The Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce is monitoring Coronavirus (COVID-19) and working closely with the city, county, military, and Emergency Management Agency as the situation evolves. Our top priority is the health, safety, and well-being of Montgomery area residents, visitors and our business community. We will be here to provide valuable resources and support for your business in this time when business continuity is critical.
Details about upcoming chamber meetings and events will be forthcoming by email early next week. Chamber news, updates and resources to help your business minimize negative impacts of this situation will also be posted on an ongoing basis to our website at www.montgomerychamber.com.
Our Chamber offices at 600 S. Court Street and 41 Commerce St. will remain open as a “Handshake-Free Zone” and we encourage our business community to utilize our resources and services via phone, email or online.
The Montgomery Visitor Center at Union Station will be closed until further notice and visitor information can be obtained by calling 334-261-1100 from 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or by www.visitingmontgomery.com.
Helpful Resources:
We have developed a resource guide and encourage local businesses to be prepared and take proactive steps to keep Montgomery working.
We also encourage you to stay updated on local information with the links below:
City of Montgomery
City of Montgomery FB Page
City/County of Montgomery Emergency Management Agency
City/County of Montgomery Emergency Management Agency FB Page
Montgomery County
Montgomery County FB Page
Town of Pike Road
Town of Pike Road FB Page
Additional Tips:
Minimize the impact of coronavirus on business operations:
In addition to good hand hygiene and common-sense precautions with your employees and patrons, the Montgomery Chamber encourages all local businesses to consider the following:
- For your business: Prepare for negative economic impacts.
- Capital: Create, confirm, or expand your line of credit.
- Staffing: Develop staffing plans for varying levels of customers and revenue (what does an 80% scenario plan look like?)
- Insurance: Check with your insurance provider to understand your coverage and options.
- For your customers: Make your place of business as hygienic as possible and communicate what you are doing to customers, so they feel comfortable visiting.
- For your employees: Check, modify, and communicate HR policies regarding remote working, sick-leave, and compensation during health crisis. Try to ensure your policies are as flexible and non-punitive as possible. Sick employees should be encouraged to stay home.
- For your workflow: Cross-train employees for key functions so that daily schedules can continue relatively uninterrupted by potential employee absences. Where relevant, consider staggering start and end times to reduce large numbers of people coming together at the same time; and create and test remote employee collaboration systems (consider apps such as Slack and Zoom).
- For your cashflow: Communicate with your landlord (or tenants) and lenders about expectations and request flexibility (better to have that conversation now).
- For yourself: Eat well, hydrate, sleep, and exercise. Taking care of yourself in this time of stress will improve your resistance to infection and resilience in managing difficult business situations. And of course, wash your hands all the dang time and don’t touch your face, or anyone else, for that matter.
- For your Chamber: For us to best serve you, we need to know and share what our members are doing to manage risks. To that end, please tell us what what’s working and what you need from us!
