Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED) has announced it will be dissolving at the end of the year, at which time its employees will lose their jobs and the organization will vacate its offices and the visitor centre in downtown Peterborough.
Board chair Burton Lee issued a statement on Monday (June 3) officially announcing “with profound regret” the dissolution of PKED after more than 25 years, resulting from an earlier decision by the City and County of Peterborough to not renew their tri-party funding agreement with the not-for-profit corporation, which expires December 31, 2024.
The decision by the two municipal governments not to renew the agreement, and instead deliver economic development and tourism services themselves, will eliminate PKED’s core funding along with its ability to deliver regional economic development, small business support, and tourism services and to pay employees and rent at its offices in downtown Peterborough.
PKED’s budget for 2024 — the final year of the tri-party agreement — is $2.5 million, of which almost 75 per cent is funded by the city and county. The city’s core funding share for 2024 is $1,015,112 and the county’s core funding share is $790,038.
“The organization will neither have the capacity nor resources to deliver economic and tourism services on behalf of the region,” Lee’s statement reads. “As such, the impending dissolution has set forth a series of actions, including the delivery of termination notices to staff and providing notice to vacate PKED’s offices and the regional Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism Visitor Centre located in the Venture North business hub in downtown Peterborough effective at the end of this year.”
PKED formed a dissolution committee “and made the difficult decision to cease operations by the end of the year,” meeting with city and county staff as the organization prepares to wind down its operations in the second half of the year. The dissolution decision was announced at the corporation’s final operational annual general meeting last Thursday (May 30).
“As the lead Regional Economic Development Agency and Official Destination Marketing Organization, PKED has obligations to a wide range of partners, stakeholders, and service providers that will be impacted,” the statement continues. “The Ontario Not-For-Profit Corporations Act prescribes clear steps to wind down the corporation, and PKED’s Board of Directors will be vigilant in ensuring a responsible dissolution.”
There is no public record of why, how, or when the decision against renewing PKED’s funding agreement was made, as it was never discussed at any public meeting of either city or county council. However, it appears the decision was instigated by the City of Peterborough some time last fall.
According to Lee’s statement, PKED’s board has been “seeking clarity on the municipalities’ plans” since fall 2023. In March, Lee told kawarthaNOW the City of Peterborough had sent PKED a letter providing written notice the city would not be extending the tri-party agreement, but did not specify when the letter was received or provide a copy of the letter.
A statement provided to kawarthaNOW by Peterborough County in March indicated the county made the decision to prepare to deliver economic development and tourism services in-house after receiving a “recent notice” from the City of Peterborough regarding the non-renewal of the agreement, but did not indicate the date of the notice or provide a copy of the notice. The county said it had formed a committee to “formulate a comprehensive strategy for seamlessly integrating economic development and tourism services within the county post-2024.”
Regardless of why and when the decision was made, with the end of the tri-party agreement fast approaching, both the city and the county are preparing to bring economic development and tourism promotion services in-house before PKED dissolves at the end of the year.
In March, Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal confirmed to kawarthaNOW a staff report will be presented to city councillors “in the not too distant future” that “will take a look at how a reconstituted, reconstructed economic development division under the city’s umbrella would function and operate.”
While that report has yet to come before city council, Peterborough County staff will be presenting a report to county council on Wednesday (June 5) to present a proposed transition plan for assuming the responsibilities of economic development and tourism. The plan has been developed by an economic development transition committee comprising representatives from all eight townships in Peterborough County and three members of county council (Selwyn Mayor Sherry Senis, Douro-Dummer Mayor Heather Watson, and Havelock-Belmont-Bethuen Mayor Jim Martin).
The county report identifies the Small Business Enterprise Centre (known as the Small Business Advisory Centre as PKED) as a key service that needs to be retained. Among other things, the Small Business Advisory Centre administers provincially funded services and programs such as the Starter Company Plus program and the Summer Company program.
The report states that the county’s economic development transition committee “is working on a transition plan for this vital service and will report back to council.” It is not yet known if or how both the county and city might be involved in the operation of a Small Business Enterprise Centre, as this is a decision that will be made in consultation with the Ontario government.
