Evolution of South Dundas Economic Developer role

SOUTH DUNDAS – The Municipality of South Dundas recently opted to head in a new direction when it comes to Economic Development, and with that new direction comes a new job title for a longtime South Dundas staffer.

Tia Fraser-Dupuis, has held the title of Acting Economic and Communications Coordinator for the Municipality of South Dundas since January 2024 when two full time positions were eliminated and then combined into one role.

Since then, the position has evolved into this new role, leaving South Dundas again without a specific Economic Development Officer.

The United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry has an Economic Development Officer for the upper tier region, but only one-third of the lower tier municipalities still maintain an EDO position.

While South Dundas chose not to continue with the traditional EDO role, that doesn’t mean that the economic development work is being left to the SDG EDO.

South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad told The Leader that he, along with the CAO and planner Stephanie Morin are together taking on that work.

“We’re who the developers want to talk to anyway, so we decided we had the time to take on the work for future growth,” he said.

The new position of Community Development and Communications Coordinator is tasked instead with managing the municipality’s community development initiatives and events, supporting local tourist programs and businesses, managing the committees of council as well as overseeing marketing, communications, media relations and the municipal website.