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Reed joins county chamber meeting, discusses issues

On Monday afternoon, Congressman Tom Reed met virtually with the Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association to discuss the federal legislative packages that have been approved to help the business community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Congressman Reed further elaborated on concerns business owners and helped shine a light on the path to reopening the economy.

The meeting was opened by Todd J. Tranum, President and CEO of the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce & Executive Director of the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier, and before Reed spoke he discussed what the Chamber was already encouraging businesses to do. That included having the businesses use clear communication with each other, connect the businesses with various financial resources, encourage the community to purchase goods from local business still open and focus on what needs to be done to open the economy.

After Tranum’s opening address he turned it over to Reed and he opened with saying that: “It’s never going to be normal again for a long time, but we need to get back to work as soon as possible.”

The large concern of reopening our local economy and the necessary steps that would need to be taken to do so was addressed by Reed. He reminded everyone that the virus has impacted every part of the U.S. economy and if we get stuck looking just in our backyard we will be in a shutdown position and each week we are in a shutdown it will be years of economic devastation.

A sentiment that was echoed throughout the entire meeting was the necessity to work together. Reed talked about how the regions need to work together to satisfy Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s required points for phased reopening and that if you just focus on yourselves it won’t help in the long run.

“Top to bottom, bottom to top we have to work together,” stated Reed. “Looking at the qualifications, we’re not going to have the resources alone to reopen. … We need to work together to reach the governor’s 12 points.”

Along with discussing reopening of the economy, the discussion focused on various financial aids to issues created by the shutdown. Reed elaborated about those various efforts to help our local businesses and discussed some of the obstacles businesses may be facing. One of the major obstacles was businesses struggling with their workforce and getting people back to work. In some cases, businesses have struggled to get employees back to work even after creating a safe environment, because of the benefits from unemployment and the fear of COVID-19.

In the cases of employees not wanting to return to work, because of the fear of COVID-19, there is essentially nothing that can be done. Normally, in New York state if an employee refuses to come back to work it is clear under federal law that person is disqualified from unemployment, but in our current circumstances if there is any fear by the applicant of exposure to COVID-19 he or she will still qualify.

So under those circumstances, Reed urged businesses to document that they tried to offer the person a job in good faith so you can qualify for protection.

A concern by many is how we are going to pay for all the assistive programs during this crisis. Reed stated that it will add to the national debt crisis, but the structural debt is the concern of the economists. This borrowing of dollars is a necessary pain, but if we don’t fix our structural debt we will face a day reckoning like never seen before.

Next week, The Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association will have another virtual meeting that features a discussion on creating a technological pathway for businesses to connect with customers. Tranum added that DFT Communications will be there for part of the discussion to help businesses overcome those obstacles.

With many key members of our local economy together to learn further about our current circumstances, Reed ended with the closing comments: “We truly are in this together. We’ve seen this before in our nation’s history and the way we get through this is by working together.”

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