Last Tuesday, the Town of Morris expanded its digital footprint with the unveiling of its new Invest Morris website (investmorris.ca).
The website’s focus is to advance economic development and sustain prosperity in the municipality.
“We are a small community. We explored other options to pursue economic development without the cost of staffing a full-time economic development officer. The mayor and council feel this initiative gives us access to wider resources,” said Councillor Chris Hamblin, who has been involved with council’s economic development committee.
Mayor Scott Crick stressed to the approximately 50 people in attendance at the launch that “Morris is worthy of investing.” He highlighed some of the amenities that make Morris so attractive for business and families.
“Over the last six budgets, taxes have only risen one per cent,” Crick noted. “With the help of our employees, we are delivering services cost effectively.”
Brody Osadick, director of economic development for M Richards and Associates Ltd., the consulting firm hired for this project, showcased the Invest Morris digital product for the Town of Morris.
Osadick introduced the interactive website that offers a multitude of resources for people exploring business opportunities in the community.
“This is just the launch of the Invest Morris website. There is more to come,” Hamblin noted of the firm’s overall plan for the promotion of economic and residential development in Morris. The cost of these initiatives was not made available to the Voice at press time.
In his presentation, Osadick noted that the website has just been launched and so it will take some time for search engines like Google to discover the site and rate its content for responses when queried.
“Google can provide us data to analyze to discover what content is being viewed most often on the website,” said Crick, who explained they’ll be measuring its success in a number of ways. “Objectively, it is easy to measure. Do we have new business? Do we have land sales? Do we see houses going up? Do we see increase sales in houses?
“Subjectively, what are the inquires for land, what are the inquires for business? Is our message getting out there?”
The website got the thumbs-up from those in attendance.
“This is a step in the right direction,” observed Shelly Johnston, general manager for Community Future Triple R, though she noted she hopes council also keeps a focus on the revitalization of the community’s Main St.
Morris Area Foundation chair Curtis Evenson called it “a great story. It makes the community competitive. Morris is here. We’re ready. Bring your ideas.
“Wouldn’t it be great if the Invest Morris brochures were in the hands of local businesses?” he added. “Small business is where most of this starts.”
Rupesh Patel, owner of the Morris Tim Hortons, said he hopes this will help “spread the message Morris is open for investment. It is good for the community as a whole.”
