March 2015 Newsletter - Galion-Crestline Area Chamber of

THE CHAMBER, YOUR
BUSINESS ADVOCATE
By, Joe Kleinknecht, President/CEO
One of the main responsibilities of a chamber of commerce is to be an advocate for
the business community. The Chamber is
able to collectively leverage its member’s
resources to take on the tasks that individual business can’t do alone.
Many of these efforts are done in the form
of “business advocacy” to make sure that
we continue to have a strong business climate and job growth opportunities.
The Chamber’s, “Advocacy Division” has
set guidelines to assist us with, defining
our responsibilities as advocates, identifying issues we need to be involved in, and
to develop a strategy to address those issues.
Advocacy is nothing more than having a
conversation (not an argument) with an
entity that has the power to effect change.
It’s about talking about something that
you believe in that would be good for the
community.
The “business advocacy” efforts of the
chamber are another good reason that a
membership in the chamber is an investment in your business
Chamber Night at
Shenanigans in Crestline
On a very cold, blustery winter night on February 19th a crowd
of 60 chamber members and their guests gathered, to network, laugh, and enjoy some great food and drinks at Shenanigans Restaurant at 216 N. Seltzer St. in Crestline.
The event was sponsored by Alternative Energy Source, the
Crestline Advocate Inc., Innovative Recycling, Parr Insurance
Agency Inc. and TAS-Co Thompson Inc.
The sponsor of the Pot O Gold was United Bank, and the winner of the $100 was Christy Linton from Mark Schneider Funeral Home. A Crawford County Centennial Barn print was won
by Clayton Herald, Crestline Village Councilman.
A big “Thank You” goes out to our sponsors and everyone that
braved the cold.
U.S. Congressman, Jim Jordan now has
a Crawford County Office
Congressman, Jim Jordan now has an office located in Bucyrus
on the first floor of Bucyrus City Hall, 500 S. Sandusky Ave. It
will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. Constituents are welcome to walk in, or call 419-663-1426
to schedule a meeting.
DeeDee Knapp, from Shelby, will staff the office.
Congressman Jordan serves the 4th Congressional District
which contains a total of 14 counties that extend as far southwest as Auglaize and as far northeast as Lorain.
A MESSAGE FROM ANTHEM BLUE CROSS AND BLUE
SHIELD CONCERNING RECENT CYBER ATTACK
Safeguarding your employee's personal, financial and medical information is one of our top priorities, and because of that, we have stateof-the-art information security systems to protect your data. However, despite our efforts, Anthem was the target of a very sophisticated
external cyber-attack. These attackers gained unauthorized access to
Anthem's IT system and have obtained personal information from our
current and former members such as their names, birthdays, member
ID/Social Security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and
employment information, including income data. Based on what we
know now, there is no evidence that banking, credit card, medical
information (such as claims, test results, or diagnostic codes) were
targeted or compromised.
Once the attack was discovered, Anthem immediately made every
effort to close the security vulnerability, contacted the FBI and began
fully cooperating with their investigation. Anthem has also retained
Mandiant, one of the world's leading cybersecurity firms, to evaluate
our systems and identify solutions based on the evolving landscape.
Anthem's own associates' personal information - including our own was accessed during this security breach. We join you in your concern and frustration, and we assure you that we are working around
the lock to do everything we can to further secure your employees'
data.
Anthem will individually notify current and former members whose
information has been accessed. We will provide credit monitoring
and identity protection services free of charge so that those who have
been affected can have peace of mind. We have created a dedicated
website (www.AnthemFacts.com ) where members can access information such as frequently asked questions and answers. We have also
established a dedicated toll-free number that both current and former
members can call if they have questions related to this incident. That
number is: 1-877-263-7995. As we learn more, we will continually
update this website and share that information with you. And, we developed a memo template and FAQ to help you answer questions you
may receive from your employees.
We want to personally apologize to you and your employees for what
has happened, as we know you expect us to protect your information.
We will do everything in our power to make our systems and security
processes better and more secure, and hope that we can earn back
your trust.
Sincerely,
Ken Goulet
President, Commercial and Specialty Business
Erin Hoeflinger
Ohio Plan President
CHAMBER MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Greg Nickoli-was recently chosen to succeed Glenna Cannon
as Superintendant of Pioneer Career and Technology Center.
KASICH SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO
FURTHER PROTECT LAKE ERIE
COLUMBUS – Today Governor John R. Kasich signed an executive order to require Ohio EPA to create emergency rules that
will further protect Lake Erie, its aquatic life and the fishing industry, while ensuring shipping can continue in the Cuyahoga
River.
