In what they hope is the wake of the pandemic, leaders in Audrain County are looking forward – and back.

On Friday representatives from business, education, agriculture, finance, government and other sectors gathered at the Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce with members of the Mark Twain Regional Council of Governments to both identify tools that should be in place should another disaster strike and to look at what went well.

As it turns out, many small businesses emerged from 2020 better than expected.

“Last year was the best year I’ve ever had,” observed Barb Wilson, owner of Kate’s Hallmark in Mexico. “When people were home they were on social media constantly. I’m shipping to five different states.”

Russell Runge, Mexico’s economic development director who hosted the event, noted that sales tax revenue has been increasing every month. And the real estate market exploded in 2020, even with agents working from home.

Companies survived by adapting. Kate’s Hallmark turned to Facebook Live. Stores used curbside pickup and shipping. The team at Shoe Sensation dropped off measuring devices at schools and nursing homes so orders could be placed from a safe distance.

“There was a lot of pivoting,” acknowledged Shoe Sensation’s Derrick Marshall.

According to many owners, a big reason for the success of area businesses through the pandemic was due to residents returning to downtown shops. The Village Square Association and Chamber of Commerce collaborated on a Shop Local promotion, but people were already there.

“People wanted to get out, and they felt safe going to small local stores,” Wilson observed. “People really stepped up.”

During the worst of COVID-19’s rampage, small businesses were still forced to compete against Amazon and other online giants. But a major scourge of local sales dropped out.

One concern is that shoppers will revert to the pre-pandemic ways of traveling to Columbia or the St. Louis area to make their purchases.

But that is not the most pressing issue of the moment.

“We’ve been extremely busy,” reported Vince Fuemmelen of IMS Technology Group, a software support and solutions company in Mexico. “My biggest problem is getting people back to work.”

Chamber director Dana Keller explained that the position of workplace specialist had been created with funding from the Mark Twain Regional Council. One of this person’s responsibilities would be to help high school graduates not continuing on to college transition into the workforce.

Another would be to assist people as they adapt in their work roles.

“What we’ve discovered is it’s the external stuff they don’t know how to manage,” Keller said. Family, housing and all the stuff of daily life affects a person’s productivity. One way to solve the employment issue is to help build a sustainable life outside of work.

Some of the suggestions looking forward were drawn from the recent past — flexible work schedules, access to high speed internet, creating multiple channels to reach customers and staff, as well as simply being creative.

But there was also an acknowledgment of problems. As the situation spiraled out of control in the spring of 2020, the Mexico School District tried to get ahead of the situation.

“When you go to purchase products or goods, you find it’s non-existence,” said superintendent Dr. Tammy Lupardus. Technology ordered early on during the pandemic arrived only recently.

CARES funds helped in 2020. In 2021, recovery funds are on offer – grants that are intended to create jobs and sustain business.

Mark Twain Region Council executive director Cindy Hultz said that attending county wide meetings helped the group know which federal grants to pursue.