Last week when Gov. Andrew Cuomo named more than 100 business, community and civic leaders to his New York Forward Re-Opening Advisory Board, only one of those people was from the northern part of the state: Ty Stone, president of Jefferson Community College in Watertown and co-chair of the North Country Regional Economic Development Council.

Now the North Country has two more representatives on that board, tasked with advising the governor on how to lift restrictions that slow the spread of the new coronavirus: James McKenna, president and CEO of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism based in Lake Placid, and Garry Douglas, president and CEO of the North Country Chamber of Commerce based in Plattsburgh.

“The North Country is the largest geographic region of New York state,” McKenna, who co-chairs the NCREDC with Stone, said in a press release. “Having Dr. Stone, Garry Douglas and myself on this advisory board guarantees that all areas and industries of our region will be represented, which will ensure our reopening is following the protocols as identified by the Governor and in synergy with the entire state.”

“I thank the governor for the opportunity to participate in this important process,” said Douglas, who co-chaired the NCREDC prior to McKenna and Stone, “and to be a part of the statewide team of advisors from various sectors and regions that the governor has brought together.”

Cuomo has said the state will reopen region by region, once each region meets benchmarks for testing and cases of COVID-19. Then each region will reopen in four phases, starting with construction and manufacturing, and ending with arts, entertainment, recreation and education. The goal is to reopen safely, without triggering a new wave of infection and death and without overwhelming each area’s health care system.