The executive order provides the Ohio EPA Director the tools
needed to prohibit open lake disposal of dredge material in
Lake Erie if:
·
The dredge material could result in higher levels of a
chemical in fish that bioaccumulates throughout the food
chain, such as PCBs, or
·
The disposal of dredge material would violate any international treaties or compacts.
One result of the action will be to ensure that dredge material
from the Cleveland Harbor is disposed of in a confined disposal
facility. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ own sampling data
shows that if sediment from the harbor is disposed of in Lake
Erie, it would result in an increased PCB bioaccumulation in the
impacted region of Lake Erie.
Over the past four years, Ohio has made significant progress in
protecting the lake, including:
·
Restricting water withdrawals and prohibiting diversions
from the Lake Erie watershed;
·
Enacting new regulations on fertilizer application to reduce the nutrient runoff that contributes to algal blooms;
·
Developing beneficial use programs that will reduce open
-water dumping of Maumee River dredge material and prohibiting open-water dumping of Cuyahoga River dredge material;
·
Banning oil and gas production under Lake Erie; and
·
Helping combat invasive species via mutual aid agreements with the seven other Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces.
Details on today’s announcements can be found in this fact
sheet. A copy of the executive order can be found here.
A MESSAGE FROM OHIO CHAMBER PRESIDENT,
ANDREW DOEHREL
Welcome to the Ohio Chamber’s new brand – We’re All for
Ohio.
We embarked on evolving a new brand about eight months
ago as part of our Long Range Plan. By working with an
outside vendor and collecting feedback from our members
and other entities we often work with, we found that advocacy, which we have been doing at the Ohio Chamber for
the last 122 years, ultimately impacts all Ohioans. However, our advocacy efforts weren’t translating to the audiences
we wanted to reach.
When it comes right down to it, our message is simple: We
are a champion for Ohio business so that our state enjoys
economic prosperity. We want what is best for every Ohioan; that’s why We’re All for Ohio.
We’re All for Ohio resonates with the elected officials we
work with, our current members who have relied on us to
be their voice, prospective members who want to know
who we are and even the general public who might hear
about us in the media.
We are for:
A simplified and fair tax system
Affordable and quality health care
Safety in the workplace
An educated and reliable workforce
Fair regulations
Reliable energy
Job growth
Free enterprise
The list goes on and on. Our new brand will be reflective in
everything we do from our advocacy efforts to our meetings to even some new information pieces. Our audiences
will notice different colors, different layouts (like this
piece) and different messaging. However, as I stated in our
last issue of Ohio Matters, our mission will NOT change.
“As the state’s leading business advocate and resource, the
Ohio Chamber of Commerce aggressively champions free
enterprise, economic competitiveness and growth for the
benefit of all Ohioans.”
We all benefit from free enterprise and a strong economic climate.
We all recognize that growing industries lead to thriving
communities.
We all realize that we can accomplish even more when
we stand together.
And, we all know there’s one organization that gives us
a bigger voice and a more powerful presence with
policy makers, so we can all work together to
achieve better progress and prosperity for our entire
state.
Which in short means “We’re All for Ohio.”
This is the first piece that many of you are seeing with our
new branding. Watch for our Public Policy Agenda which
will be mailed to you the first part of February. Our Legislative Update has a new look as well as our other member
emails, letterhead, prospective member pieces, etc. We
hope you like what you see – and hear – from us.
Important Upcoming Events
As we start the New Year, I wanted to let everyone know
the dates of our two signature events: Annual Meeting &
Legislative Reception and the Policy Conference at Salt
Fork.
Our Annual Meeting & Legislative Reception will be held
on Tuesday, April 14 in Columbus. The Annual Meeting
will again be held at the Capitol Theatre in the Riffe Center.
This year, we are holding the Legislative Reception at the
Sheraton Hotel (formerly the Hyatt on Capitol Square). We
are very pleased to host our keynote speaker, the Hon. Jeb
Bush. In 2003, we had the pleasure of hosting his father,
Former President George H.W. Bush. More information on
the event is included in this issue, but I just wanted to make
sure this date was on everyone’s calendar.
The Policy Conference at Salt Fork – which we host every
other year – will take place Wednesday, September 9
through Friday, September 11 of this year.
WELCOME NEW CHAMBER MEMBER
Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway, Mike Hocker, 127 Harding Way E., Galion, Ohio 44833, 419-468-6773