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A NOTE FROM OUR CEO

Bill Konyha | President & CEO

July 20, 2020

The four subcommittees of the Policy Committee met for the first time on Friday, July 17, via our Zoom virtual meeting platform. The initial purpose of the Regional Chamber in organizing these subcommittees was to increase the participation of our members in the process of determining our annual legislative agenda. The meeting was organizational in nature and structured to begin this process as an efficient way to not only develop our agenda but to be more inclusive of our membership.

At the outset, those volunteering to participate include; 21st Century Talent Gary Gatman of Noble County EDC, Jerrilee Mosier of Ivy Tech Community College, Hallie Custer of Parkview, Brian Van Hall of Ambassador Enterprises, Mike Hensley of Besiege LLC, Dana Berkes of NIPSCO, and Kim Wagner of Purdue University Ft Wayne. World-Class Infrastructure Michael Vanover of Clean Fuels National, Nick Caley of Heartland REMC, Brian Anderson of Wabash Valley Power Association, Steve Kimmel of Huntington County Chamber of Commerce, and Chris Shanks of Ford Meter Box. Competitive Business Climate Chris Graham of Steel Dynamics, Terrie Cable of First Merchants Bank, Jeremy Gayed of Ambassador Enterprises, Todd Hollman of Pizza Hut of Fort Wayne, and Chad Ruston of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, Rural / Agri-Business Nate Perry of Huntington University, Bobby Hettmansperger of Advance Ag Resources, Inc., Alex Knollenberg of Strauss Veal & Feed, Bob Vitoux of Ambassador Enterprises, and Trisha Loker of Beacon Federal Credit Union.

New issues already under consideration by these subcommittees include Telehealth Counseling, Work Sharing, Consistency of Federal and State Tax Codes concerning R&D Tax Credits, Business Liability Protection for Employers as they call back employees from layoffs as a result of the COVID Virus, and Unemployment Compensation. We shall also review Heritage Commerce District Grants, Early Childhood Education, funding for post-secondary education, and U.S. Rt 30.

Greater Ft. Wayne and the Regional Chamber will again host monthly breakfasts for our Legislative Delegation during the remaining summer and fall months. Our purpose is simply to provide an opportunity for them to continue to develop their relationships with one another and to build upon these relationships as we approach the next session. As always, we are grateful to them for their commitment to the Region and the State of Indiana.

These relationships are essential as we move into the 2021 session. With a budget under development that is likely to incur deep cuts, redistricting, and an anticipated discussion about empowering the legislature to call themselves back into session to deal with emergencies, this seems like a genuinely challenging year. We anticipate that we will be playing defense on many issues even as we hope to move the ball downfield on other issues already in play.

We encourage our members to join us in the Policy Committee and help us to build our 2021 Agenda.

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A NOTE FROM OUR CEO

Bill Konyha | President & CEO

President’s Notes

July 13, 2020

THE NEXT BIG THING

Last week I was honored to be invited by U.S. Congressman Jim Banks to join him, Congressman Darren Soto (D Fl-9), Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker, and two Chambers from Congressman Soto’s district in a program hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The program was a virtual production of the American Congressional Exchange focused upon Recovery Strategies for Small Businesses and Working Families. The program began with opening statements by each of the Congresspeople and each of the participants. Following opening remarks, the moderator asked a series of questions that were discussed in an open format.

Rob Parker, a member of the Northeast Indiana Regional Chamber Coalition, did an outstanding job of representing his community and his members. I believe that each of the participants did likewise. To prepare for this event, I reached out to a cross-section of private sector businesses and worked to be sure that we had responses from each economic sector. Their responses were constructive as I prepared notes to guide my remarks.

I focused on two specific areas as the focus of comments from the other Chamber organizations were focused upon other areas. The topics in which I led the comments involved the need to pass legislation limiting employer liability for returning to work if OSHA guidelines are followed. Our need to get our people and businesses back to work should not create an opportunity for litigation vs. employers who make Good Faith efforts to develop guidelines not yet clearly established nor universally understood.

The other topic that focused my comments upon was the need to open childcare and education not only for the good of our children but to enable working couples and others to get back to work. Too many working parents are unable to leave their children without care and supervision, which is otherwise unavailable to them. This is slowing the employer’s ability to get businesses back into operation and is slowing the recovery. Once again, all the Chambers agreed with these positions.

We continued last week with our effort to seek funding to complete our commitment to support the U.S. Route 30 project through the private sector members of our organization and the Region. We have secured some pledges from non-members and have nearly fulfilled our commitment. We have three members who have indicated agreement to support this critical infrastructure project, but they each have a process to complete. In most cases, it will be complete soon. In at least one case, it may reach into the beginning of August. However, at this time we are convinced that our members and others will support this project. It was essential to secure support from throughout the Region to demonstrate the Regional Commitment to it.

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A NOTE FROM OUR CEO

Bill Konyha | President & CEO

July 3, 2020

Independence Day is uniquely an American Holiday. Perhaps as we celebrate as the date that we declared our independence from a foreign sovereign and began down a path leading to becoming a unique democracy, this is a time to not only reflect upon the freedom won from this action but to acknowledge all those who have made the supreme sacrifice to preserve our freedom. This year it may well be past time to contemplate those who freedom left behind and to focus our efforts to strive to be 50 states united in our commitment to life, liberty, and equality for all.

We have worked very hard over the past few weeks to raise the amount of funds that we need to meet our commitment to retaining the services of David Long to help secure the state funding to pay the cost of the Environmental Impact Study (EIS). The EIS is required as a necessary first step to include the U.S. 30 transformation within the INDOT long-term plan. To date, it is not. In fact, INDOT plans to solve our U.S. 30 problems by adding a series of J-Turns. This is not what Northeast Indiana wants or needs.

We had hoped to complete the fundraising by July 3rd, a challenging performance goal but one in which we have come very close to achieving. As of July 1st, 2020, we have raised more than 91% of the goal and might have accomplished it had we taken a slightly different approach. Had we focused strictly upon businesses in or near the U.S. 30 corridor, we might already be done. However, the entire Region adopted this as our number one transportation issue, and we believed that we should raise funds from throughout the Region. This we have done. However, it has taken a little longer due to logistical issues. Nevertheless, I am proud of the way the Region has responded, and I look forward to wrapping this up quickly.

The Policy Committee will meet on July 10th, and we plan upon the four subcommittees meeting the following week. We will begin by reviewing six issues that have already been brought up by our members. Another few will be carried over, but we have very little faith currently that there will be very much new included in the upcoming budget debate. We may play defense on some issues, such as post-secondary education, and will doubtless include some budget additions if only to keep the discussion going. Remember, legislative success is a long game. Steven Townes, our Administrative Assistant, will reach out to last year’s participants in the Policy Committee to confirm our roster for 2021. As always, each of our members is encouraged to participate on the committee as we begin to develop our Legislative Agenda for the 2021 session of the Indiana General Assembly.

The board will not meet again until September as it generally takes a break from monthly meetings in July and August. We shall keep the board advised of all issues and any actions that we might ask the Executive Committee to take during the hiatus. At the very least, the Executive Committee will meet as necessary to conduct business on behalf of the board during the summer months. Any action taken by the Executive Committee will be considered and ratified by the entire board of directors.

We look forward to meeting with the Policy Committee and the subcommittees beginning on July 10th.

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A NOTE FROM OUR CEO

Bill Konyha | President & CEO

June 26, 2020

The Regional Chamber continues to follow all the reopening guidelines and has reopened the office on a limited basis. We continue to work mostly from remote locations but have been effective in conducting our affairs in the manner. As we are co-located with the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, and they have decided not to reopen to visitors until July 30, we will continue to conduct most of our business from these remote locations. As we really do not have a great deal of walk-in traffic, this should not be an impediment. However, the Policy Committee is scheduled to convene on July 10, and we will likely do so via Zoom until the office reopens to guests.

David Murphy, formerly of Lutheran Health Network, resigned his position on our board as he left LHN. The board appointed Mark Medley, President, and CEO of LHN to the seat. Mark did serve on the board until he asked the board to appoint Mr. Murphy to this position. We welcome Mark Medley back to the board and look forward to his insights and wisdom.

