I believe that it would be of great benefit to have a municipal business/trade directory that would provide what is commercially available in Highlands East. It could also serve as a central communication tool for both the local trades and the general public when doing business within the municipality.

I have just visited the one that has been put together by the City of Guelph at http://www.guelph.ca/business.cfm. It provides one-stop information of what the average person or business needs to operate more affectively in the City of Guelph. This particular site has more than what we currently need but it could be scaled down to fit.

I am sure that there would be many challenges involved with such a project in Highlands East, including: costs, liabilities, site support and others. However, the benefit would be real results in the form of improved communication, Customer Service and exposure for our local businesses.

As Ward 3 Councillor and a former operations consultant, I would be willing to contact the City of Guelph and research other similar opportunities. This would remove the need for adding consulting fees to generate a feasibility report.