Chamber lays groundwork for Great Northwest Day

The event is still about four months away, but local economic development officials — and especially the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce — are already at work preparing for this year's edition of Great Northwest Day.

The annual lobbying expedition to Jefferson City seeks to make lawmakers and ranking bureaucrats in Jefferson City aware of issues affecting the 18-county northwest Missouri region.

Maryville Chamber Executive Director Luke Reven appeared before the City Council this week to urge official approval of the city's annual $1,500 contribution in support of the trip. The money will be used to pay hotel costs for business people and dignitaries attending the "Great Northwest Celebration," Great Northwest Day's signature gathering.

Eleven years after Great Northwest Day got its start as an informal ice-cream social at the state Capitol, the city's annual appropriation is largely routine, and Reven spent most of his brief presentation asking council members for input regarding issues that he and others  will emphasize during face-to-face talks with state legislators.

Reven will play a somewhat larger role this year in making sure those issues are effectively highlighted, since he is serving as both the Nodaway County coordinator and Great Northwest Day regional steering committee chairman.

In past years regional representatives have gone to Jefferson City to seek legislative backing on such matters as eliminating unfunded government mandates or securing more funding for higher education, highways and workforce development.

While this year's objectives have yet to be adopted, Reven suggested a number of topics, including possible reinstatement of local sales tax on cars and trucks purchased in neighboring states and the relaxation of prevailing-wage rules for local and county governments in rural areas.

Lee Langerock, executive director of Nodaway County Economic Development, also attended Monday's council meeting, and told the city's governing board that it is traditional to focus on issues affecting the northwest region as a whole and that do not create a potential for controversy between individual communities.

Reven called honing three or four such issues into a "clear and concise message to send to our legislators" the "cornerstone" of Great Northwest Day and asked council members for both immediate feedback and written suggestions to be submitted later.

Similar input from municipal boards and county commissions throughout the region will be boiled down by an issues committee and Reven's steering committee into a short list of talking points for use by participants while meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol.