News

Commissions plan meeting on legislative agenda

Local groups are finding strength in numbers when it comes to making their concerns well-heard by state legislators.

By ERIN EVERETT Chronicle Staff Writer

The city and county commissions plan to hold a meeting to give local government, businesses and non-profit groups a stronger voice for their concerns before the 2003 Legislature meets in January.

"The intent of a meeting is to bring the full spectrum of community organizations together around some common legislative principals," City Commissioner Marcia Youngman said Tuesday.

The meeting is planned for Dec. 12 somewhere on the Montana State University campus, and will be facilitated by the Community Mediation Center, Youngman said.

The meeting is open to the public, and the time and location will be announced soon.

The Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce, Montana State University, local school district representatives, municipal governments in the county, social service and public health organizations, and other groups are invited to the meeting.

All Gallatin County legislators also are invited, Youngman said.

Lawmakers should know which groups will feel the pinch if the Legislature makes drastic cuts to balance the budget, Youngman said.

"When you’re in tough financial shape, the temptation always is to cut, but that may be the time you need to come up with innovative approaches to bring money into the state," she said. "We’re making connections between the local groups so we can help legislators make connections to the local economy."

The meeting has no agenda yet, but possible items for discussion are a local option sales tax, the impact of budget cuts to the groups attending and alternatives for generating money rather than cutting costs, Youngman said.

But finding common concerns among such different groups could be a challenge because they have different objectives, said David Smith, president of the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce.

"I think it’s important that we show a common front from the Gallatin Valley … as long as the legislators know that the chamber’s position is the chamber’s position and the city’s position is the city’s position," Smith said.

The meeting is a creative way to find a common goal between diverse community groups, County Commissioner John Vincent said Monday.

"It’s extremely important to do, even if we don’t agree on all items and we don’t all have the same agendas," Vincent said.

Erin Everett is at [email protected]

http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/311/public/news399966.html

Posted in:

Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.