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Chair's Column
Chamber provides tools for business
By Dave Rozenboom
2009-10 Chair of the Board
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Dave Rozenboom
2009-10 Chair of the Board |
Nobody appreciates spring quite like we do in the upper Midwest, so whoever decided to make February only 28 days was one smart cookie to my way of thinking. As we happily turn the calendar to March, there are a number of items to report on.
I would be remiss if I didn’t begin by thanking the men and women, both in the public and private sector, who have done yeoman’s work this winter with snow removal. While this has been a budget-buster of a snow season, it has also been a huge task for those responsible for keeping the streets, sidewalks and parking lots clear. But for all of the expense, it also creates income for businesses and wages for employees and that helps fuel our economy … so the snow is not all bad, right?
At this writing, the South Dakota legislature is in the midst of a challenging budget year. It was nevertheless disappointing that the proposed local option sales tax legislation, which would have allowed municipalities in the state to hold a public vote to use sales tax to fund necessary infrastructure projects, did not make it out of the House State Affairs committee. While this is a setback for the City’s Events Center Task Force, we offer our encouragement and continued support to the Mayor, City Council and the task force members to continue to working on this facilities planning process. Let’s develop a plan to keep the vision alive and moving forward. It is too important to the long- term future of this community to do anything else.
There are many other important issues that are being addressed by the legislature on a daily basis — many of which have impact on the business community. Please take full advantage of the Chamber’s communications and electronic publications to stay well-informed on each of the bills that are making their way through the legislative process. If you are not signed up for email alerts, please contact the Chamber staff to get on the distribution list, or check out the Chamber’s website at www.siouxfallschamber.com and look under the Advocacy tab.
Speaking of the Chamber’s website, our staff has done an outstanding job of redesigning and improving our site to make it even more user-friendly. I invite you to take a quick tour. I know you will be impressed not only with the fresh look, but even more so with the wealth of information that is available to you. Your Chamber provides many benefits and services to our members and I encourage you to actively use the website to stay informed and involved in the areas that are of value to you, your employees and your business.
A strong and growing membership is a key to our long term success as a Chamber in this community. During the month of March, our volunteer Chamber Ambassadors will be out signing up new members as part of our Spring Membership Drive March 15-26. If you represent a new or existing business that would like to know more about the benefits of being a member, please contact the Chamber office and we will be happy to share our story.
2010 will be filled with many elections at all levels of government. Strong leadership in governance is perhaps more significant than ever before as we balance the short-term challenges of today with the critical need for long-term vision that is such an important key to our future. It is vital to our democracy that our citizens are well-informed and that they exercise their right to vote. Please refer to the informative articles throughout this issue that address this very important topic and participate in these valuable educational events and forums.
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