Huntingburg Chamber of Commerce

FEBRUARY 2003

1�� Legislative Breakfast at K of C in Jasper

5�� Chamber Development Committee Meeting at 7:30 am at the OTH

6�� WITZ Program at 7:00 am

6�� Huntingburg Merchants Dinner Meeting at 6:30 pm at the Overtime

7�� City of Huntingburg Museum Steering Committee Meeting at 8:00 am at City Hall

12�� Chamber Executive Committee Meeting at Noon at OTH

13�� Chamber Breakfast Meeting 7:00 am OTH � Jim Dauby PSCI, Telecommunications in SW Indiana

16�� Huntingburg Museum Grand Opening at City Hall

18�� Foundation Executive Committee Meeting Noon at OTH

18�� Huntingburg Park Board Meeting at 5:45 pm at City Hall

19�� Foundation Finance Committee 3:30 pm at OTH

25�� Foundation Marketing Committee Meeting Noon at OTH

26�� Chamber Membership Committee Meeting at 7:30 am OTH

27-28�� ICEA Conference at Indianapolis � Office Closed on February 28

Mayor Gail Kemp

Speaks on Economic Development

At the monthly breakfast meeting on January 16, Mayor Gail Kemp gave Chamber members an overview of what is happening in Huntingburg in the way of economic development quality of life issues.

Mayor Kemp commented that he believed that our people are our number one strength.� We have a strong work ethic, which continues to provide for an unemployment rate less than the state or national average.� But more importantly, we have the opportunity to sell Huntingburg with each contact we make.

Huntingburg�s diversity is another positive element of the economic climate in Huntingburg.� While furniture manufacturing entities such as Styline, Dubois Wood and DMI continue to have a strong presence; businesses like Touch of Class, Farbest Foods and St. Joseph�s Hospital keep us from being overly dependent on one industry.

The city continues to expand its infrastructure as it finishes sewer line extensions to the south and west of the city limits.� The recent �scratching of ground� (ground was too frozen to actually break with a shovel) for the new water treatment plant will ensure that the city of Huntingburg meets federal standards for drinking water.� The addition of a new transformer will secure the availability of electricity for businesses and residents of Huntingburg.

The announced route for I-69 will allow potentially new businesses to look to locating in southern Indiana.� Support businesses to Toyota are barely within our grasp, but the new highway can bring secondary suppliers closer to Huntingburg�s door.�

Improvements to US 231 have to happen.� The current condition of this major artery into the community is stifling growth.� Mayor Kemp and Mayor Schmitt prefer the east route, but the final decision has not yet been made.� And when the decision is made, US 231 and I-69 will take years before they are actually built.

The Mayors not only agree on proposed routes for US 231and I-69, they and other elected officials recognize that they need to work together to ensure that companies already in existence in Dubois County remain strong and that new companies locate within our borders.� To this extent a countywide development commission is in the preliminary stages of development.

The relocation of a new industry within Dubois County can be beneficial to Huntingburg even though it may not be in the city limits.� People no longer recognize traditional boundaries and work live and shop in different communities.

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This crossover along with the emerging tourism industry in downtown Huntingburg can do much to promote and strengthen our retail establishments on Fourth Street.�

There is much to do, together we can.

Richmond on the Technology Trail

(With information from BizVoice)

Technology innovation programs are not limited to major cities.� Main Street Richmond-Wayne County is creating a new technology zone in its downtown � an area referred to locally as �Uptown Richmond.��

�Our goal is to create in the community an awareness of a technology-driven new economy,� says Renee Oldham, Executive Director of Main Street Richmond-Wayne County.� Other goals are to expand Richmond�s workforce from what has traditionally been blue collar and offer more technological opportunities.

Consider the success of Tech Summit 2002.� It delivered an innovative program that gave local people a chance to have experts explain how they can tame technology and use it for their business, job or at home.

The daytime sessions offered a variety of topics on how to better use available computers and related technology. �The evening hours targeted families with sessions focused on using technology in local schools, protecting against Internet fraud, keeping the Internet safe for kids, e-mail and distance education.

Richmond and Wayne county government groups and businesses have invested $181,000 in their Main Street Richmond-Wayne County Technology Initiative Program.� The Indiana Department of Commerce is contributing $153,000 from the state�s Strategic Development Fund to support the technology zone effort.

Walker says that most people in Richmond agree that technology-driven jobs are good for the community and local economy.� She notes that there is significant interest in exploring new ways to make them available.

Value of Benefits

(With information from the Better Business Bureau)

Current national averages indicate that employers spend more than 40% over and above the total salary on employee benefits.� However, employees are usually only aware of 10 to 25% of what is actually spent.

Employers spend the additional money for benefits to entice and to retain qualified employees, but if employees are unaware of the benefits are employers getting the most out of their investment and making the most out of their retention strategy?

Employers need to communicate to their employees the value of the �hidden paycheck� that is their benefit package.� Employers should not be expected to assume all of the expense for insurance and other financial planning items usually associated with benefit packages, but if an employee is unaware of the substantial contributions that are being made by the employer they may be unhappy with the net weekly paycheck.

Unhappy employees can lead to turnover and even higher costs of training and loss of production.� Communication is the key, are you providing information to your employees on a regular basis as to the actual cost of employee benefits?

