Advocacy:
In 2007 the Chamber took positions to support business
in Columbia County.
-Voted to support a Yes vote for the Hudson City School
District Expansion Project. The successful ballot question
will address some critical education and infrastructure
needs in the 2,400-student School District including:
a new addition at John L. Edwards Elementary to house
all 75 pre-kindergarteners now scattered among four different
sites, reconfiguring of the Howard C. Smith Middle School
to house only grades 3 through 6, shutter the aging Greenport
Elementary School that is in poor condition and build
an addition at the High School for grades 7 and 8.
-Voted
to support the A. Colarusso & Son Mining Expansion.
Colarusso Quarry, a family owned business, has operated
at its existing location on Newman Road since 1912. During
those years they have been a valued employer and a manufacturer
of quality aggregate in Columbia County. As an employer
of over 100 people and a current contributor to the tax
base of Columbia County, the Chamber felt strongly that
Colarusso’s proposed expansion would be positive
for the business community and residents of Columbia County.
-Voted
to support pro business elements of the City of Hudson
Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (LWRP). The Chamber
believes that the waterfront is vital to the County’s
Future. The over-arching concern is too much of the LWRP
focuses on creating massive amounts of green space while
not giving enough attention to the economic importance
of a working waterfront. The Hudson waterfront is a critical
business, recreational and historic resource for our region.
This plan should be amended to focus more on redevelopment
of the commercial and industrial areas to create a vibrant,
revitalized, mixed-use waterfront.
-Voted
to support the expansion and retention of Kinderhook Toyota.
The Chamber fully supported steps that would allow Kinderhook
Toyota and their 30 employees to remain in Columbia County.
The Chamber is pleased that Kinderhook Toyota is proceeding
with plans to relocate their facility down Route 9H to
the Town of Ghent.
Supported Chatham Business Alliance to provide support
with local village officials and State DOT, informational
seminars, and marketing support to aid the Village of
Chatham in preparing for the upcoming road construction
project in the spring of 2008.
-The
Chamber presented the CBA with a $500 grant to aid them
in building a website to help promote the businesses in
the Village.
-Attended
Town Planning and Zoning Board Meetings to support various
member projects. As each town differs in their requirements
many members turned to the Chamber for support. In response
to this the Chamber plans to release a guide to help guide
business applicants through the sometimes difficult local
Planning Board approval process. Chamber officials will
look to work with town Planning Boards on what they require
of applicants to help ensure business owners come to meetings
with the necessary information.
The Chamber supported Crosswinds at Hudson, an affordable
workforce housing project that is in the final stages
of completion and will open in March 2008.
The Chamber co-sponsored the Pace University Land Use
program, which brought together local town zoning and
planning officials to better educate the County leaders.
The Chamber hosted a Mayoral Forum for the City of Hudson
candidates to help provide members an understanding of
where the candidates stand on business issues.
The Chamber is helping to foster new community leaders
by reintroducing the Leadership Columbia County program.
The program leads 18 participants through a nine-month
program to build leadership skills, relationships in the
community and identify volunteer opportunities in the
County.
The
Chamber presented the 2nd annual Buy Local Business Expo
on October 25. The event drew over 70 local exhibitors
and over 500 attendees.
The Chamber presented the 2007 Crystal Apple Award to
Columbia Memorial Hospital. This prestigious award is
presented to a Chamber member business to recognize an
extraordinary contribution to economic progress, community
improvement, and the quality of life in Columbia County.
The Chamber recognized five local businesses at the Excellence
in Business Awards and Showcase for their accomplishments
in the following categories: Large Company of the Year,
Small Company of the Year, Business Person of the Year,
Most Promising New Business and Community Service Award.
The 2007 award recipients included:
-A. Colarusso & Son - Large Company of the Year
-Excel Physical Therapy - Small Company of the Year
-Sam Phelan, Taconic Farms - Business Person of the Year
-Vico Restaurant - Most Promising New Business
- The Salvation Army - Community Service Award
At the annual Agricultural Business Brunch the Chamber
with support of other local organizations launched the
Columbia County Bounty (CCB) program. The mission of Columbia
County Bounty is to promote and support networking connections
between local agricultural producers and culinary businesses.
We aim to educate our community about the preservation
of our local farms through the purchase and use of local
and regional sustainable foods and products not only from
Columbia County, but also the entire Hudson Valley.
The CCB program began with a binder directory of 65 farms
and 56 chefs. To date there are 141 Charter Members of
CCB. With the support of two local organizations a grant
was provided to print a retail listing of farms and restaurants
in Columbia County participating in the Bounty program.
Over 18,000 brochures were printed in July and will be
distributed for a full year. The CCB committee organizes
events/fund-raisers to support the program. Over 200 people
attended the 2nd annual Bounty of the County Dinner, which
doubled in size from 2006.
The Chamber hosted the annual Legislative Breakfast, which
drew over 100 members to meet with local and state officials
including: Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator Stephen
Saland and Assemblymen Marc Molinaro, Tim Gordon and Peter
Lopez.
The Chamber hosted the annual County Supervisor’s
Reception to bring together members and local officials.
The B.E.S.T. Certificate of Employability program graduated
48 local high school students from the program in 2007.
The Chamber held the annual Columbia-Greene Superintendents
Breakfast, which was attended by 12 superintendents from
Columbia and Greene Counties. The topic for this program
was regionalism.
The Pathways to Employment education program was run in
three schools in Columbia County.
The Chamber was presented with the Regional Achievement
Award for successfully bridging the Hudson River by Pattern
for Progress in November.
Promotion:
The Chamber website was viewed 217,750 times in 2007.
The office received 7,800 phone calls throughout the year
and sent out over 150 relocation packets.
The Chamber produced 3,500 Membership Directory and Community
Guides that are distributed to people relocating to Columbia
County as well as local businesses.
The
Chamber welcomed 141 new members. 45 members were welcomed
during the membership recruitment drive from mid-July
through September. The Chamber retained 87% retention
of its members from 2006.
Approximately 2,275 participants attended Chamber events
in 2007. The Chamber hosted 14 ribbon cutting ceremonies
for new businesses and expanded businesses.
The Chamber supported members with bimonthly columns in
the Register Star Newspaper and a monthly column in the
Independent Newspaper, which highlighted advocacy, member
promotion, benefits and Chamber event news.
The Chamber mailed a quarterly newsletter and insert mailing
(Chamber Connection) to over 850 members to keep them
informed throughout the year. A monthly electronic newsletter
and tourism electronic newsletter are received by 800
members each month.
Benefit Solutions:
216 Sole Proprietors and 199 Groups of two or more access
the Chamber’s Health Insurance programs.
The Energy Alliance program saves 74 members (230 meters)
between 6-8% of the commodity portion of their electric
bill.
The Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP)
assisted 2 small businesses with technical support from
NASA. SATOP can provide up to 40 hours of FREE technical
assistance for qualified requests, utilizing the vast
engineering expertise of NASA and participating Alliance
Partners (NASA contractors, sub-contractors or Universities).
