of Elgin County Council, please accept our best wishes for a prosperous and healthy 2012.

redevelopment from Port Burwell to Port Glasgow with Port Stanley in between.

In looking back over this year, I see that the County continues to strengthen its important partnerships. In looking forward, we will continue to build on these alliances.

We are a county that is “Progressive by Nature.” With a new County Official Plan coming on stream, we will have the opportunity to shape our local communities.

Many exciting events were undertaken in 2011, as you will see from this report. While building on the success of the Savour Elgin campaign, we also launched the Elgin Arts Trail program, a unique venture that will encourage residents and visitors to see the work of our talented artisans across Elgin and St. Thomas.

Elgin County has an entrepreneurial spirit and an abundant and skilled work force; small businesses thrive in our creative economy.

We do have a great place to live, work and play!

To explore opportunities, please call 519 -631-1460 x 168.

We have wonderful natural assets that have economic development and tourism potential. We are blessed with clean and bountiful drinking water to support economic development throughout our county, as well as lake-front

Warden Bill Walters

As warden, I look forward to working with council, staff and our partners to explore the great opportunities we have here. And, I encourage you to learn more about “Progressive by Nature.”

“small businesses

thrive in our

creative economy”

Council Members Warden David Mennill (Township of Malahide)

CEEDTAC:

Councillor Bernie Wiehle (Municipality of West Elgin)

Councillor Bill Walters – County Council

Councillor Cameron McWilliam (Municipality of Dutton/Dunwich)

Councillor Cameron McWilliam- County Council

Councillor Jim McIntyre (Township of Southwold)

Chair Donna Lunn- Agri-business

Councillor William Walters (Municipality of Central Elgin)

Roberto Quai – Tourism

Councillor David Marr (Municipality of Central Elgin)

Bryan White – Advanced Manufacturing

Councillor Jack Couckuyt (Town of Aylmer)

Jack Vanderkooy – Agri-business

Councillor Jim Jenkins (Township of Malahide)

Deb Mountenay – Labour/Workforce Development

Councillor Paul Ens (Municipality of Bayham)

Neil Bossuyt – Energy & Environment Brett Hueston – Creative Rural Economy Grace McGartland – Creative Rural Economy Rhonda Stewart – Community Futures Development Corporation

“Our goals support the overall

vision and desired outcomes of the economic

development planning process”

Our Mission The County of Elgin’s Economic Development Department was established to promote economic growth in the region through the attraction, retention, and support of new business investment.

Investment Readiness

The mandate of the department is to work in partnership with the partner municipalities as well as business, industry and other levels of government to advance the County’s economic interests and to seek out strategic opportunities to enhance economic development within the County of Elgin.

Pursue Partnerships and Outreach in the Community

The County of Elgin’s Economic Development Department is underpinned by four high level goals, intended to anchor and qualify all strategic initiatives or ensuing actions on the part of the County and its partner municipalities.

Ensure that the County is effectively promoting the assets, talents and opportunities available and enhancing the profile of the County to a targeted audience of visitor and business interests.

These goals also support the overall vision and desired outcomes of the economic development planning process.

They encourage prosperity and opportunity for the County and its residents.

Growth in Key Industries

Enhance opportunities for the expansion of local business and the attraction of new business investment and entrepreneurs to the County.

Take a leadership role in advocating and supporting strategic and collaborative economic development partnerships.

Effective Marketing and Promotion of Elgin County

Encourage and support the growth and expansion of the County’s existing industry base and create focused opportunities for future investment attraction efforts.

Economic Development ensures that the County is effectively promoting the assets, talents and opportunities available.

Strategic Studies Elgin County Economic Development Strategy & Action Plan 2011-2014 Elgin County has a new Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan for 2011-2014. This four-year strategy takes stock of the accomplishments of the department since its inception in 2006 and outlines the strategy for the coming years, providing a new direction in the context of the creative rural economy.

The strategy was developed as a response to the decline in the manufacturing industry as well as shifts taking place within the national, provincial and local economies.

The result has been a decided shift towards support for ‘creative industries.’ Developing talent and innovation is the basis for this strategy which focuses on creative people and knowledge as economic generators. Supporting entrepreneurs and small business is of primary importance as is promoting Elgin County’s available employment lands. This strategy will tell Elgin’s story, celebrating and promoting quality of place in a way that will attract and retain talented and innovative businesses and residents.

