Belleville Chamber of Commerce CEO Bill Saunders applauds during a speech at the chamber AGM on Jan.28/16. (Photo: David Foot/Quinte News)
The Belleville Chamber of Commerce is calling 2015 a successful year and says moving into 2016, it’s looking to continue to follow along closely at City Hall and make more connections across the province and country.
Chamber CEO Bill Saunders says they always watch what’s happening at city council meetings, to make sure policy makers are keeping the local business community in mind when approving capital projects.
He tells Quinte News, while the ongoing Build Belleville project should be good for the city upon completion, there are a few concerns with cost and timing.
He added that since speaking with some councillors and city staff, some of those concerns have been alleviated.
During his annual report, Saunders also talked about meetings with the Ontario and Canadian Chambers of Commerce, which can be used as leverage in attracting business and government dollars to the city.
On a national level, Saunders says the chamber has been asked to put its support behind energy development and exports, like the energy east pipeline, since Canada is mainly a resource-based economy.
And he says overall financially the chamber is in strong shape as we move into another new fiscal year.
