City to hold town hall, discuss economic recovery

Virtual event planned for Feb. 15

The office of Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield is hosting a virtual town hall at 5:30 p.m., Feb. 15, for residents, business owners and community members to hear the city’s economic and social recovery plan.

Whitfield said a social plan is important because it gives the community an opportunity to come together and join forces for like minded activities and services.

“Engaging small business, you saw that a lot with Love Elyria and the work we were doing with having citizens and businesses engaging and our businesses on a community service side,” he said. “We’re trying to get our community back socializing, and we’ll be sharing the plans for that at town hall.”

Whitfield said some of the updates were altered from the previous economic plan which was presented late last year.

“Back at the end of last year, we presented an economic recovery plan and our goals,” he said. “We shared our goals in terms of recovering faster than other communities, to build back stronger than what we were and focus on some long term impacts.

“We’ll dive a lot deeper into these plans, not only for the economic recovery, but for a social plan at the town hall.”

In addition to the updates, Whitfield said he remains hopeful to create 2,205 jobs by 2025 in the city.

“The (novel coronavirus) pandemic may have hit, but we still remain committed to that goal,” he said. “We know this is not something we can by ourselves ... we need a city council, our community and our businesses as well.”

Residents can view the meeting on Facebook Live through www.facebook. com/WElyria or www. facebook.com/ElyriaOhio; on Zoom with meeting I.D. 879 3731 0804; or call 646876-9923 with meeting I.D. 879 3731 0804.

Participants also can ask Whitfield and his staff questions during the session.

The virtual town hall recording will be made available after the event’s conclusion at www.cityofelyria.org/youtube.

Whitfield