“We’re really excited about this new phase,” says Economic Development General Manager Alan Smith, “The role of the department is to foster and help create an environment that supports the growth of the economy and prosperity for Elgin’s businesses and residents.”

Strategic Partnerships St. Thomas EDC and Elgin Business Resource Centre In 2011, Elgin County Economic Development continued their partnership with the St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation and the Elgin Business Resource Centre on two large scale initiatives - The Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) and the Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs (ICE).

The Small Business Enterprise Centre assists small business owners and entrepreneurs to succeed in the business market. The Centre offers several services including: free business counselling, networking opportunities and business registration.

The Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs (ICE) opened in June 2011. This mixed-use business incubator supports entrepreneurs and business development and has already attracted several client businesses.

Local Food Charter In 2011, Economic Development partnered with the Elgin St. Thomas Health Unit and other stakeholders to form the Local Food Charter.

A Food Charter is a guide for all levels of government, business, communities and families that links sustainable food policies to community action, resulting in more individual and community capacity to achieve long term solutions.

As a guide, the food charter: • Is an ideal vehicle for providing strategic direction • Promotes food security and supports healthy food systems • Is a declaration defining a common approach to food security • Identifies the right of all residents to adequate amounts of affordable, safe, nutritious, and culturally-acceptable food

Local food is food that comes from a source as close to home as possible. The goal is to have Elgin residents choose “Elgin First.” Elgin grown, fresh and processed products should be the first choice of those who work, live and play in Elgin County. If those choices are not available, then products from Ontario or Canada should be selected.

If 10,000 families purchased $2.00 per week of locally produced food this would shift $20,000 per week, or $1,040,000 per year, to local producers. An estimated economic multiplier of at least two is associated with such shifts, meaning an additional $2,080,000 in regional economic activity would be generated per year.

Elgin County Ambassador of the Year Elgin County is pleased to announce that Grace McGartland, Chair of the Arts & Cookery Bank in West Lorne, is Elgin County’s Ambassador of the Year for 2011.

This award is based on points that are given to Elgin County Ambassadors for a variety of items including attendance at quarterly meetings, recruiting new members, promoting Elgin County at external events, and providing Elgin County Economic Development with business leads.

Grace has made considerable contributions to the program over the past year. She has attended all quarterly meetings, and hosted one herself at the Arts & Cookery Bank. She has represented Elgin County and its programs at several events including: the Women’s Lifestyle Show and FreshFest, and has presented at the Queen’s University Business School conference on the creative rural economy and the Elgin Business Resource Centre’s “Bridges to Better Business” conference. Grace sits on the County of Elgin Economic Development and Tourism Advisory Committee and represents Elgin County on the Board of Directors of the Southwest Ontario Tourism Corporation. In addition, she was instrumental in organizing the Western Elgin Interactive Showcase in October 2011 which helped to promote small businesses in the western part of Elgin. Elgin County Economic Development would like to thank Grace for her creativity, enthusiasm and commitment to the program.

“Economic Development would like to thank Grace McGartland for her creativity, enthusiasm and commitment to the Elgin County Ambassador Program”

Successful Events The Elgin County Conference Series

Bridges to Better Business

London Wine & Food Show

Elgin County’s Economic Development department was pleased to present the third and fourth installments of the Elgin County Conference Series in 2011.

Elgin County was a sponsor of the Elgin St. Thomas Bridges to Better Business Conference in October. The focus of the 2011 conference was “finding your business place in the creative economy.” Attendees had the opportunity to learn from business experts, network with fellow business owners and entrepreneurs and learn what local consumers look for from businesses.

Informative seminars were offered on cloud computing, website marketing, branding, networking and sales.

Elgin County Economic Development brought the Savour Elgin campaign to the London Wine & Food Show in January 2011.

Approximately 15 Elgin County restaurants, wineries and food producers joined Savour Elgin to create an Elgin County display that filled 20 percent of the show floor.

Nurturing the Harvest was held in March and focused on organic farming. This one-day seminar advanced the agricultural community towards a profitable, sustainable future. This seminar gave farmers, agricultural service providers and rural leaders the opportunity to discover how to diversify crops through certification processes, sustainable food systems and maximizing the use of their land.

