Summer an Active Time for Business Advocacy

Summer an Active Time
for Business Advocacy

Dennis Durham
Sr. Vice President of
Business Advocacy

Getting in that last vacation trip or getting all the necessary school supplies has been on most people's minds this past month before the 2007-08 school year began. During this time, the Chamber has been actively working on a number of issues, not least of which has been kicking off our candidate endorsement process.

This election year, the Battle Creek City Commission is set to experience significant change with a number of tenured commission members choosing not to seek re-election. This is important as a very new commission will be seated following the November election. With this in mind, the Chamber has begun its process for developing a slate of candidates to endorse. Candidates will be asked to complete written questionnaires and participate in personal interviews to ascertain their views on issues important to the Chamber membership. Where will a candidate's priorities be relative to city services? Does a candidate support economic development activities? These questions and others will be important to the Chamber's Board of Directors and the candidates they support for election to these important positions.

State Budget Future Remains Uncertain
Lawmakers in Lansing have continued to work on solving the state's budget problems over the summer months - with little success. And this situation aggravates local municipal budgets creating uncertainty about the future of state-shared revenues. Local leaders are in a difficult position to try and develop budgets without knowing what level of funding will be coming from the state. It is sure to impact local services this year and into the future.

Two-Tiered Funding for State Universities
Legislators have introduced funding plans to support our state universities at two different tiers. A small group of institutions (the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University) are to be funded at one level or tier, while the 12 other schools, including Western Michigan University, are to be funded at a lower tier. The Chamber has joined with other area organizations in opposition to such a plan as it could negatively affect WMU.