Small business owners in Andover affected by the Merrimack Valley fires are looking to local and state government leaders to help to get their businesses back up and running.
Andover Town Manager Andrew Flanagan was joined by Governor Charlie Baker and Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash at a meeting with business owners yesterday at Veteran's Memorial Hall in Andover. The meeting was closed to the media.
After the meeting, Flanagan told reporters that last Thursday's Columbia gas explosions and fires impacted 100 businesses in the downtown area, including 67 food establishments. Flanagan says they're struggling,
"There is no gas, so they don't have the ability to cook," he said. "What we’re doing is deploying our office of business development and our health department to help guide these local businesses to a process of what their options are in the interim."
Jonathan Howie owns Mister Take Out, a local pizza joint on Haverhill Street. His power was restored Sunday, but he still has no gas, and his restaurant remains closed.
"I'm just hoping to get more of a timeline, to get an idea of what to tell the employees, and set up a plan of where to go from here," said Howie.
Jeremy Cyrier is a commercial real estate investor in Andover.
"The big question and uncertainty is how is this going to impact revenues that landlords generate from their tenants … tenants that can’t open," said Cyrier.
Baker says businesses are facing real-life concerns, like getting paychecks to workers.
"Whether you’re talking to residents or whether your talking to businesses … these are all what I would describe as humanitarian issues," he said.
Baker says he'll announce a timeline for a restoration plan for impacted businesses in the coming days.