The county’s transition plan proposes the county hire a new general manager of economic development who would report to the existing director of planning, with the division renamed as planning and economic development. The plan also proposes the county’s communications division be renamed communications and tourism, with that division’s manager title renamed as general manager of communications and tourism, and that a new communications coordinator be hired for the renamed division.
In its report, the county emphasizes the importance of “extensive collaboration” with the city and the county’s eight townships (some of which already have their own economic development departments), as well as surrounding counties including Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Hastings.
According to the report going before county council, county staff have “met frequently” with PKED’s dissolution committee, and the PKED board has “committed to a reduction in county monthly financial contributions to PKED” to support the county’s need to hire its own staff before PKED dissolves.
As for PKED, “the organization remains committed to regional economic development” according to Lee’s statement. “Staff will continue to deliver tourism, visitor services, destination marketing, economic development, business retention, investment attraction, and small business support services” while the city and county work on their plans to deliver economic development and tourism services.
“As reports on new economic development and tourism models are being considered (by) councils in June, we eagerly await the opportunity to review them and to identify opportunities for service continuity for the businesses and clients that rely on PKED,” Lee says in the statement. “As a high-performing economic development agency, the health and vitality of the local economy are at the core of our mission, and our team has a vested interest in supporting a mutually beneficial transition.”
“There will be a significant disruptive impact if these plans do not factor in the vast number of existing projects, programs, and initiatives that PKED has developed,” adds Lee. “The award-winning campaigns and highly recognized Peterborough & the Kawarthas brand are an outcome of our staff’s collaborative and strategic expertise.”
In the statement, PKED CEO Rhonda Keenan says she hopes the city and county will consider hiring some of the PKED staff who will be losing their jobs as a result of the organization’s dissolution. PKED currently employs 12 full-time employees.
“The critical value of our team’s knowledge, expertise, and relationships with local, regional, national, and international partners, businesses, investors, and media cannot be understated,” Keenan says. “It is our hope that the new models will include positions for our existing team of passionate and dedicated economic development professionals to continue serving the business community and attracting investment to the region.”
PKED has posted a copy of the June 3rd statement along with FAQs about the dissolution at its website at investptbo.ca/status/.
PKED was originally founded in 1998 as the Greater Peterborough Area Development Corporation, arising from the recommendations of the 1997 GPA 2020 A Vision For Our Future Report, which in part proposed a new regional approach to economic development in the City and County of Peterborough, creating a more efficient approach by consolidating the fragmented services being provided by different organizations.
Governed as a private-public non-profit partnership corporation by a board of directors that included elected officials, municipal appointees and private sector business leaders, the organization amalgamated the services and budgets of six separate organizations: the Greater Peterborough Economic Council, the City of Peterborough Economic Development, the County of Peterborough Economic Development, the Peterborough-Kawartha Tourism and Convention Bureau, the Peterborough Industrial Development Corporation, and the Provincial Business Self-Help Office.
The organization used funds previously invested by the City and County of Peterborough in the above organizations and augmented its capabilities by sourcing additional community investment from the provincial and federal governments and the private sector.
In 2005, the Greater Peterborough Area Development Corporation was officially renamed as the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corporation. In 2017, it rebranded as PKED when the organization relocated both its corporate office (including the Business Advisory Centre previously located at 210 Wolfe Street) and the Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism Visitor Centre (previously located at 1400 Crawford Drive) to the then-new Venture North building at 270 George Street North.
Conceived as a business hub, that building also houses all other local economic development organizations, including Community Futures Peterborough, the Innovation Cluster Peterborough and the Kawarthas, and — as of May 1 — the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area.
The original version of this story has been updated with the following corrections and clarications provided by PKED. PKED staff are not being laid off, but will have their employment terminated when the organization dissolves as of December 31, 2024. PKED currently employs 12 full-time staff. Peterborough County is not proposing that it will assume operational responsibility for the Small Business Enterprise Centre, but supports the continuation of the services that the centre provides. The section of the story speculating that the city’s decision to not renew the tri-party agreement with PKED may have been related to PKED’s involvement with physician recruitment services has been removed, as PKED has clarified that its only involvement in physician recruitment was to act as a conduit to flow funding according to city and county directives, and that the Peterborough Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee (PPRRC) was responsible for governing and directing recruitment activities.
