Office created to assist businesses post pandemic

GREG LARRY

GLARRY@TIMES-NEWS.COM

CUMBERLAND — An office designed to help businesses recover and thrive in a post-pandemic environment is opening in Allegany County.

Del. Mike McKay and Bill Valentine, former Allegany County commissioner, have collaborated to create the Office for Post Pandemic Opportunities, which will be based in McKay’s building at 100 N. Mechanic St. McKay announced the formation of the new office on SEE OFFICE — 5A

BILL VALENTINE

MIKE MCKAY

CONTINUED FROM 1A

Tuesday. He said the office will serve Allegany County and residents of western Washington County. McKay serves in the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 1C, which includes Washington County west of Hagerstown.

“Our intention with this new office is to meet with local officials, organizations, businesses, community colleges and other stakeholders to help recover and create a more sustainable economy,” said McKay. “We want to be proactive. I want to be the first horse out of the gate that looks at the post-pandemic effects and the solutions.”

McKay said Valentine will serve as development coordinator.

“Bill will be a great leader for this office as he is intimately aware of Allegany County’s needs and can, from day one, help to bring our community back to full strength,” said McKay.

Valentine said many of the changes instituted during the pandemic are here to stay.

“It has been bad going through the virus but it has opened up some opportunities as well,” said Valentine. “But we need to keep after it. So we decided to put something together to help the county recover from the effects of COVID but do things that will be sustainable so the next time a virus comes around we won’t take the hit we took this time.

“We’re looking at the problems going into the pandemic and the problems that increased during the pandemic. We need to understand how can we protect ourselves when the next virus hits. There will be more viruses. It is going to be something we are going to live with and learn to live around.”

McKay and Valentine said they were starting the office under their own volition to be early leaders on the issues associated with returning to full capacity.

“The restaurants and businesses are changing,” said Valentine. “In today’s world I see no reason why local retailers can’t put together a webpage and start doing some online sales to complement the hours they are open. People don’t want to go to stores anymore. They got used to ordering online.

“Same with our restaurants. Carryout and online will stay. They all should have a website with their full menu so they can order online and pay online. That way they don’t have to worry about them not showing up or paying.”

Valentine said government can help accommodate the changes.

“We also could use some parking spaces for strictly carryout pickup,” said Valentine. “We want to work with the city on that ... and talk to the city about permanent outdoor dining places. That is going to be a part of dining now forever.

“We also talked to Allegany College (of Maryland) and they are putting together a course on internet sales and marketing and there may be some state funding to help cover people to take online classes. We need the education to give people skill sets that will be needed. There is money available for job training.”

Valentine said better internet connectivity is hopefully just around the corner.

“It’s been a big struggle for years,” he said. “But, there are companies out there that have gotten federal funding to help rural areas improve connectivity. That is something we are working on. It is hard for our students to do distance learning because they can’t get online. I don’t think distance learning is going to go away. We need to be ready to implement these changes and we will be ready the next time.”

For more information on the Office for Post Pandemic Opportunities, contact Valentine at billvalentine590@gmail.com or 301-268-1598.