North Bay’s mayor says 2019 was a successful year for the city.

We learned last week that building permit values came in around $93 million, which is second highest in the city’s history.

But, Mayor Al McDonald says that’s not the only good news.

“The new meat-packing plant, that’s about 55-plus jobs. You look at Norgalv, which is a galvanizing plant, that’s another 50 jobs, so on the economic side, North Bay has had a tremendous year,” he says.

McDonald says the focus in 2020 is on continuing to ‘Grow The City” .

“We are open for investment, open for business and actively pursuing that as our number one priority,” he says. “And we’ve removed development charges from residential properties to encourage people to build houses.”

McDonald also says in 2020 they want to continue to grow the population.

He says the mortality rate outpaces the birth rate so there’s really only one answer.

“If we want to stabilize our population or increase our population, we need to focus on immigration and have individuals move to the City of North Bay,” he says.

One initiative that’s underway is marketing the city to newcomers currently in the Toronto area.

As for challenges, they include mental health and addictions, with the mayors roundtable formed this year.

McDonald says the initiative brought together over two dozen professionals to work on the issue.

“Resolving that challenge is well on it’s way, I think you’ll see even more initiatives around that area in June, so it’s like a one stop centre for anyone that needs services,” he adds.

Another challenge is that employers can’t find workers with the needed skills.

 

(File photo by station staff)

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