Top of Mind – The Chamber Staff Blog

A well-respected past Chamber Executive recently shared a post about the 3 types of members that Chambers typically have. They are the Patriots, Warriors, and Heroes. Patriots: These are the members who send in their dues on time, every year. They are also the same ones who rarely participate in Chamber programs and events. It is estimated that 80% of all Chamber members fall into this category. They understand the important role the Chamber plays in the community and they want to support that without much engagement. Warriors: These are the members who show up physically to support the vision and the mission of the Chamber as volunteers. In our case, that is our Ambassadors and the members who give their time to volunteer as part of the SantaCaliGon Festival. They understand the first rule in business is “you get what you give.” Heroes: These are the members who give back to the business community at a much higher level. They share their success for the success of others. They understand the Chamber is the one dynamic vehicle for business to improve its own environment and are more than willing to invest at a high level for it. It is the reason why the levels of Regional and Community Leaders were established within our membership tiers. All 3 are important to have in a successful Chamber and we will always strive to convert patriots into warriors or even heroes.  As you think about your Chamber membership, what you want to get out of it is sometimes what you put into it.  We all want our business community to do better and whether you are a Community Leader level member or just a Partner, you can have the same level of impact when we all work together as one towards the common goal of making our business community stronger and giving it a more powerful voice.

The Kansas City Royals are hosting a community forum to discuss the concept of a new ballpark village which would likely be located in downtown Kansas City.   The forum will be held tonight (Feb. 1st) here in Independence. This is significant for Eastern Jackson County and Independence due to the negative economic impact it could have on our service and retail businesses that benefit from Royals fans attending the game. According to a report from the Independence Tourism Department, the Royals are the number one draw for total room nights annually in Independence. I plan to attend this meeting and I anticipate the Public Policy Committee will also discuss and consider taking a position on the issue. At this time, it isn’t clear how the new project would be funded but it is very likely it will require some type of public tax support in order to make it happen, and ignoring the concerns of Eastern Jackson County will make passage of a tax even more difficult.  

City Manager Zach Walker and Chamber Chairman Matt Medley This week, Zach Walker presented his State of the City at our Membership Breakfast. For me, it was a nice look at the bigger picture of what is happening in our community. I think we often feel like there are days when we don’t see the kind of progress we’d like to see, and in some cases, feel like there are days when we take a step backward as a community. That is when you have to look at a larger perspective and Zach helped show the big picture of how Independence has changed for the better. Highlighting topics such as population growth, diversification of our residents, the increased effort to address dangerous buildings and neglected properties, and the growth we are seeing in new housing projects and of course the Northpoint development in the Little Blue Valley. Perspective sometimes is often impacted by the window of time we are looking at. One of my worst feelings is when we lose a member who chooses not to renew. Every month you see a list of those members and it feels like in that short window of time, we are trending in the wrong direction. Step back and look at the broader perspective and you can see that 3 years ago, we were right around 500 members and today we are at 680 so we’ve seen 25% growth and in the middle of that 3-year period we had a pandemic to deal with. We all experience highs and lows in our daily lives but putting those all into a longer-term perspective is when we can measure whether we are making progress or going backward. Zach today gave us that perspective to show that we are indeed making the progress we need to grow and thrive as a community.

After the Chamber Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday, several members of the board and Chamber staff had an opportunity to tour the police building and see what can only be described as deplorable working conditions that our police officers and support staff have to work in. The discussion of funding for a new justice center is circling around the proposed marijuana tax but it will require a variety of funding sources and perhaps even some creative financing such as the issuance of a general obligation bond which Independence has been reluctant to do. The Chamber board has already endorsed the tax on recreational marijuana and the justice center is one of our legislative priorities but it will take our full support in order to make both a reality. This will be an opportunity to show our political relevance and I would ask each board member to make a special effort to connect to members of the City Council to make it clear what our priorities are and how important public safety is to a vibrant and growing business community. A lot of different ideas for use of the M-tax funds came out of the study session on Monday but it is vitally important that we work to get all the Council members on the same page as to this priority.