We continue our push to complete the fundraising efforts regarding the U.S. 30 project. We are nearing completion and hope to have it completed by July 3. Retired Sen. Long is actively engaged with the project and frankly working very hard for Northeast Indiana as he has for so many years. David and I connected on Thursday to discuss progress, and I am pleased with our efforts. The Board of Directors named David Long the first recipient of the Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana Excellence in Leadership Award and had hoped to present it to him at the 2020 Annual Meeting that we canceled. It was my honor to present him with the award before our meeting. I am happy to report that we had a photographer on hand to enable us to commemorate the occasion. I would expect the photos to be published on our website very soon.

Those who served on the Policy Committee last year will be welcomed back for the upcoming session. We will reach out to all former members and ask for their continued commitment. We are seeking others who wish to join the committee for the upcoming session. The meeting on the 10th will be organizational in nature and should not last more than one hour. We will begin to discuss Policy issues during the second meeting, which will be on July 24 in a Zoom meeting that will last for 90 minutes. We already have several issues suggested by members, and we have begun research on these issues.

The subcommittees will begin work the week following the Policy Committee meeting. These will also be organizational in nature and will last for sixty minutes. The rosters still have room for some additions and will happily consider requests to join any of the committees.

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A NOTE FROM OUR CEO

Bill Konyha | President & CEO

June 22, 2020

The Regional Chamber continues to follow the guidelines established by Governor Holcomb for reopening. Accordingly, we shall continue to operate from remote locations but will now be in the offices on an As-Needed basis. As we move forward, we may very well conduct some meetings in the office but following all Social Distance criteria. We will operate remotely and hold the bulk of our meetings from one of the various virtual meeting platforms.

Efforts to raise the required funding to pay the costs of advocacy to secure $15 million to fund the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) are moving forward rapidly. After the first two weeks, we have raised 83% of the required amount and hope to have this all wrapped up by July 3. The total that we are working to raise is $72,000, and we have thus far raised $60,000. Between now and July 3, the President will continue to meet with our members to secure the final $12,000. This may be the most critical issue that we have undertaken since we worked with Sen. David Long and others to secure the funding required to complete the Lafayette Center Road extension. Securing the funding for the EIS will not signify that we have accomplished our mission, but it will mean that it is being recognized as an essential project. This will be with us for some time.

We previously reported that we had rebranded the Rural Broadband issue into an issue of Regional Connectivity. We did so as this effort is not solely intended for the most rural areas in the Northeast Indiana Region. It is designed to bring connectivity to every area within the region, including cities, towns, and all rural areas. The work that we have undertaken with John Sampson and the Regional Partnership, the RDA, Mayor, and Commissioner Caucus, LEDO Council, Regional Chamber Coalition, REMCs, and the Upper Wabash Valley Study Committee has resulted in a comprehensive understanding of all of the issues and the costs associated with bringing this critical piece of 21st Century infrastructure to every part of the region has been most helpful. We now know what the costs are, and the amount of funding required to provide the equity to enable the leveraging of the private capital needed from the REMCs of the region. Without this vital amenity, our small cities, towns, and rural areas will not be sustainable over the long-term. High-speed internet is essential to distance learning, telehealth, telework, and our ability to attract young families back into our communities.

The upcoming legislative session is going to be very complicated and challenging. We anticipate significant budget cuts due to revenue shortfalls resulting from the Corona Virus. The Governor has indicated that cuts from 7%-15% may be required to meet the constitutionally mandated balanced budget. There will likely be minimal new spending and lots of cuts to existing programs. Which cuts can we tolerate, and which do we consider intolerable? We have but a few short months to find this while other issues play out in the State Capitol. The legislature will also take on redistricting of State Senate and State Representative Districts. Even U.S. Congressional Districts will also be redrawn against a backdrop of critical 2020 elections. Other critical issues are also likely to play out as well. We have heard that many legislators are unhappy that they have not been called into session to participate in the issues around the Corona Virus, and some are considering introducing legislation that would enable the legislature, under some as yet undescribed manner, call itself back into session.

The 2020 Session is going to be exciting and compelling.