Rep. Powell Encourages Small Businesses to Provide Input to Task Force

ARCANUM – State Representative Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) is encouraging small business owners throughout her district to share their experience on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their operations as leaders seek to understand the full extent of the coronavirus on Ohio’s economy.

“As a member of the OHIO 2020 Economic Recovery Task Force, I’ve been having thoughtful conversations with business owners from across our state,” said Powell. “I encourage the hardworking people in Miami County and Darke County to provide their insight to the task force so their perspective is represented as we re-open Ohio as quickly as possible.”

The OHIO 2020 Economic Recovery Task Force will review all submissions. Once reviewed, the task force is planning to invite owners throughout the state to participate in an upcoming virtual meeting to explain the impact in greater detail.

If you are a business owner, please consider emailing Rep80@ohiohouse.gov the following:

-          Name and location of the business
-          Number of employees
-          Years in business
-          Contact information for business owners (email, phone number)
-          Brief description of nature of the business

Additionally, businesses can submit written responses to the task force. If submitting or speaking before the task force, the panel asks businesses focus on the following points:

-          If/how they are able to operate during the coronavirus.
-          What kind of financial strains have been brought on by this? If they have been in business for many years, how has this been compared to other financial downturns?
-          What kinds of obstacles do they see ahead of them once they are able to fully open up again?
-          Any governmental roadblocks ahead that the legislature should be aware of?
-          Any ideas that they might have on protocols they believe would be helpful to return to work while maintaining a level of safety to provide confidence to their customers?

The OHIO 2020 Economic Recovery Task Force will be meeting today at 12:30pm. The meeting can be streamed live on The Ohio Channel website. In addition, Rep. Powell encourages her constituents to follow @OHTaskForce2020 on Facebook and Twitter for updates.