Clarenville hired its first economic development officer this week with hopes to realize the town’s economic potential.
Keith Rodway, Clarenville town councilor, said Douglas Barill was hired to expand the business community.
“There’s great potential here in Clarenville to expand the business community,” said Rodway. “We saw a need for a full-time position to work with (the Chamber) to track down and develop those opportunities.”
He said Clarenville budgeted $50,000 and the Chamber $10,000 economic development for this year. The budget will be re-evaluated next year.
“This is a results-based program. We need to see results, and if we see results, the budget will reflect those results,” said Rodway. “We want to create a situation where we can measure true success. True success is going to be attracting new tax bases to this town.“
The first item to tackle will be Clarenville’s Strategic Economic Plan — a document that describes what the town wants to achieve economically from a strategic economic goal.
“There’s great opportunities out there for Clarenville. Success will come and will probably come quickly,” said Rodway.
He told the Packet last month that the current plan doesn’t reflect the effects the oil and gas industry have on the community. He said the plan will be re-evaluated this summer and that will work as a blueprint for the economic development officer position.
Although he had only been in town for four hours, Barill said he already has some plans for the community.
“I’m going to do a lot of listening. I’m going to meet all the stakeholders from the community and we’re going to come up with a plan together and I’m just going to be the coordinator for it,” he said.
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