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Steering Committee Meeting
November 14, 2006
Heartland Foundation

Attending: Co-Chairs Cyndra Lorey and Mark Garges, Charity Austin, Jack Briggs, Sean Burge, Dan Hegeman, Shellby Hendee, Eileen Irvine, Kathy Kunkel, Natalie Leonard, Lisa Luke, Carol Mathes, Alice McKee, Kathy Morgan, Debbie Pore, Amy Ryan, Ann Schlueter, Allison Strong, Jackie Wilson

Welcome
Co-Chair Cyndra Lorey welcomed the group and asked for introductions.

Committee Reports
County Coordinators – News releases have gone out as well as letters seeking corporate sponsors (no responses received yet).

Event Committee – This group met Friday, November 10, and made GNW Day assignments. They are still searching for a luncheon speaker. Send ideas to Natalie via email by November 30. She will compile list of top 3 and send out to committee for vote.

Lisa asked if anyone would be interested in working on the program. If not, the Chamber can produce and then be reimbursed for costs. Cyndra asked if we should consider assigning committee members to serve as door greeters at the event. She will look into other alternatives and discuss at the next meeting.

Regional Issues – Shellby summarized results of the Issues Committee’s review of issues submitted by the NW Roundtable, County Coordinators, and others. The list has been narrowed to five issues with some consisting of multiple discussion points:

  • Economic Development
    -MEDC (MO Economic Development Code) – passage of legislation proposed in 06 to be proposed in 07 by MEDC
    -Missouri Quality Jobs – raise or eliminate the cap of the program
    -Workforce Development funding
  • Water/Wastewater Fund (or revolving loan fund) to help communities meet clean water acts
  • Prevailing Wage
    -Exempting education or certain projects
    -Communities report wage – large versus small
  • MOHELA - Distribution formula of funds
  • Tobacco Settlement Funds

Also discussed was the issue of the 21 counties within the state who still do not have access to 911 service and how to generate funding (tax on land phone lines, cell phone purchase, sales tax). However, since many of these counties would fall outside NWMO, this does not appear to be a true regional issue. Shellby summarized tentative plans for the facilitation process for the Regional Issues Forum on November 29 during which additional issues will be sought.

Shellby will call Madison’s in Jefferson City to make reservations for the dinner meeting with legislators, and he will issue the invitation to the legislators. Regarding polo shirts for the legislators, Shellby asked for Steering Committee members to email suggested suppliers to him, and he will contact for estimates.

Marketing/PR – Lisa shared an example of the invitation. Plans are to email legislators and department heads with “save the date” information. Invitations will be mailed January 3, and some sort of desktop reminder will be send 2 weeks prior to the event. Lisa suggests a small box of pralines with a card listing the issues attached. She will attempt to contact a local supplier for the pralines. In addition, the Marketing group suggests a Mardi Gras “king cake” to be delivered to legislators the day before the event. Other suggestions for the reminder and desktop gift are welcomed.

Carol Mathes shared a sample of the GNW Day pin, and Cyndra mentioned that a sponsor (or sponsors) are being sought for the Balloon man.

Next Meeting
Wednesday, December 20, 10 a.m. at the Chamber offices.

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For more information, contact:
Deb Powers, Director of Healthy Communities
Heartland Foundation
518 S. 6th Street, St. Joseph, MO 64501
Phone: 816-271-7185
Toll-Free: 1-800-447-1083
Fax: 816-271-7269

Email GNW