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Buffalo Grove's support for struggling businesses to focus on marketing

Buffalo Grove's plan to support struggling businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic will focus less on direct financial assistance and more on marketing and outreach.

On Monday, village staff presented the village board with a three-pronged plan to boost business in town.

The first prong is a 50% reduction in renewal fees for liquor licenses that allow on-premise consumption, a move that would cost the village about $45,000.

The second would be an outreach initiative called "Here to Help." The effort would involve "friendly" visits from health inspectors to retail, commercial and restaurant establishments. Inspectors will answer questions and help businesses find innovative ways to operate within current safety protocols.

The third element would involve hiring communications consultant Vicarious Productions to develop an online village business directory, at a cost of $5,000.

Deputy Director of Community Development Nicole Woods said the proposal was developed by Vicarious. It would create a dedicated webpage, spinning off from the village's "BG Delivers" campaign, to showcase local businesses and provide information like hours of operation and special promotions.

Vicarious would develop the website and maintain it for six months, Woods said. It would be structured so that businesses could upload information to the website and provide updates as needed,

After six months, Woods said, the village board could assess the directory's success.

Village trustees expressed support for the overall package, which will be discussed further later this month,

"I think that this is long overdue," said Trustee Andrew Stein, adding that the directory should be around for more than six months. "We need to support business all the time."

Other board members raised questions about the plan.

"I'm assuming the board is going to actually see the Vicarious proposal," Trustee David Weidenfeld said. "From the dollar value, it's not even an issue. I would just like to know what it is they think they're doing."

Trustee Gregory Pike asked for an estimate of how much it would cost to maintain the directory beyond the first six months.

"We can take a look at the utilization rates of the website and make a determination" in June or August, Deputy Village Manager Christopher Stilling said.

Buffalo Grove still discussing relief options for businesses

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