Westchester County forms task force to help businesses deal with reopening

Westchester County Executive George Latimer has announced the formation of the Westchester County Reopening Task Force, which is charged with advancing the interests of local businesses in the post-coronavirus economy and finding solutions to problems that are encountered during the recovery period as businesses rebuild from the economic shutdown.

The task force will be communicating with businesses and nonprofits about guidelines and best practices as the Mid-Hudson Region works through each stage of the four-phase reopening. The region is in phase one of the reopening process and is expected to be qualified to move into phase two next week.

The task force will establish working groups that will focus on important areas, including health care, labor, hospitality, real estate and general business. Latimer said experienced businesspeople from each field will head those working groups and that businesses from each category will be invited to provide input through the working groups.

The plan is for the task force to meet via the internet with the kickoff session scheduled for Thursday morning.

“What we have here is a group of individuals who have served in a variety of capacities … to reach out to the businesses of Westchester County and do everything we can to help them reopen as fast as possible and as successfully as possible,” Latimer said.

With him for the announcement Monday at the County Office Building in White Plains were: Legislator Catherine Parker, a former small-business owner and a past president of the Rye Chamber of Commerce; Louis Lanza, a Peekskill-based restaurateur; Ben Boykin, chairman of the Board of Legislators; Bridget Gibbons, the county’s director of economic development; Joan McDonald, the county’s operations director; and other county officials.

Parker and Lanza were named as co-chairs of the new task force. A few of the other members of the task force are: Michael Romita and Amy Allen of the Westchester County Association; Marsha Gordon and John Ravitz of The Business Council of Westchester; Ross Pepe and John Cooney of the Construction Industry Council; Peter Herrera of the NY Hospitality Group; Sean Meade of the Cambria Hotel in White Plains and the Westchester Hotel Association; and Janet Langsam of ArtsWestchester. Labor and religious leaders also will be among those serving.

Latimer said that the task force is expected to be providing guidance to the county in order to help ensure that businesses have what they need during each phase to reopen safely and successfully. He said that where state guidance is vague or leaves policy determination up to local governments, the input from the task force will help decide what should be done. He said that it may be necessary for the Board of Legislators to take actions based on the recommendations of the task force.

Parker said, “I see this reopening task force as a unified voice for all different sectors of business in Westchester County with the ”˜rock stars”™ of those sectors. This will be a way to get Westchester back to where we were, and even better than before.”

“Whatever guidelines we have it’s going to be up to the restaurateurs to manage their own staff, take care of the customers, but there’s safe ways of doing this,” Lanza said. “I’m blessed that I have a lot of restaurants with outdoor cafes so I think that’s the first phase. …I think people are tired of cooking at home. I know I am.”

“We are looking to reopen this economy step-by-step, but to do so without encouraging an increase, spike, in the infection realities here in Westchester County,” Latimer said.