June 09, 2020

Samantha Mango:
Hi, I’m Samantha Mango and welcome to “Sullivan 180 Presents…. Take Five!” This series aims to highlight our community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. My guest today is Jaime Schmeiser from the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce. Welcome Jaime. Thanks for being here!

Jaime Schmeiser:
Thank you for having me. This is great. How are you? I’m great.

Samantha Mango:
Do you mind introducing yourself, your title and a little bit about the Chamber?

Jaime Schmeiser:
Sure. My name is Jaime Schmeiser, I am the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO. We are in business to help businesses thrive and help them not only survive the COVID-19, but help them navigate the ‘new norm’. We are here to bring community and businesses together because as one goes, the other goes.

Samantha Mango:
What are some of the new initiatives of the Chamber is working on in response to the pandemic?

Jaime Schmeiser:
One of the things that the Chamber is known for its ribbon cuttings and grand openings. And so we decided to come up with a new initiative called The Ribbon Tying, and it’s tying our community together. So we’re giving all of our community businesses and people who want to participate, two pieces of ribbon, and we are asking them to tie them together and take a selfie, or do a video of them ‘tying the ribbons together’ in front of their business. And they’ll get a door tag. And on that door tag, it’ll say Proud Participant in “the ribbon tying our community together program” and it’s free of charge. And when we have the green light, we are going to have a major, major ribbon cutting, but in the interim, the videos and the selfies that are being taken, we’re going to post them to social media. We’re going to post them to our website. And we’re going to give all of our businesses that have been affected by this, and even those that haven’t been affected, the essential businesses. We’re going to give them a chance to show off their business and show their commitment to our community.

Samantha Mango:
Talk about what the reopening of Sullivan County businesses might look like.

Jaime Schmeiser:
Well, yes, the State of New York, Gov. Cuomo has given us the green light to allow nonessential businesses in ‘Phase One’ to open back up, following certain protocols. So in other words, construction and manufacturing and retail, with curbside delivery only, (no shopping inside), unless they were an essential business, say a grocery store or something like that. They have to have a plan of action, how they are going to do social distancing, how they’re going to clean their business, how are they going to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. That plan needs to be posted somewhere conspicuous in their business, not only for themselves, but also for their consumers, because it’s showing that you are taking this seriously as a business, and they’re supposed to post that inside of their business. And, so that it could be available for inspection from anybody, who would like to see it. And they are supposed to be open for 14 days without incident and without, reporting any new COVID-19 cases or any new surges. And once that milestone has been reached, that 14 days, Phase Two will be allowed to be reopened. There will be four phases also. So phase two will include retail and include hairdressers and that sort of thing. So we’re really all looking forward to that. And we’re looking forward to when all four phases will be allowed to be open

Samantha Mango:
How can community members, help the chamber and help the businesses that are a part of the chamber.

Jaime Schmeiser:
Shop locally! Call up your local restaurant, order takeout, like their Facebook page, interact with them on social media, help them to stay open. You know, most of our businesses have had to pivot and do other things. For instance, Randy Resnick. I don’t know if you’ve been following him on Facebook …amazing man. He was our business person of the year, last year for our Sullivan County Pride Awards. But, he has changed from being a restauranteur and a manufacturer to manufacturing facemasks and PPE. So, everybody is doing something a little bit differently and I asked that everybody in the community support shop local, you don’t even need to spend money to be local. You need to just give them kudos and a pat on the back, you know, on social media or on emails: just hold up your community. It’s a great community to be proud of, and that’s how everybody can help!

Samantha Mango:
People stay in touch with the Sullivan County Chamber!

Jaime Schmeiser:
We are still open even though we’re working remotely. So they can reach me via email, president@catskills.com or they can call our office number and they’ll get a call back within 24 hours. It’s (845) 791-4200 x 4 . Facebook is SC Chamber, and the same for Instagram. And our website is www.catskills.com.

Samantha Mango:
Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Jaime Schmeiser:
I just thank you and Sullivan 180 for what you’re doing with the Take Five! Series. It’s been very encouraging and very helpful opportunity!