Doing Business with the Government, held in November, was a one-day seminar that showcased business and funding opportunities available to small businesses through all levels of government. This seminar gave small businesses in Elgin County an opportunity to learn about the process of doing business with the government and applying for funding at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. Topics presented included: the funding application process, funding availability, procurement and purchasing processes and accessing the market for agricultural producers. Dynamic keynote presentations were delivered by speakers ranging from successful business owners to ministry representatives.

Attendees participated in engaging roundtable discussions on today’s business issues including business incubation and Youth Opportunities in Entrepreneurship.

Keynote Speaker Dan Taylor, President and CEO of the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corporation & Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster, delivered an engaging presentation on the new emerging creative economy.

A Mardi Gras theme was used to attract visitors to the Elgin County area. Green, purple and yellow balloons formed arches that marked the entrances to the Elgin County area and each visitor was given a strand of colourful Mardi Gras beads as a souvenir. Local folk music group The Jammin’ in the Cabin Gang serenaded a delighted crowd of onlookers with a live concert on the final day of the show.

The London Wine & Food Show is now in its sixth year of operation and is always one the most eagerly anticipated events in London.

This was Elgin’s third year participating in the show, and the Elgin County area continues to generate excitement and interest for Elgin’s tourism sector.

Marketing & Branding Economic Developers Council of Ontario 2011 In February, the Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) presented three awards to Elgin County in recognition of its excellent strategies for promoting tourism, specifically culinary tourism, throughout the County.

effectively marketing Elgin County’s restaurants, events, farms and wineries. There is a strict participation and membership admission structure in place, ensuring the quality and consistency of service throughout. To date, 16 businesses have become members of Savour Elgin which exceeded expectations.

Elgin was presented with awards for their 2009 Year in Review Report, the new Savour Elgin Brand for culinary tourism as well as the Savour Elgin website. Elgin County also received Honourable Mentions for the Savour Elgin Culinary Guide, the Elgin County Tourism website, and the Interactive Tool on the Tourism and Savour Elgin websites.

The Savour Elgin Program was also a nominee for the prestigious Lieutenant Governor’s Award which recognizes marketing excellence.

2011 Warden Dave Mennill noted, “Our goal was to stand out in a crowd and continue being “Progressive by Nature” by taking a proactive approach in marketing one of our targeted sectors, culinary tourism.”

Culinary tourism is a growing industry and with many consumers choosing to vacation locally, the culinary tourism industry is in the perfect position to take advantage of this trend. With the objective of attracting highly sought-after culinary tourists, Elgin County decided to create an identity for the culinary tourism sector campaign.

IEDC Awards recognize the world’s best economic development programs and partnerships, marketing materials, and the year’s most influential leaders. The awards are presented at the IEDC Annual Conference and this year Elgin County received an award for its Savour Elgin Culinary Guide and the Savour Elgin website, www.savourelgin.ca.

The Savour Elgin brand and website were created with the assistance of a dedicated steering committee and marketing specialists Yfactor, and are efficiently and

The Culinary Guide is a portable information source designed to fit in a purse or glove box of a car. The Guide features all members of the Savour Elgin program with original photography

International Economic Development Council 2011 The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) presented Elgin County with two awards in recognition of its excellent marketing materials for promoting culinary tourism throughout the County.

and a personal story behind each business, allowing visitors to get to know the people and places they might visit. Some businesses have also included recipes and ingredient lists of specialized dishes for people to make at home.

The Savour Elgin website gives visitors a taste of what they’ll experience in Elgin County. The website features each member of the Savour Elgin program and it also incorporates the Tourism Ytool which makes it easy for website visitors to find out about events, restaurants or hotels and to quickly create individual itineraries for their upcoming visit to Elgin County. Interactive maps make locating the destinations effortless for prospective tourists.

These are the third and fourth awards that have been presented to Elgin for their Savour Elgin program. Warden Mennill noted, “We have exceeded our expectations with this program, and are thrilled with the results. Through our proactive approach to marketing we have created excellent materials for visitors who come to Elgin County and hopefully the Culinary Guide and website makes their trips more informative and enjoyable.”

