Joel Simon September 2005

Three Cheers and our hats are off to the two members of our UCC Board that have been selected as finalists for the most prestigious Fernando Award, Jill Banks Barad and J. Richard Leyner. We are so proud of each of you and your lifetime of volunteerism. You reflect the best of our Chamber world. You are an example for all of us to follow. Thank you from all of us.

This summer has been an extraordinary journey with the selection of Sarah Finn Haskell to be our Executive Assistant. Sarah brings a breath of new ideas and enthusiasm to our organization. We welcome Sarah aboard and look forward to a long relationship. We have made substantial strides in our organizational structure. Our Board has worked hard to continue to accomplish events on an ever tightening budget. Our alliances with the Valley Economic Development Corporation, the Economic Alliance, the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils and VICA remain strong and provide us with working relationships that leverage our efforts to continue to provide well respected events such as our Small Business Recognition Awards and the Legislative Aids Reception, which is coming in November. VEDC especially has host of programs for chamber members that you may promote through your chamber for training and loans for your members. The UCC Board is working to promote programs that will benefit the member Chambers – we will be focusing on working with Matt Hunter, Hunter Communications, Inc., to implement his vision of a website that will be a tool for Chamber member benefits and increased membership. Your ideas and participation are valued. Our Governmental Affairs Committee has been very active and we have taken positions to support the Governor’s measures on the forthcoming ballot.

The UCC’s commitment to support Neighborhood Council participation is ongoing. Working with the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils we will jointly hold a third annual meeting of the Valley counsels and chambers. Participation by the business community is the key to preserving our small business voice. The burden of democracy and the freedom that it provides us is that for it to work we have to participate and not rely on others to do it for us.

We have maintained a presence and pressure on our elected City representatives to support the MTA follow through with the Orange Line. The launch is coming soon and we encourage you all to see the results of many years of efforts to get the Busway operational.

We encourage each of our Chamber members to select and send their designated Director to our Board meetings. It is time that we move forward to refocus our goals and resources to address those issues most important to our Chamber members. We look forward to seeing each of you at our next Board meeting.





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