St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency and others are offering assistance to businesses looking to reopen as part of the state’s phase one plan.

A limited number of St. Lawrence County businesses are now able to resume operations as part of the NY Forward Reopening Plan. The state recently issued reopening guidelines and business safety plan templates on an industry-by-industry basis for what they call the “NY Forward Reopening Plan.”

“This remains an unprecedented situation, and as a result the elements of the restart plan are creating questions for businesses and people in the County. We want to make sure they know not only where to see the Reopening plan resources on the State’s website, but also how to get local help understanding and working within the plan,” Patrick J. Kelly, St. Lawrence County IDA CEO, said.

This is the first phase in a process that will hopefully lead to a further restart of other parts of the local and regional economy, it is not a complete restart of all sectors of the economy. It is important for businesses to know that even if they have been operating under previously released “Essential Business” guidance from the State, the requirements to read the guidelines and create a safety plan still apply to them.

Per the NY Forward Plan, “Each re-opening business must develop a written Safety Plan outlining how its workplace will prevent the spread of COVID-19. A business may fill out this template to fulfill the requirement, or may develop its own Safety Plan. This plan does not need to be submitted to a state agency for approval but must be retained on the premises of the business and must made available to the New York State Department of Health (DOH) or local health or safety authorities in the event of an inspection.”

If businesses have questions about the NY Forward Plan, or need general assistance, they can contact the St. Lawrence County IDA, Chamber of Commerce, or Small Business Development Center. The IDA can be reached by calling 315-379-9806, emailing info@slcida.com, or by visiting the IDA website at www.slcida.com, the St. Lawrence County Chamber by calling 315-386-4000 or by emailing at info@slcchamber.org, the Small Business Development Center at 315-386-7312 or by visiting www.nyssbdc.org and clicking the “schedule an appointment” link.

More information about the plan, including the sample business safety plan templates is available at https://forward.ny.gov/. The North Country is now in Phase One of the plan, which impacts the following industries: construction, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, retail (limited to curbside or in-store pickup or drop off), manufacturing and wholesale trade.

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