Arts, and particularly visual arts, are becoming an increasingly strong driver of tourism and perceptions of tourism destinations. Arts tourism is considered part of cultural tourism, which is one of the largest and fastest growing global tourism markets. Recognizing this fact, Elgin County Economic Development launched the Elgin Arts Trail program in September 2011. The Elgin Arts Trail was developed by Elgin-St. Thomas Tourism in partnership with the Elgin Business Resource Centre and the St. ThomasElgin Public Art Centre.

The Trail invites visitors and residents alike to celebrate the finest visual arts attractions that Elgin County has to offer. The Trail seeks to build local awareness of the artists in Elgin and St. Thomas, evoking a sense of community pride and having a positive impact on the local economy by increasing artisan revenue.

The Elgin Arts Trail takes visitors on a journey to 12 studios and galleries across Elgin County and St. Thomas, featuring original paintings, sculptures, photography, pottery, and other hand-crafted items. Comprehensive resources including a guide book, map and website are available to steer visitors in the right direction. The 12 locations on the trail were carefully selected based on a set of criteria designed to ensure superior quality and a memorable experience.

Investment Success Elgin Innovation Centre Located in the town of Aylmer, the Elgin Innovation Centre is a 1,000,000 sq ft industrial complex. Formerly the Imperial Tobacco Plant, this facility was used to bail, dry, clean and process locally grown tobacco leaves. The plant permanently closed its doors in 2007 after over 60 years in operation.

A group of local and regional business people toured the facility to get a sense of what could be done to revitalize the complex and bring jobs back to the community. They were soon introduced to a potential tenant from Manitoba who agreed to join their group. Together they approached Imperial Tobacco with their job creating vision and Imperial accepted their offer to purchase the facility in 2010.

The group is currently in the process of dividing the complex into smaller areas, customized for a variety of different tenants, with the objective of maximizing jobs per sq ft. The size of the complex makes it suitable for a variety of different uses. The facility has areas with or without loading docks, with low or high ceilings, and with insulated and heated manufacturing areas or unheated warehouse space.

A diverse group of businesses already call the Elgin Innovation Centre home: V-Bins Ontario LP: V-Bins is a leading manufacturer of agricultural storage systems featuring an exclusive, easy clean-out system.

The enhanced V-Slip paint technology, along with higher quality

standards, has established V-Bins as a revolutionary storage provider in today’s agricultural industry. Custom powder-coating will be offered at V-Bins as well as bins that can be used in a wide variety of manufacturing processes.

Elgin Plastix: Elgin Plastix Inc. specializes in plastic reduction.

Industrial waste stream plastics and large plastics are reduced to pellet form to be recycled into new products such as flower pots and decking material.

Ontario Provincial Police: The Ontario Provincial Police are using an area of the complex to build and simulate a variety of training experiences for police officers.

Excel Manufacturing: Excel Manufacturing is a steel manufacturing company building custom products for their clients. They specialize in automotive racking and mezzanine platforms. The company is currently doing machining jobs that were once done in Windsor.

Custom Quality Manufacturing: Custom Quality Manufacturing is a steel manufacturing company equipped with a state-of-the-art laser cutter. They are mainly focused on building snow plows, but are capable of building just about anything.

Storage: The facility offers winter storage for motorhomes, boats and trailers, 3000 sq ft of furniture storage and 25,000 sq ft of heated long term equipment storage.

Currently there are approximately 750,000 sq ft of space remaining for lease in the Elgin Innovation Centre. The Elgin Innovation Centre is able to customize space to meet the needs of any business, large or small. Available space includes: office areas with reception, meeting rooms, lunch rooms, a large cafeteria area, lots of parking and areas for out-door storage.

Amenities include: 8 Megawatt Hydro service, natural gas, 30 ft ceiling clearances, loading docks, a sprinkler system and video surveillance.

The Elgin Innovation Centre is ideally located within several minutes of major transportation routes and within a two-hour drive of the United States border. There is a well-trained local workforce and the centre is supported by all levels of government.

Elgin County is poised to be a leader in solar renewable energy projects with the help of our strong labour market and our vast land resources.

Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs (ICE) The Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs (ICE) officially opened its doors in June of 2011 and is the first mixeduse business incubator in Elgin County and St. Thomas.

ICE delivers services and opportunities to promising entrepreneurs in a variety of industries and is located within the Elgin Business Resource Centre (EBRC), at 300 South Edgeware Rd., St. Thomas.

