The City Council/Redevelopment Agency heard a wrap up from an
active year at the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday night
The City Council/Redevelopment Agency heard a wrap up from an active year at the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday night when Executive Director Sunday Minnich led the Council through the balance sheet of what the agency gets for its $125,000.
The Chamber is responsible for advertising the city’s attractions and shopping opportunities and for broadcasting business opportunities to the wider business community. In other words, economic development, downtown and tourism.
The Economic Development Committee was divided into two subcommittees dealing with business attraction and business retention.
Because the recent bleak economy has caused several businesses to close their doors, with an attendant loss of jobs and city revenue, the Chamber made a big effort to find out how to keep businesses in town. It completed a survey of 100 percent of local businesses to find areas of weakness and how the Chamber might help.
“We received 120 returned surveys,” Minnich said. “We are very pleased with this and are in the process of tallying the results.”
To attract new business, the Chamber sponsored a meeting for commercial brokers and developers in February.
“And we held a second Smart Choice event on May 9,” Minnich said, offering help to site selection professionals who might be looking at South Valley to relocate.
The Chamber has new faces, too. Since it moved earlier this year from West First Street to the downtown mall on Monterey Road – next to the Granada Theater – foot traffic has tripled, Minnich said. “It’s good for promotion.”
The website – www.morganhill.org – was redesigned with a “splash page” offering entry to Chamber services and helpful links, including the city, the downtown association, economic development and tourism, plus two new items acting as a clearing house for property and jobs.
“We added property listing and a job listing,” Minnich said. “Comcast, Anritsu, Abbott and others are already using our job bank.”
Encouraging tourism has been near the top of Minnich’s list since she arrived at the Chamber in April 1999. Last year she was able to set up an advisory committee that meets monthly.
“We are making great strides – good progress,” she told the council. The Chamber joined Silicon Valley Concierge Association and plied a few dozen concierges with a daylong bus tour of Morgan Hill’s historic and beauty spots, regaled them with tales of business opportunities and fed them lunch while they listened to local luminaries.
“They were impressed with the area as well as community and cultural offerings,” Minnich said.
The Chamber also joins the Gilroy Business Bureau in advertising in Touring Central Coast Magazine for 2002-2003. It produced 30-second television spots to promote shopping in town. It advertised opportunities for business women in San Jose Magazine and made a DVD on the town’s possibilities to run on the in-room TVs in local hotels and motels.
Using an old marketing tool in a new way, the Chamber organized a gift certificate program where a customer can buy one certificate that will work in any of 50 local businesses.
Minnich said the Chamber has met its goals for 2002-03 and will undertake economic goals for next year to have more participation, to be more visible for the committees and to attend more City Council meetings. She said the Chamber intends to be even more helpful to the city and the business community.
“We appreciate everything the Chamber does,” said Mayor Dennis Kennedy.
Agency staff will work with the Chamber to negotiate the 2003-04 agreement, which will then be presented for Council approval at a future meeting.
