The Business Council of Alabama on Wednesday held the first day of its Engage Alabama virtual conference, which is being held free of charge for anyone wanting to tune in.
After opening remarks from BCA president and CEO Katie Boyd Britt, the day’s programming kicked off with a remote panel discussion between the mayors of some of Alabama’s largest cities: Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox. The session was moderated by Regions Bank senior vice president for State Government Affairs & Economic Development Jeff Rabren.
In his first set of remarks, Woodfin emphasized that the COVID-19 pandemic has been trying — but also telling.
“I will tell you, from my perspective, the coronavirus has presented the toughest of times, but I think it’s also brought out the best character from all of our communities,” the Magic City mayor said.
The mayors touted the public-private collaboration that has helped local businesses survive the pandemic thus far in their respective areas, with Woodfin highlighting BhamStrong.
“For us, it wasn’t only targeted towards the actual small businesses — the business owners — but we thought it was also important to engage the hourly employee who was laid off as well,” Woodfin noted.
Maddox stressed the importance of consulting business and industry leaders every step along the way in responding to the pandemic, saying that those in sectors such as manufacturing in Tuscaloosa have appreciated that keeping the workforce healthy was key to keeping production going and doors open. The mayor outlined how balance was important in approaching COVID related decision making, advising that “protecting your healthcare system and protecting the health, safety and welfare of our citizens are not mutually exclusive of making sure we keep our businesses moving forward.”
“And so we have tried very hard on both sides of that to create that balance, because there’s going to be a day and time we come out of this,” Maddox continued. “But in the meantime, we’ve got to save lives — while on the other, we’ve got to make sure there are livelihoods to be left.”
Pointing to lesser talked about consequences of the pandemic, he detailed that his city has witnessed a 59% jump in domestic violence, as well as an increase in juvenile crime.
Maddox credited Governor Kay Ivey for allowing cities the flexibility to address the pandemic in ways custom suited for their respective situations.
The mayors across the board also underscored how important innovative thinking, problem-solving and planning have been this year. This has come from the private and public sectors, they specified.
Reed said that through MGMReady and other efforts, the City of Montgomery has been able make grants available to local businesses to the tune of about half a million dollars. A vast majority of those dollars, he explained, have gone to minority-owned and small businesses.
For Reed, this came from a desire “to help out those small businesses that are the backbone of our economy.”
Maddox and Stimpson cited similar programs in their respective cities that have helped inject money directly into local businesses. Battle pointed to landlords voluntarily allowing rent deferments in his city and tax deferments by the Rocket City itself as being key to keeping some area businesses afloat.
While taking a deep-dive into what has already transpired in their unique fights against the disease, the city leaders on Wednesday outlined that the coronavirus will continue to be reckoned with over the coming months.
“This thing has gone a lot longer than I think any of us expected, and I don’t think we’ve seen the end of it yet,” Battle remarked.
“We’re all trying to do the right thing in protecting our people,” Woodfin stated. “I think all of us now have to strike the balance between saving lives and saving livelihoods.”
As Stimpson subsequently said, there have been lessons learned already in how local governments should respond to the pandemic.
“There’s been a lot of confusion about masking orders and so forth,” he shared. “And I would say in regards to masking orders, based on the preliminary information we have in Mobile — and I say preliminary because we did not jump out in the very beginning, not realizing the impact that the masking could have — I think we have learned in the last few weeks that it’s a very positive thing. And we’ve got the data that actually shows that.”
Maddox reflected, “I feel like we’ve been forced into the least-bad decision in this crisis. I went through, I wouldn’t say a similar crisis, but back in April of 2011 when 13% of our city was destroyed by an EF4 tornado, that was hard. That was truly hard. But I will tell you COVID-19 is much harder. You could look at other cities that had been through natural disasters, and you could begin formulating how to move forward — you have a playbook … with COVID-19, as Mayor Woodfin said, there is no playbook.”
Reed later added, “We’re in a position right now that none of us could have predicted, none of us could have expected. … We’ve been able to see the best in our community during this tough time, and a lot of that has come from the business leadership.”
The mayor of Alabama’s capital city stressed that the public-private partnerships that have flourished during this crisis will need to continue until the fight has been won.
“But I think if we continue with the type of collaboration that we’ve had — I think if we continue with the type of spirit, even when we disagree — I think we’ll find ourselves on the better end of this,” Reed concluded.
Battle forecasted, “The future’s going to be very bright.”
The second and final day of Engage Alabama will commence with remarks from Governor Kay Ivey at 9:00 a.m. CT on Thursday. The comprehensive virtual programming will run through the end of the business day.
You can learn more and register here.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