ICE is a partnership between the St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation, the EBRC and the Government of Canada. Elgin County is a major supporter of ICE, cofunding the Small Business Enterprise Centre, which aids in the delivery of several ICE services. The General Manager of Economic Development for Elgin County sits on the board of directors of ICE. ICE has a total of 7,000 sq ft of office and manufacturing space for as many as 12 companies to use as their home for up to three years. Construction of this facility was made possible by a contribution from the Government of Canada’s

Community Adjustment Fund, and additional contributions by more than 25 businesses and individual donors.

The program offers a variety of resources including business counselling and consulting, entrepreneurial training, mentorship, physical space, common services and networking connections.

The rigorous ICE program sets targets for business activity and growth, and will allow clients to better compete in the marketplace increasing the likelihood that their businesses will succeed.

It had long been apparent that there was a need for this type of facility in Elgin County and St. Thomas and shortly after it opened its doors ICE received over 40 applications. Four companies have established themselves at the ICE premises, having met the criteria for the program, and are building their customer bases while gaining the skills and knowledge needed for longterm success.

Elgin County Services Elgin County has eight full service departments to help your business grow. To contact any one of our departments dial 519-631-1460 and the accompanying extension, or visit our websites for more information.

Administrative Services x156 (Includes Planning Services) Community and Cultural Services x148 (Includes Archives, Museum and Libraries) Economic Development and Tourism Services x168 Engineering Services x162 Financial Services x144 Human Resources x155 Information Technology x157 Provincial Offences Office (POA) x118

Elgin County on the web: www.progressivebynature.com www.elgincounty.ca www.elgintourist.com www.savourelgin.ca www.elginartstrail.ca

Municipal Partnerships The Municipality of Bayham

Town of Aylmer

The Municipality of Bayham has again seen solid progress in 2011 with continuation of a number of projects and initiatives.

The Elgin Innovation Centre was established in the former Imperial Tobacco Plant. They are attracting tenants to the facility and have become home to a second manufacturing location for Vidir Bins of Morris, Manitoba. Vidir Bins is retrofitting a portion of the facility to produce a patented vertical storage bin for use by the agricultural and food processing sectors. It is expected to create 20 jobs and an additional 35 manufacturing, sales, distribution and management positions over the next five years.

Progress continues on the Elgin Military Museum’s project to obtain the retired submarine HMCS Ojibwa and develop a new museum site in the Municipality. The development is expected to draw 90,000 visitors annually to the Port Burwell Harbour area when fully developed.

The Municipality has made significant investment in infrastructure, including the Port Burwell Pier, which is currently being fully resurfaced. The Port Burwell Harbour and Beach area had one of its busiest seasons in recent memory with a large number of visitors enjoying the beach amenities and recreational boating throughout the summer.

Bayham’s annual festivals continued to prosper in 2011 including the very popular Watermelon Festival, Tub Daze and Edison Fest. In September, the municipality again participated in Doors Open East Elgin, showcasing the museums, lighthouse and other area attractions.

Development also continued through 2011 even with the on-going world economic condition.

Construction has progressed with development of two new small subdivisions, and the Municipality was successful in obtaining significant funding towards improvement of water supply for the community of Richmond.

The Municipality is also nearing completion of its Waste Management Master Plan, which will provide a community plan for waste services for the next 20 years.

Enns Furniture Finishing and Enns Textiles, which opened in the Aylmer Business Park in the spring of 2009, received Sand Plains Community Development funding to retrofit their furniture finishing and small scale textile manufacturing facility, increase their production and generate cash flow for further expansion.

This expansion will create six full-time jobs and two part-time jobs. They have purchased additional industrial land in 2011 with plans to expand their business in the future.

Infrastructure Projects for 2011 include new sanitary sewers and crossings at Catfish Creek, along with replacement of a portion of the water main on Talbot St., complete replacement of lagoon cell #1, and paving projects in the industrial park.

Township of Malahide The Township of Malahide has had a very exciting and eventful 2011. The Township has completed its first full year of operations at the Malahide Community Place in Springfield and the South Dorchester Community Hall and Fire Hall in Lyons.

Both facilities have performed well during the first full year of operations, particularly with regard to the number of events and customer satisfaction.

