The Chamber and City have had a long history of working together for the betterment of the community.  There have been times when this relationship was more adversarial than others, and times when it was direct, constructive and productive.  It is no accident that during times of close cooperation, communication and consultation Visalia developed some of the most progressive, and lasting, community development efforts.  Conversely, during times of poor communication, there has been less progress and support.

Issues at the County levels sometimes move off our radar. However, we try to keep in mind that issues at the County and regional level significantly impact us since commerce and economic activity do not respect political boundaries.

Major Issues Confront Community in the Coming Year

On October 5, the City Council authorized hiring of Dyett and Bahtia as the consultant to prepare a “comprehensive” General Plan amendment to update the “2020 Plan”.  The selection was made with the involvement of a steering committee which included Josh McDonnell of Quad representing the Chamber of Commerce.

Labor Day is the normal “starting gun” for local elections.  At of the close of the nomination period for the three open City Council seats, there were nine candidates running:  Warren Gubler, Dominic Prado, Mary Wheeler, Jesus Gamboa, Steve Nelson, Mike Lane, Greg Collins, Andrew Miller, and Paul Fry.

A little over a year ago, your Chamber’s leadership recognized that, as an organization, we needed to become more proactive and agile in responding to proposed new policies, regulations, or projects in our community.  As the primary voice of business in the public arena, we knew we needed a comprehensive and cohesive set of policies to guide our volunteers in taking positions on behalf of the whole organization.    As part of that effort, the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee created a series of seven (7) Focus Teams.  Each Focus Team developed a “position statement,” which describe key issues of concern and serves as an evaluation document that can be used by the Focus Team, or others, in determining how to respond to specific policy proposals.   These Position Statements were adopted as the official policy of the Chamber by the Board of Directors in February, 2009.

The Governmental Affairs Committee recently heard a presentation by Tricia Stever of the Tulare County Farm Bureau about issues confronting Farm Bureau members.

Although the City Council election is not for another five months, Council candidates are gearing up for the election in November.  The next number of months you will begin to see early campaigning, with it probably getting into full swing after Labor Day.

During March and April the Governmental Affairs Council (GAC) debated whether or not to recommend to the Chamber Board that it support or oppose the propositions that were recently placed on the May 19, 2009 Special  Election ballot.  These measures were part of the “budget deal” that was worked out by the Governor and the Legislature.