Being able to secure multi-year Memorandum of Understandings with multiple municipal partners and successfully applying for the province’s Rural Economic Development Grant are some of the highlights for the Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board in 2023.
Executive Director of the Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board, Dug Stevenson, spoke with Quinte News about the year that was.
He says it’s the first time that the board has been able to secure long-term MOUs.
“We presented deputations to each of our community partners so, Brighton, Belleville, Quinte West, Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Napanee is actually happening this year, and asked for a five-year partnership,” Stevenson tells Quinte News.
“So funding through the course of this term of council and one year into the next term of council so that we have an opportunity to show the value of the partnership should council turn over quite significantly in a new term.”
Stevenson says being able to secure the MOUs is huge for the board as it will allow them to do more forward planning.
“Because we’ve got a guaranteed budget for the next five years whereas before it was every year we never quite knew what the funding portfolio might look like,” Stevenson said.
When it comes to the successful application for the Rural Economic Development Grant, Stevenson says they were able to receive a little over $149,000 in funding.
“It allows us to do more marketing. So you know, we’re able to do more targeting of say the GTA, southeastern Ontario, Quebec, Northeastern United States, and we’re seeing growth as a result of that,” Stevenson tells Quinte News.
He says the funding has allowed the board to continue to be a provincial leader in offering a “golf package” as well as the ability to hire a new employee.
“We got a fifth staff member who just started a few weeks ago who is now in a marketing support role,” Stevenson says.
“As the budget grows, so too do our demands and our workloads and so that’s to do more than we’ve been able to do.”
Stevenson says the funding has been a huge plus in getting what they want accomplished.
“It’s pretty awesome when you can get funding like that and we’re really thankful to the Ministry for that funding,” Stevenson tells Quinte News.
“It’s allowed us to do a lot also, including updating our website for the first time in several years, which again, creates a stronger user experience.”
