Paul Kimmell: Friend to Whitman County

From last Thursday's Whitman County Gazette:

Avista Foundation helps library project

Nancy Lintvedt, Colfax, holds a $10,000 check to the Friends of the Whitman County Library from the Avista Foundation for the capital improvement project to make the library more ADA compatible. Paul Kimmell, right, Avista manager for the Palouse area, represented Avista. Library Director Kristie Kirkpatrick is at left. Lintvendt, who uses a walker, has written letters in support for the new library renovations that would make it possible for handicapped residents to get to all three levels of the library.

Paul Kimmell, a former Latah County Commissioner and former executive director of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce, has proven to be a real friend to Whitman County. I'm sure he had a hand in getting this check cut from Avista.

In January, Paul was present during the public hearings held by the Whitman County Commissioners on the infrastructure bond for the Hakwins project. Through his involvement with the Greater Moscow Alliance, I'm convinced Paul played a major role in getting the Moscow City Council to drop its appeals of Hawkins water rights and subsequent offer to sell water and sewer services to Hawkins.

Recently, when Whitman County solicited public comment for a new Revenue Development Area that includes the Hawkins development, Paul wrote, "...please know I wish you much success with your efforts."

Paul Kimmell defines a good neighbor, and gives me hope for continued cross-border cooperation on the Palouse.

Chalk Talk

The Moscow Chamber of Commerce announces:

Come to Moscow's first annual Oktoberfest and Chalk of the Town Competition. The fun starts September 6th, 7am with the Chalk of the Town chalk art competition. You can watch local artists create works of art out of chalk on Friendship Square in downtown Moscow. Oktoberfest will kickoff in Friendship Square at noon with sausages, beer, games and live music. The day will conclude with a community dance in the evening.

Brought to you by the Moscow Chamber of Commerce.

The last time there were chalk drawings in downtown Moscow was when "Hitler Youth" was scrawled in chalk in front of New Saint Andrews College back in August 2005. A prominent "tolerant" Moscow liberal later opined that this hate crime was a celebration of "free speech."

Here's hoping the worst thing that happens at Oktoberfest is that the beer gets warm.

Moscow Chamber Annual Meeting Today at 5:30 PM

In the new spirit of glasnost with our neighbors to the east, I am posting this annoucement from Moscow Chamber of Commerce executive director, Darrell Keim:

Moscow Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting

June 26th at the Best Western University Inn at 5:30PM. Join the Chamber and your fellow community leaders to see what is happening with the Chamber. Events include a keynote presentation by regional Time Warner representatives, announcement and installation of officers and a "State of the Chamber" address by Moscow Chamber Executive Director Darrell Keim. It has been an interesting year and the Chamber is about to kickoff some exciting activities. We hope you will come to find out more.

For more information contact the Chamber at 882-1800 or staff@moscowchamber.com

This is "Selective?"

In August 2007, Queen Nancy proclaimed that "Selective growth means knowing what type of growth is right for Moscow and encouraging it."

Chaney stated that having the focus of development "on the automobile, the strip development with shoulder-to-shoulder big-boxes would encourage homogeneity in the community" and that Moscow needed to maintain its "artsy, quirky edge."

Enter Shari's Restaurant.

According to Saturday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News, a Shari's Restaurant will open off Pullman Road on the west side of Moscow near Applebee's. The 5,000 square-foot will seat 180-185 people and be open 24/7.

What? So you mean that Shari's, on the far-edge of town away from any housing is NOT "automobile development" and NOT "shoulder-to-shoulder" with big-box Wal-Mart a few yards away?

What about sustainability? Where do you think the "half a million cups of coffee, cracks a quarter million eggs, fries over five miles of sausage links and toasts nearly 150,000 pieces of bread" that according to the article the average Shari's serves every year will come from? How many truck trips do you think that will generate? How much gas will be used to ship in those supplies and how much carbon emissions will be generated?

What about "homogeneity?" Shari's already has 98 other stores in six states. In what way does a chain restuarant maintain Moscow's "artsy, quirky edge?"

Don't even get me started on "living wages." I've worked retail and I've worked the early shift at a Shari's type restaurant washing dishes. Restaurant work is worse.

And let's not forget Mayor Moonbat's mantra: water.

According to the Idaho Department of Water Resources Restaurants with bar/lounge, toilet facilities use 9-12 gallons per day per patron. The Southwest Florida Water Management District estimates that resturants use use an average of 5,800 gallons per day (GPD) of water, half of that in the kitchen area (ice machines, dishwasher, etc.) That adds up to a whopping 2,111,700 gallons a year!

