May 2022

Bylaws Change - On May 16^th, the Board of Directors approved a major rewrite of the Chamber’s Bylaws. The main revisions include:

• Clarified the Role of the Chamber – Purpose of the Chamber is to “Preserve the competitive enterprise system of business….”, “foster business and community growth and development through economic programs designed to strengthen and expand income potential of all businesses….” and to “promote programs of a civic, social and cultural nature…”.  
• New Board Year – Previously, the Chamber’s Board of Directors have begun their duties on July 1 each year. This is being moved to October 1. The current board will retain their positions until then.
• Expanded Board –The new Board will have fifteen (15) elected directors, serving three (3) year terms. Each Director is limited to two (2) full terms. The Chair can add up to three (3) non-voting directors, each for one (1) year. Formerly, the Board consisted of “up to” eleven (11) members. Five (5) of the members were elected by the membership for two (2) year terms, the other (up to) six (6) were appointed by the Chair for one (1) year terms. 
• Board Composition – A minimum of eighty percent (80%) of the new Board must be comprised of members from “for profit” organizations.
• Officers – The officers of the Chamber will be chosen by the fifteen (15) elected Directors. These are for one (1) year terms and will consist of a Chair, Chair-Elect, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Parliamentarian. These five (5) officers will form the Executive Committee. Once elected as Vice-Chair, this individual will move to Chair-Elect the following year and then to Chair the year after that. 
• Honorary Membership – A category of Honorary Membership has been added. These individuals will be selected by the Board of Directors and will not pay dues.
• Non-Voting Members – A non-voting category within the general membership has been established. This will include Honorary Members and organizations which, for various reasons, may want to opt-out of having an influence on Chamber business. Organizations which opt-out, may request to the Board of Directors to be placed back into the voting category. 
• Election Process – This process has been refined.                   
• June - The Chair appoints a Nominating Committee of four(4). This committee is charged with nominating not more than two (2) candidates for each open Board seat.                                                 
• August – Nominating committee reports their slate to the Board. The Chair may add nominees to the slate.                                 
• Immediately after the August Board meeting, all Chamber members will be notified of the nominees.                                    
• Additional nominees can be added through petition. Qualified petitions containing signatures of at least 10% of the membership can be submitted within 10 days to the nominating committee.                        
• Ballots will then be sent to all voting members. Results will be announced at the Annual Meeting in September.

Additional changes were made to remove ambiguity and clarify the roles of each officer and the President/CEO.

Candidates Forum – All primary candidates running for the following offices have been invited to the Greater Vail Area Chamber of Commerce’s and Vail Education Foundation’s forum on June 24^th at the Theatre of the Arts and Empire High School.

• Legislative Districts 17 and 19 – House and Senate
• Arizona Governor, Secretary of State, Superintendent of Public Schools, Corporate Commission
• US Congress Senate and House of Representatives

Mark your calendars now and watch for more information soon. This will be open to the public.

Incorporation Update – The Incorporate Vail Arizona? citizen group continues to meet. They held their first HOA Stakeholder meeting on May 18^th. Additional community meetings are planned to get input.

May Membership Lunch – Farhad Moghimi, the Executive Director of Pima Association of Governments was the keynote speaker. He presented the successes of the Regional Transportation Authority and addressed the upcoming RTA Next which will come up for vote before 2026. Supervisor Steve Christy and Southeast Regional Council founder Lucretia Free also gave updates.

June Membership Lunch – Have you invested in the currency of tomorrow – Cryptocurrency? What is its future and how do we deal with it? June’s Keynote speaker is going to answer those questions and more as Wei Chen, Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems at University of Arizona presents “Cryptocurrency 101”. A presentation you don’t want to miss.

Chamber in Action

•  Lighting Code - the draft of changes to the lighting code for Tucson and Pima County is out. The Chamber is preparing comments.
• Tucson Electric Vehicle Charging Ordinance – We attended Tucson’s stakeholder’s meeting on May 20^th as the Planning and Development Services Department provided an overview and received comments regarding the proposed changes to Unified Development Code. This change would require certain commercial locations provide a minimum amount of infrastructure for electric vehicles charging stations.
• Differential Water Rates – The county’s lawsuit to prohibit the city of Tucson to charge different water rates for users in unincorporated areas is moving slowly at this point.
• RTD Next - This is an important source of revenue to provide transportation improvements to areas of Pima County. The current legislation sunsets in 2026 and will have to go to the voters for an extension.

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Tuesday, June 14th

5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Diamond Community Park at Rocking K

7735 S. Rocking K Ranch Loop Rd.

Vail, AZ 85747

Thursday, June 16th

11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Christ Lutheran Vail Church

14600 E Colossal Cave Rd

Vail, AZ 85641

Speaker: Wei Chen

Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems

'Cryptocurrency 101'

Saturday, June 4th

8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

13105 E Colossal Cave Rd

Vail, AZ 85641

Saturday, June 11th

7:00 a.m. - Noon

13105 E Colossal Cave Rd

Vail, AZ 85641

Tucson Electric Power (TEP)

Realty Executives Arizona Territory | Looney Advantage

Mary Kay Cosmetics | Ann Westmoreland

Old Pueblo Benefit Advisors, LLC

SDG Architecture LLC

Thank You!

Nancy Rath

Marketing Director

520.297.0797

nrath@cadden.com