�� (Bradley Trevor Grieve)

In our quest to figure out who moved our cheese, we should not loose sight of why we were looking for cheese in the first place.

www.irs.gov

The Taxpayer Education and Communication Division of the Department of Treasury�s mission is to provide customer focused products, services and assistance to educate customers and help them meet their taxpayer obligations.�

There are many educational products that may be of assistance to our members.� For example, the Small Business Resource Guide contains all the business tax forms, instructions and publications needed by small business owners.�� The TEC organization has provided us with copies of several CDs to assist our small business owners, and as a Chamber member you may borrow them from our library.

If you wish further information, you may contact Anne King at (574) 236-8141 or [email protected] or the Internal Revenue Service website at www.irs.gov.

Robert Montgomery to Speak at Annual Dinner

The Huntingburg Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual dinner on April 10, 2003 with guest speaker Dr. Robert Montgomeryof Montgomery, Zukerman, Davis, Inc.

Dr. Montgomery is a thought provoking and challenging speaker on the future of Indiana and on high performance.� With so many counties in Indiana, Dubois County included, failing to attract new business, new jobs and new opportunities it is time for us to look towards generating our own jobs through sales and service.�

Dr. Montgomery will discuss the �human potential� in which he explains that a company is only as good as the people in it.� Huntingburg and Dubois County can take great pride in their work ethic and now it is time to market that work ethic and take back our portion of the 118,000 jobs that Indiana lost in 2000.

The following is an editorial by State Chamber President Kevin Brinegar that ran in a number of papers around the state. Indiana is faced with a major fiscal and economic development challenge. As you will see in the editorial, the State Chamber has been pleading this case since 1996 and while flattered by the close familiarity with the Chambers proposals, expresses its support of the Governor's "Energize Indiana" program.

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The governor and lt. governor have announced an economic development investment initiative aimed at complementing the tax restructuring and property and business tax relief measures passed in HB 1001 this past summer. The administration's "Energize Indiana" proposal seeks to jump-start Indiana's economic performance in the near term. It also aims to set a course of action for the future that would drive much-needed additional state investment in human, physical and financial capital into areas that will improve our economic performance by diversifying our economy through creation of more higher-skill, higher-wage jobs.

This ten-year plan proposes new or enhanced investments in:

*The 21st Century Research and Technology Fund

*Indiana-based venture capital pools

*Technology parks

*Rural economic development

*University-based research construction projects

*Implementation of PL 221, which focuses on high-reaching K-12 standards and school accountability

* Scholarships for college students in high technology, high demand degree programs and who stay and work in Indiana

*Skills assessment and job matching for Hoosiers workers, and

*Low rate financing economic development projects��

In addition, the administration is calling for legislation to make the research and development tax credit permanent, eliminate the 30% floor for business personal property assessments, and adopt a constitutional amendment to fully legalize the elimination of the inventory tax.

While the financing for this proposal calls for no new tax dollars, it is not without controversy. The bulk of the funding would come from selling 40% of Indiana's claim to future Tobacco Settlement funds. However, the plan does not address the state's $800 million budget deficit. Ultimately, the solutions to this crisis must be identified before this plan can be given serious consideration.

The administration has labeled the "Energize Indiana" plan "a vision for Indiana's future." It is noteworthy to the Indiana Chamber that many of the investment initiatives in this plan bear a strong resemblance to those contained in Economic Vision 2010, the Chamber's 10-year economic development action plan for Indiana, first released two and a half years ago. Likewise, the four key industry sectors targeted for emphasis in the "Energize Indiana" plan (advanced manufacturing, life sciences, distribution logistics, and information technology) are nearly identical to the key industry clusters for economic growth and prosperity first identified in the Chamber�s Blueprint for Economic Growth for Indiana, otherwise known as the BEGIN report. This report, with its now familiar findings and recommendations, was first presented to then lieutenant governor and gubernatorial candidate Frank O'Bannon in the spring of 1996; even before many of our current technology and health industry advocacy ally organizations were even in existence.

But rather then dwell on what our economic fortunes might have been had we taken these matters up in 1996 when we had a budget surplus and a growing economy, I suggest our focus must remain on the here and now.

The Indiana Chamber is encouraged by the breadth, depth and focus of the administration's investment plan. Its close resemblance to the Chamber's Economic Vision 2010 is both flattering and encouraging. It address many Chamber economic development priorities, and we will seek to add other to the discussion agenda including:

� Incentives for capital investment

� *Implementation of broadband capacity throughout the state

� *Small-business job creation incentives

� *Expanded adult workforce training

� *Incentives for technology commercialization

� *Corporate headquarter relocation

� *State economic policy revitalization

In announcing the plan, Governor O'Bannon stated that, "We are in drastic economic times, and it will take bold action to move Indiana forward." The Chamber could not agree more. We stand ready roll up our sleeves and get to work on an aggressive and comprehensive economic development and job creation strategy as well as a plan to address the state's extreme financial crisis. We will need the type of bipartisan statesmanship that we saw this past summer that allowed policymakers to address our tax restructuring and property tax relief needs.

We will work with our many allies to make a brighter, more positive vision for Indiana a reality.

For more information on the Indiana Chamber see their website at www.indianachamber.com