Of course, all this folderol about sprawl, homogeneity, sustainability and water ise silly. And I could care less about the hypocrisy of what Chaney states she wants and what is actually allowed to happen in Moscow. BUT THESE SAME ARGUMENTS ARE BEING USED BY MOSCOW TO STOP THE HAWKINS DEVELOPMENT IN WHITMAN COUNTY, JUST A FEW HUNDRED FEET AWAY FROM SHARI'S!!

Darrell Keim, executive director of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce, was quoted in the paper as saying, "I'm excited to see the growth of business at the Warbonnet Plaza. Regardless of what happens with the Hawkins development we'll see growth in that part of town ... it seems to be the natural spot."

Of course it is. Hopefully, the new Moscow City Council will recognize this, drop their water rights transfer appeals and extend utility service to the Hawkins development.

Faith and Fireworks and the Moscow Chamber

From Moscow Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Darrell Keim

Originally posted on Vision 2020 under "Faith and Fireworks and the Moscow Chamber."

I'd like those interested to know how the Chambers bylaws indicate it is to be run, what it does, and how it serves our community.

This could be a somewhat lengthy note.

Let me state up front that employment at our Chamber is open to all qualified applicants; and our many volunteer positions are open to all Chamber members.

Please note that I don't care to address past history. I wasn't responsible for it, nor do I claim to know enough to speak knowledgably about it. I also feel it has minimal bearing on how the Moscow Chamber will be run now and in the future. Please grant me that much of a tabula rasa. Also note that I am relatively new to the Chamber, but not to our community.

Our Chamber is run by a 16 person Board of Directors. This volunteer committee consists of business owners and leaders from throughout the community. They are nominated and elected to three year terms by their fellow Chamber members (of which there are over 400). Any Chamber member is eligible for nomination, all members are asked to vote. These elections are held yearly.

This working committee is tasked with overseeing what events our Chamber does, and which directions it pursues. Basically, they work to help us live up to our mission of leading "the business and economic community and support the free enterprise system while preserving and enhancing the quality of life." The Chamber Executive Director both reports to this committee, and receives support from it. In a very real sense this committee is the Directors boss.

This committee oversees a variety of subcommittees, which I will attempt to summarize below. I believe that you will see much of what our Chamber does and how it serves Moscow by looking over this list. These sub-committees are where the rubber meets the road for our Chamber.

Sub-committees*:

Government Affairs-The Chambers watchdog for upcoming national, state and local legislation effecting member businesses. This committee compiles a
yearly list of legislative priorities, and attempts to work toward changes that will benefit Moscow businesses. This committee is also in charge of the Chambers Candidates Forum, and Legislative Tour to Boise. Gov't Affairs
is tasked with attending Moscow City Council meetings.

Education/Workforce Development-This committee has a two fold mission. 1. It works with the Moscow School District to encourage them to provide course
work and opportunities that will help students become stronger members of our workforce. Go to www.latahworks.org for an example of something the
district has been developing in conjunction with our Chamber. NOTE: This is a very preliminary version. 2. Via monthly Chamber business luncheons we provide different topics of benefit to our member businesses.
They are the 3rd Wednesday of each month, unless otherwise indicated. Anyone interested is invited to attend. They are usually held at the Best Western University Inn. Bring enough money to buy your own lunch, and please RSVP.

12/19-Presentation of City Development Impact Proposal by Gary Riedner, City of Moscow
1/16-Sexual Harassment Prevention by Elissa Keim, Raul Sanchez and YoshioSmith, WSU Center for Human Rights
2/20-State of the City by Mayor Chaney
3/19-Agribusiness Forum
4/16-How the Palouse Aquifer Issues Effect Local Business by Steve Robischone, Director of Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee
5/21-Womens Business Forum-Chaired by Holly Chetwood, Paradise Ford. Other panelists include Susan Fagan, SEL; Shelley L Bennett, Team Idaho Real Estate; Nancy Chaney, Mayor of Moscow.
6/18-Connecting Businesses W/UI Interns-Suzi Billington, UI
7/16-Best Hiring Practices and Growing Staff From Within, Gerard Connelly,Tri-State

Community Development-This is our economic development arm and actively participates in efforts toward improving or expanding our community's economic base. It is an active participant in Moscow revitalization efforts and plays a leading role in advocating for improvement of the physical appearance of our community, planning and zoning efforts, and growth-related issues such as groundwater management, and transportation planning. This sub-committee is tasked with attending applicable City of Moscow Community Development meetings.