The Township continues to seek out new business and agribusiness opportunities. The Township is in the process of its five year Official Plan review with a focus on smart sustainable

growth, respecting our agricultural roots and enabling the township to achieve its long term social, cultural, economic and environmental goals. The Township has also undertaken the completion of an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan and Master Parks and Recreation Plan to complement the Official Plan. All of these are scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2012.

The Municipality of Central Elgin Central Elgin continues to pursue its vision of transforming Port Stanley Harbour into a vibrant waterfront that will attract residents and visitors. In 2011, the Municipality acquired the 4.25 acre Richardson grain handling facility property. The Municipality is working towards the redevelopment of this property in keeping with its vision of the harbour. This acquisition follows the 2010 acquisition of Port Stanley Harbour from the federal government along with a one time grant of $13.5 million to rebuild infrastructure and undertake dredging. The federal government will be cleaning the lands on the east side of the harbour in support of Central Elgin’s plans to develop parkland.

Subdivision development is now underway in all of the Municipality’s fully-serviced communities. Lots are available for building in Belmont (Robin Ridge Subdivision), Lynhurst (Jacklin Court subdivision) and Port Stanley (Erie Heights subdivision).

In 2011, Port Stanley Main Beach was again awarded the blue flag, an international beach quality standard recognizing cleanliness, safety, water quality and the environment.

Main Beach is the only Lake Erie beach to be awarded this designation.

The Township of Southwold The Township of Southwold was a beneficiary of the Ontario Small Waterworks Assistance Program in the amount of $552,634.00. This funding will be applied to a new watermain

along Clinton Line, representing approximately two-thirds of the cost of the entire project. The project will loop the watermain previously feeding the Talbotville Ford Assembly Plant and the watermain on Sunset Road. The Clinton Line watermain will improve the circulation of water and maintain clean, safe drinking water for the residents along Wonderland Road.

Residents will see improvements to Roberts Wall, a retention wall along Kettle Creek, over the winter months. The Water Erosion Control Initiative has provided 50 percent financing for this project. This will improve the support for Roberts Road to prevent further undermining of the road bed.

Federal gas tax funding, provided annually, has contributed to the hard surfacing of Ford Road and John Wise Line over the past two years. Gas tax funding also financed the new sidewalks constructed in Fingal in 2011.

The Municipality of Dutton-Dunwich The Municipality of Dutton-Dunwich, with assistance from the upper levels of government and the property owners, has installed sewer services to the industrial area south of Highway 401. With this work complete, the Municipality now has one of the few industrial sites with full services adjacent to Highway 401 between London and Chatham.

The Municipality, with the assistance of the Chamber of Commerce, will be installing ‘Welcome to Dutton-Dunwich’ signs on Highway 401 before the end of the year.

With the financial assistance of the federal and provincial governments, the Municipality has completely rebuilt the community pool and pool building equipment and have made major improvements to the Community Centre.

New house construction is continuing in two of the subdivisions located in Dutton and throughout other areas of the Municipality.

Improvements are continuing in the municipal water distributions system and all cast iron water pipes have now been replaced.

The Municipality received its new license for the operation of its municipal water system. Improvements have also been made to sidewalks and the road system, such as new surface treatment on a portion of Thomson Line and Lakeview Line, and improved drainage on Miller Pond.

The Municipality of West Elgin Even though there were great challenges in the economy, 2011 was a good year for business in West Elgin. Agriculture continues to be the bright light in the local economy. Good prices and good yields helped farmers overcome the challenges of the weather.

The local farmers continue to produce high value and high quality products.

Local industries like KSR, Rockland and Erie Flooring have been able to maintain and even increase production, a good reflection of the competitiveness and the skill of the workers in this area.

Local entrepreneurs are investing in the community in many unique and interesting ways. Many more small businesses have started in the area, and local small businesses and industries are finding their niche in the Canadian and world economy.

The Municipality of West Elgin has used this year as preparation for the future. An Economic Development Committee was started with the goal of creating an Economic Development Strategic Plan. Once completed, this will guide West Elgin through future economic opportunities and infrastructure and community improvements. West Elgin will continue to operate with an ‘open for business’ attitude.

“This progressive

County is comprised of seven

vibrant and growing partner municipalities.”

Elgin County Economic Development

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450 Sunset Dr., St. Thomas, ON N5R 5V1

info@elgin-county.on.ca

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www.progressivebynature.com

519-631- 1460 ext. 168