Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce

Committee Updates

The Chamber Green Committee

The Chamber Green Committee held its Energy Efficiency & Recycling Seminar on November 16th at Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services. It was a well attended, very informative workshop. Look for more in the future from this group! They will meet again in January.

The Chamber Worksite Wellness Committee

The Chamber Worksite Wellness Committee met on December 16th. The main topic of discussion was the Bizically Fit Health Challenge that is being put on after the first of the year by the Alliance for a Healthier Minnesota. More information will be forthcoming for businesses about registration for this challenge in January. There was also a discussion of employee mental health and resources available including Employee Assistance Programs offered by various insurers. Work will begin on finding a mental health survey that we can make available to employees.

The Chamber Governmental Affairs Committee

The Chamber Governmental Affairs Committee met on December 20th and the legislative Priorities topics for consideration were Higher Education and K-12 Education. Dr. Terry Leas and Dr. Mike Funk joined the committee for this discussion. The committee will support Riverland’s capital bonding by requesting a resolution from the Chamber Board that also supports the Watershed request. The committee also would like the Board to support Dr. Leas’ request that we encourage the MN Chamber to rally the business community to advocate for higher education, and for the state to require that colleges and universities with career and technical programs align their programs with national and international skill standards.
 

Dr. Funk would like the Chamber to support the K-12 education request for fully funded all day, every day kindergarten. He also expressed concern about legislative mandates regarding bullying. He would like to see curriculum changes that would deal with the issue. Also, budget requirements for the district and the timing of when they find out how much funding they will be getting from the state do not mesh. He would like to see the timing changed.
 

The Chamber Agriculture Committee

The Chamber Agriculture Committee will sponsor the Annual Ag Luncheon on March 20, 2012

The Chamber Ambassador Committee

The Chamber Ambassador Committee has a Quarterly Meeting set for January 11, 2012 at the Chamber offices.

The Albert Lea-Freeborn County Board of Directors

The Albert Lea-Freeborn County Board of Directors met on December 28th.
Randy Kehr reported that the County continues to work on a deal with the railroad and have applied for an extension. The proposed trail will begin on Front Street and continue to Hartland. The Governmental Affairs Committee has approved a resolution be drafted in support of the Watershed’s request for $7.5 million in bonding dollars.
The City of Albert Lea has set residential water rates and delayed setting the industrial rates. They are also working on an event ordinance that is still in the discussion phase. The Planning Commission is meeting Tuesday to edit some language in the Sign Ordinance. The walkway around the lake has been officially named the Blue Zones Walkway.
Kevin LaFrance and Kim Nelson reported that the Ambassadors have created a new Ambassador Agreement that will take effect in January. It was also reported that having an Ambassador host for Business after Hours has been very beneficial to new members.
Both the Energy Efficiency & Recycling Workshop and Riverland event were successful. We will be sending out a survey of members to see what kinds of seminars that they would like us to make available. On January 17th, the CEO Group and Business Education Partnership will be hosting a luncheon titled “Business and Education: Preparing our Future Workforce Together” Speakers will be Bill Blazar of the MN Chamber and Doug Olson of Lou-Rich. A seminar in conjunction with Riverland titled “Icebergs, Visions, and Maps” will be held February 7th at Riverland. This seminar will be about diversity in the workplace and how it influences customers. It will be a daylong event.
The Gourmet Auction will be held on January 27th. The Ag Luncheon will be held March 20th.
The Board approved the Chamber hosting the January Business after Hours as a “Thank You” to our members. This event will be held on January 17th.