Ambassadors/Public Relations-As the public outreach arm of the organization, this committee – through its active and visible Ambassadors – provides support and outreach to the business community through appearances at events, parades, open houses, groundbreakings, grand openings, VIP functions, and the ever-popular Business After Hours functions. The committee helps serve as the organizations "Red Carpet Brigade" for our community.

We also have membership and finance committees, but I think those are self explanatory. Other ad hoc committees may be created as deemed appropriate.

In addition to these committees, we also maintain a small staff that answers countless questions about Moscow from visitors, sends out relocation packages, helps at events, writes grants for local efforts, supports our volunteer board and much more.

Long story short, our Chamber works for the betterment of Moscow business and quality of life. We believe they are inextricably linked. We are open to all, and governed by a diverse group of Moscow business leaders. We're not perfect, but we are constantly striving to improve. I'd say we are a pretty accurate reflection of Moscow in that sense.

I hope this note has provided you with an understanding of what our Chamber is, and services it attempts to provide.

Sincerely,

Darrell Keim
Executive Director
Moscow Chamber of Commerce

*Please note that since I am new some of these Sub-committees duties are new, thus still being put into place. For new committees I am doing my best to recruit diverse committee members that will represent all aspects of the Moscow business community.

Welcome Darrell Keim

Darrell Keim, the new Executive Director of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce, posted some comments on a couple of older stories over the weekend. I wanted to bring them out in a separate post so everyone could read them.

First, Darrell responded to this post:

I'll answer that.

The Chamber would be in favor of it. It is in our mission to be both pro-growth and enhance the quality of life in Moscow. We believe they are linked.

In fact, since you mentioned James Toyota, the Chamber did come out in favor of the city trying to accomodate their growth.

Additionally, when Wal Mart was looking at Moscow for a super center, the former Chamber Director ran a survey to find out how our constituents felt about "big box stores" and growth in Moscow. The results of this admittedly unscientific survey? Pro-growth.

As an aside-I expect that such a survey might be used again in the future to help us get the pulse of our constituency re other "hot issues" that might come up in town.

Incidentally, you are taking me out of context when you quote me saying "Its been an interesting year..." I was referring to the change over in leadership-Kimmell resigning, Mcmillan as interim, and their first hire only lasting 3 weeks.

Have a great day!

Darrell Keim

If the context you were speaking of was the high turnover in the Chamber leadership, then that is exactly what I was referring to. Many on the Palouse, including myself, feel that this has been a direct result of strains created between the Moscow business community and the Moscow city government, starting with the James Toyota fiasco last January. I hope with the new council that just got elected, you will have an easier time than your predecessors.

As far as the big-box survey goes, I'm still a bit mystified. There ALREADY is a big-box store in Moscow that has been a Chamber member for 15 years. Wal-Mart was simply looking to expand their operations. Are similar surveys sent out whenever a new business is looking at relocating to Moscow or expanding? I have no doubt that Moscow Chamber members were overwhelmingly in favor of a Wal-Mart Supercenter, as they have been in Pullman, but is free enterprise about popularity contests? I believe the market determines which stores will come in to town, not other businesses or the city government.

Then Darrell commented on this post:

A little grist for the conversation mill.

Figures shown by a UI economist at the Buy Local kickoff show (I'm approximating, I don't recall the precise figure) that $1 spent at a locally owned and operated store puts about $1.25 into the economy. That same dollar spent at a local chain store puts $1.15 into the local economy.

As the economist pointed out-both are excellent investments in the local economy. What really needs to be fought is retail leakage out of the area. And, what needs to be encouraged is bringing in people to shop from outside the area (ala tourism, etc). Or, bringing in nonretail businesses that create wealth (Such as manufacturing, tech, etc), rather then recirculating the money that is already here.

If you really want to hear more, the kickoff was recorded and can be heard at the KRFP/Radio Free Moscow website.

Have a great day!
Darrell Keim
Executive Director
Moscow Chamber of Commerce

"...both are excellent investments in the local economy. What really needs to be fought is retail leakage out of the area." I agree with you 110% and that is why myself and others have been working so hard to get a Wal-Mart in Pullman. But I think you would agree, maybe not publicly, that is not how Bill London, a prominent member of the No SuperWalMart group, sees it or meant by his comments in the paper. He is following the standard anti-Wal-Mart "battle plan" by "presenting an alternative," much as we have seen with Target and Costco in Pullman.

Thanks for stopping by Darrell, and please do so more often to share your observations with us!