Government Affairs By Peter Bennett
Chamber board supports school bond Because of the school funding implications of the McCleary decision the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee has increased their attention to educational issues being discussed in Olympia. The weekly meetings held with Gary Chandler of the Association of Washington Business (AWB) and our elected state senators and state representatives regularly address how the Chamber can, and should, support our local schools and the school superintendents from both Kelso and Longview are often in attendance at the meetings. The Longview school Superintendent Dan Zorn was the speaker at the September monthly meeting of the committee. Dr. Zorn explained the status of the school district’s buildings and the decision-making process that was used to develop a school bond proposal for the November 2017 ballot. The leader of the community group supporting the bond issue, Jo Brewer, was also at the meeting and she explained
the effort underway to inform the public of the necessity for this bond and build the necessary support to get the measure passed. Following the presentation and discussion of the need and purpose for the bond revenues, the committee unanimously voted in favor of recommending that the Chamber Board take an official position in support of the school bond levy as follows: “The Kelso-Chamber Board of Directors in recognition of the importance of quality education to the economic vitality of this area fully supports the Longview Public Schools bond request on the November 7, 2017 ballot.” We were happy to hear that the Board accepted and acted on our recommendation will replace and renovate the four school buildings that are in most urgent need of improvement.
Kelso Longview Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Lance Welch, President
Chris Bailey Lower Columbia College
Nick Lemiere Edward Jones
Clayton J. Bartness, DC Longview Chiropractic Clinic
Chris Roewe Woodford Commercial Real Estate
Neil Zick, Treasurer
Ken Botero Longview City Council
Tom Rozwod NORPAC/Weyerhaeuser
Michael Claxton, Legal Counsel
Bob Crisman Gallery of Diamonds
Ted Sprague Cowlitz Economic Development Council
Julie Rinard, Past President
Wendy Hutchinson Millennium Bulk Terminals
Steve Taylor Kelso City Manager
Joel Hanson, Past Past President
Wendy Kosloski Teague's Interiors
Dennis Weber Cowlitz County Commissioner
PeaceHealth
Linda DiLembo, President Elect Three Rivers Mall
Frank Panarra, Vice President Foster Farms
Twin City Bank
Walstead Mertsching
Community Home Health & Hospice KLOG/KUKN/The Wave
October 2017 | Kelso Longview Business Connection | 7