Q&A: How does Wilmington restart its economy?

May 10--WILMINGTON -- A year and a half into Natalie English's tenure as president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, Hurricane Florence walloped the region, presenting major challenges for local businesses and the economy.

Today -- three years since English took the reins at the Chamber in March 2017 -- the COVID-19 outbreak is a severe storm that's lasting for months. The toll on individuals, businesses, and government is unprecedented.

At the end of last week, Wilmington and the rest of the state cautiously began reopening the economy. At 5 p.m. Friday, the first step in Gov. Roy Cooper's three-phased approach to lifting restrictions took effect. Over the weekend, more businesses began to reopen and access to area beaches and other public spaces was broadened. If Phase 1 shows no negative health trends, Phase 2 will begin toward the end of May, followed by Phase 3 at the end of June.

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COVID-19 has been a game-changer for everyone, including the Chamber of Commerce, which recently updated its Advocacy & Legislative Agenda to reflect new priorities in the wake of COVID-19. The chamber also is the main partner for New Hanover County's Business Emergency Operations Center, a central support and information site that was formed after Hurricane Florence.

We recently asked English about how Wilmington might go about restarting its economy.

Q. The Phase 1 reopening is a big (and challenging) first step for the retailers that had to shut down completely. How can local shoppers help that process go well?

A. Customers can help ensure the process goes well by adhering to the CDC guidelines. They should wash their hands well and often, wear a mask when out in public, and maintain social distancing.

Q. A two part question. Economic recovery will be a long and ongoing process. What should the main short-term priorities be? What should the main long-term priorities be?

A. Our main short-term priority should be to safely reopen businesses so people can get back to work. Priorities associated with that include assisting businesses with adhering to guidelines recommended by federal, state and local government as well as those associated with customers helping ensure the process goes well. We have worked with the city, county and other partner organizations to create a Smart Restart Guide that provides suggestions for how to reopen in a way that will keep employees and customers safe and comfortable.

Our long-term priorities include continued assistance to businesses, local governments and individuals as they overcome lost revenues as a result of the pandemic. We should place a priority on assisting individuals, whose jobs may not return, with the skills training and workforce development they will need to land a new job. We should also assess how well we responded to the current crisis and develop plans for if/when another pandemic might strike.

Q. Do you think there are some practices/strategies that have changed permanently?

A. I've heard some medical professionals say we should have already been more diligent about the personal hygiene activities that have been pushed. I suspect some individuals and some businesses will choose to make practices and strategies permanent. I'm not sure which will become permanent governmental policy changes. We have adopted a policy agenda specifically focused on COVID-19 response and some of those items may need to remain after we've recovered.

Q. Looking on the positive side, are there any "silver-lining" moments in the outbreak and our response?

A. I think a "silver-lining" moment is that there has been amazing innovation happening as business owners and individuals are coping with the crisis. Another is the way people are supporting each other, front-line responders and restaurants. It's amazing to see the online tributes from teddy bears to lights to noisemaking activities. From my perspective, one of the "silver-lining" moments is a result of what we learned from Hurricane Florence -- the city, county and business community have worked even more closely during this crisis than we did in 2018.

Q. What are some recovery challenges that will be unique to our area -- for retailers and tourism but also our bigger industries, such as health care, tech companies, film/TV, etc.

A. I think we are most unique in that we were still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Florence. We have businesses and individuals who hadn't quite recovered when this happened.

Q. Has Wilmington's experience (both government and the business community) with hurricanes helped during the COVID-19 outbreak?

A. Absolutely. First, our community understands what it means to prepare for a disaster and to follow safety precautions that are recommended by officials. Second, as a result of Hurricane Florence, we now have institutions in place that didn't exist before such as the Business Emergency Operations Center run by the Wilmington Chamber and the New Hanover Disaster Coalition. Both institutions partner with, and support, the New Hanover County EOC bringing much needed information and resources to bear in much quicker timeframes.

Q. After Hurricane Florence, many agencies and other organizations did intensive "post-mortems" on how they responded. It's still very early, but what lessons do you think we should take away from COVID-19?

A. I think it's too early for a long list of lessons yet. And, hindsight is almost always better than what you can see while in the moment. I do believe some businesses have learned how to implement processes that could improve their operations in the future such as online ordering and working from home.

Q. What are you hearing from the business community about lessons they've learned so far? Perhaps something they wish they had been better prepared for or had thought about earlier.

A. Many restaurants and retail establishments weren't ready to provide the curbside pickup service they were required to in order to stay open under stay-at-home orders. Most of them are able to now and will be if this happens again. Many non-retail businesses had to spend time and money providing work-from-home hardware and software to keep their employees productive and efficient. We have worked with the city, county and various industry groups to create a Smart Restart Guide for businesses that will certainly help them reopen but also might provide assistance for how they can weather the next crisis.

Q. Are there local plans/strategies for future growth and the overall economy that will now need to change?

A. I think there will be new opportunities for our future growth coming out of this crisis. I don't think the strategies we have in place will need to change. I believe the opportunity we have in the proposals for sale of the hospital indicate Southeastern North Carolina and New Hanover County specifically are viewed as a great investment. As we work through the next steps in that process, we will find opportunities to attract other similar investment to our community.

Q. Where do you see Wilmington at this time next year?

A. If I had a crystal ball that would answer that question, I would be a very popular person. I do believe that next year we will have made great strides in our recovery efforts. Our city and county are working with the business community to plan for that recovery. The decisions of our Partnership Advisory Group, Hospital Board of Trustees and, ultimately, Board of County Commissioners could lead to a major investment in our healthcare infrastructure that will ensure we can accommodate the population growth we know is coming. Our state legislators, representatives in Washington, county commissioners and city council members are working hard to develop relief packages while also limiting burdensome expectations that might get in the way of true recovery. Wilmington will remain a place people and businesses choose to live, work and play.

Reporter Scott Nunn can be reached at 910-343-2272 or [email protected].

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