The Village of Merrickville Wolford has hired a new Economic Development Officer (EDO).
Stacie Lloyd has an extensive background in economic development, having worked previously as a Regional Economic Development Officer at the Valley Heartland Community Futures Development Corporation. Stacie has a bachelor’s degree in geography from Carleton University that involved an emphasis on regional economic development, and she has also received a few economic development credits from the University of Waterloo. “We’re very delighted to have Stacie on our team,” CAO Doug Robertson said at the last council meeting.
Since Stacie started in the position of EDO on October 15, she has hit the ground running. At the council meeting on October 28, she submitted a report outlining what she has been working on. The report included the results of a lot of information gathering on the population and demographics of the Village, as well as the area’s business and economy. “This research has helped me learn much about the beautiful urban/rural Village of Merrickville-Wolford with its local economy, in addition to my lunchtime walks through the Village core with its lovely shops and people, confirming that M-W is truly the ‘Jewel of the Rideau,’” she wrote in the report. “I look forward to discovering more in the coming months, and to incorporating this information into RED deliverables under the priority areas.”
Over the next few months, Stacie will be working on deliverables that align with both the Rural Economic Development (RED) grant contract and the Merrickville-Wolford Strategic Plan. This includes the creation of an economic development strategic plan, tourism strategy, the BR+E study, and the development and improvement of website communications. All these projects should be complete by the end of June 2020.
