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Chamber Chat
Rob Gilligan
President & CEO, Cape Chamber
One of the roles and priorities of the Cape Chamber is to focus on supporting our members to be engaged in advocating on behalf of businesses at a variety of levels. Over the past several years we have worked to expand access and opportunities to advocacy by adding new programs and events including our Business Advocacy Coffees, the new State of the Community Luncheon in August, and collaboration with our peer Chambers and Economic Development Organizations throughout Southeast Missouri to draft the first Regional Advocacy Document in 2024.
As part of our regional advocacy collaboration several Cape Chamber Board Members, Partners, and Business Advocacy Committee Members made a trip to Jefferson City at the end of February to engage with our elected officials and collaborate with our peers to help support issues important to many of us in Southeast Missouri. We were pleased to join over 70 individuals from eight different communities in the region for two great days of engagement, relationship building, and advocacy on behalf of our members. We look forward to expanding and growing opportunities like that in the years to come.
Advocacy is not just limited to our engagement with State or Federal leaders, we also keep focused on issues here in our own community that are important to the growth and success of our region. Being engaged and informed on local issues is arguably more important in some ways, as the decisions made here at the local level impact on our business daily and are a critical piece of building and growing a thriving business community.
During the March meeting, the Board of Directors received presentations and information on two upcoming ballot questions before voters during the upcoming April 8th election. Following the presentation of information on each of the issues and an opportunity to answer questions, The Chamber Board considered and adopted the following statements of support. The first topic discussed was the renewal of a 5-year half-cent sales tax to support the Transportation Trust Fund in the City of Cape Girardeau. After consideration and discussion, the Board of Directors voted to offer the following statement of support to our members for them to consider.
The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to supporting a thriving business community in Cape Girardeau and throughout Southeast Missouri. Investment in maintaining the quality of our local transportation infrastructure is a critical component of providing for a strong community to attract and retain citizens and visitors that can help drive our local economy.
Through six iterations over the last 30 years, the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) program through the City of Cape Girardeau has a proven track record of successfully delivering on the projects promised to both grow and maintain our critical local roadway infrastructure. Additionally, the Cape Chamber recognizes and supports the open and engaged process that prioritizes community and business feedback back in developing the project priority list for TTF 7 that will focus on maintenance of existing infrastructure as well as comprehensive reconstruction of roadways that are critical to business activity within the Cape Girardeau community.
Our Chamber is committed to advocating for policies that promote economic growth and support both employers and employees. We encourage members of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce to consider supporting the passage of the Transportation Trust Fund tax renewal scheduled for the April 8th ballot.
The second topic the board considered was Proposition L, a request from the Cape Girardeau Public Library Board for voters to remove the sunset provision and allow for the current property tax rate that has supported paying the bonds for construction of the new library to be continued after the debt is retired in 2027. After discussion and consideration, the Board of Directors approved sharing the following statement with our members.
The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to supporting a thriving business community in Cape Girardeau and throughout Southeast Missouri. Investment in maintaining quality of life services such as those provided through the Cape Girardeau Public Library are critical to support our ability to attract and retain a talented workforce within our community.
The Cape Girardeau Public Library has successfully grown and developed a high-quality center for service to our community and the broader region. Their program and organizational success are recognized beyond our region as they were named the 2024 Missouri Public Library of the Year by their peers in the Missouri Library Association.
Continuing to support the maintenance and growth of our community library as a high quality and expanding resource is important to our competitive ability to attract and retain families, and workforce aged individuals to the area. The Cape Public Library has committed to maintaining and growing the quality and range of their services with the continuation level funding.
Our Chamber is committed to advocating for policies that promote economic growth and support both employers and employees. We encourage members of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce to consider supporting the passage of Proposition L scheduled for the April 8th ballot.
Being informed on these and other topics is a critical part of being an engaged business and citizen of the community. To help you be informed, we will also host representatives from the Transportation Trust Fund Committee and the Cape Girardeau Public Library as part of our First Friday Coffee program on April 4th ahead of the election. We hope you will join us at the Century Casino Event Center that morning to learn more about these issues to help you be informed.
Let’s Grow!
Rob Gilligan
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