Northwest Council of Governments Director Jon Stavney lauds Town Manager, Nancy Kerry’s leadership to local businesses as a result of ‘listening in,’ on one of her regular business calls.
“Some small things are a big deal. Nancy Kerry [Town Manager] and the Town of Frisco are doing something outstanding for businesses amid the COVID-19 crisis-providing a source of information and doing some listening. It is not lost on many municipalities that the bulk of their operating revenues come from sales tax collected through local businesses, but many outsource the community relationship to a local chamber. At least in this case, the Town of Frisco has stepped into the vacuum created by the
crisis. Frisco is not alone in connecting with businesses while many local governments are primarily focused on community response. Just up the road, Eric Mamula, Mayor of Breckenridge and local restaurateur is doing something similar.”
The message in these calls is overt-she says, “government only succeeds when businesses succeed,” and implicit-stay calm, we are in this together, we care, we are here to serve-which is crystal clear to anyone participating business owners, not to mention staff and officials who listen in.
The first topic led by Kerry who had clearly done her homework was getting owners on common ground with relevant information on resources (and restrictions) currently coming down from County, State and Federal governments with insight gathered from the town’s D.C. lobbyist. The relief landscape is a dynamic, changing by the day, and as Kerry points out, worth some coaching and warnings about third party scammers. “Get your information directly from the source of any grant or relief,” she warned.
Topic two is listening while callers answer the question, “What would help your business from the Town in the next 30, 60, and 90 days.”
Remarking on Kerry’s passion for helping businesses, Stavney writes, “Kerry’s father was an inventor and business owner. When she went into public management her “dad said I went to the dark side” when as she says, she “entered the world I saw was impeding business success.” She notes that “businesses sell and buy and collect from customers revenue that feeds the government who then, in turn, provide those services private sector doesn’t typically cover due to a low ROI, so… I don’t know why people don’t see that.”
Read the full article on NWCOG website.