Essex town council wants to hear from its business community.
Council has scheduled a virtual meeting for Monday afternoon with small business owners to hear their concerns and how they have been impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Councillor Sherry Bondy says the town already fired off a letter to the Premier's Office in December stating all businesses are essential.
"We do have members from the Essex BIA coming, members from the Harrow Chamber and also some individual businesses," says Bondy. "It's just a listening meeting, a brainstorming meeting, what are they going through right now, is there anything potentially the Town of Essex can do."
She says the town wants to assist its small businesses.
"We need to just really touch base, see what's working, see what's not working and our Economic Development Officer will be there, let's see if anybody is having trouble applying for grants," says Bondy.
She says council is business friendly and wants to hear from business owners.
"We know small businesses are really struggling right now so it's our duty to be there first line of defence and to just hear their concerns, advocate for them, get everybody on the same page here and see how we can help them," says Bondy.
The online meeting is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. and is expected to wrap up at 6 p.m.
The livestream is available on the town's YouTube page.