Monday, September 14, 2009

GWINNETT COUNTY COMMISSION CHAIRMAN TO PRESENT SPECIAL MID-YEAR STATE OF THE COUNTY ADDRESS

Chairman Charles Bannister to Give Community's Outlook at September 16 General Membership Meeting

The Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and Presenting Sponsor Rocket IT will be hosting Chairman Charles Bannister and the Board of Commissioners for a special mid-year State of the County Address on September 16 at 11:30 a.m. at Gwinnett Center. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear the Board of Commissioners' vision and plan for partnering with the business community, citizens, and public sector partners to achieve the best solutions to collectively accomplish our long-term goals and keep our community competitive and among the best in the nation to live, work and play.

After experiencing a challenging year financially in 2008 and a rocky start to 2009, in the middle of a difficult recession, Gwinnett County is at an important crossroad.

Considering the economic hurdles faced by the County, Gwinnett remains a strong, dynamic county that has maintained a top-notch AAA credit rating for 11 years with roads, parks, libraries and public safety facilities built by the special purpose local option sales tax or SPLOST. When the nation climbs out of the recession, Gwinnett County has the opportunity to build on its history of success while maintaining the world-class quality of life that attracts thousands of new residents each year.

"Together we will weather this recession. I'm confident that life in Gwinnett will return to normal, but it will take some time and effort," said Bannister. "I look forward to coming together as a community to tackle these touch issue head-on and looking at the best ways to collectively accomplish our long-term goals."

With declining revenue streams and public opposition to both millage rate increases as well as cuts to popular services, Chairman Bannister will be discussing Engage Gwinnett: Citizens Committee on the Future of Gwinnett. The initiative is designed to bring the community together and intentionally and strategically involve stakeholder groups in making informed recommendations to the Board of Commissioners on desired county programs, services, revenues, and spending for the next five years.

"The challenges facing Gwinnett County are not unique. Communities across the nation are facing the same historic problems. But it's how we deal with these problems that makes Gwinnett unique," said Jim Maran, president & CEO, Gwinnett Chamber. "Gwinnett has a celebrated history of coming together as a community to tackle tough issues head-on. That's the secret to our success. Joining with our citizens and public and private sector partners through this committee is the best way to collectively accomplish our long-term goals."

The 2009 mid-year State of the County Address Presented by Rocket IT is also sponsored by Platinum Sponsor Gwinnett Medical Center; Gold Sponsor Merrill Lynch-David Cross; Silver Sponsor Olympus Media, LLC; and Media Sponsor Gwinnett Daily Post.

To learn how Gwinnett County will manage the enormous historic challenges brought about by the biggest economic crisis since World War II and to learn how you can help, reserve your seat at the Mid-Year State of the County Address by visiting www.gwinnettstateofthecounty.com.

In addition, for the most up-to-date information on Engage Gwinnett, citizens can visit www.engagegwinnett.com and follow Engage Gwinnett on Facebook and Twitter.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Show Emory University Hospital They Are Wrong to Block Gwinnett Medical’s Open Heart Program

This Monday, September 14th, in the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Building (GJAC) auditorium, at 10:00 AM, Senator David Shafer and Rep. Clay Cox have called for a joint Gwinnett Legislative Delegation meeting to hear comments from involved parties in the current legal battle relating to the Certificate of Need for Open Heart services at the Gwinnett Medical Center. We need a strong showing of Chamber members at this meeting willing to speak out for Open Heart surgery in Gwinnett.

As many of you know, the Georgia Department of Community Service granted this certificate which would have allowed the hospital the authorization to build a practice in concert with St. Josephs to perform open heart surgery at GMC. At this point of the process only Emory Hospital has filed a petition to legally stop this process and the decision will come from a Fulton County judge likely in early January. Originally Piedmont Hospital filed a petition to protest this decision as well, but earlier this week they officially withdrew this filing and are no longer involved.

Emory is basing their argument in that there is not enough "need" in Gwinnett County to have an open heart hospital. The purpose of this delegation meeting is to draw attention to the absurdity of this argument and to draw visibility to the overall process for this CON. Representatives from Emory, Piedmont and the Gwinnett Medical Center have been invited to participate. The delegation would like a strong showing of support from members of the business community and all Gwinnett residents who are supportive of this CON to attend the meeting. We expect there to be a media presence.

Please join us Monday, September 14 at 10 am at GJAC for this critical issue.

Jim Maran
Gwinnett Chamber President & CEO

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Engaging All of Gwinnett for a Better Future

By Jim Maran

Last month, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners asked the Gwinnett Chamber to create a special committee of business and civic leaders that will spend the next six months studying the county's five-year funding needs and gaps and ultimately present consensus recommendations in a final report to the county. Co-chaired by business leaders McKenna Long & Aldridge's Michael Levengood and Cisco's Bill McCargo, the initiative is called Engage Gwinnett: Citizens Committee on the Future of Gwinnett County and it could be one of the most important initiatives Gwinnett has ever undertaken.

What is the purpose of this committee?
With declining revenue streams and public opposition to both millage rate increases as well as cuts to popular services, Engage Gwinnett is designed to bring the community together and intentionally and strategically involve stakeholder groups in making informed recommendations to the Board of Commissioners on desired county programs, services, revenues, and spending for the next five years.

Why is this initiative so important?
Gwinnett County has been very successful historically (we're one of only a handful of counties with a AAA rating by all major rating agencies)and continues to attract new businesses and residents because we've always planned well for our future needs and made this a great place to live.

But the current economic crisis has hit our local governments hard just as it has our families and businesses. Historic negative circumstances that include a historic plummet of $1.4 billion in property tax values and recent acts by the cash-strapped State that removed another $20 million from county revenues have hit the county especially hard and resulted in cuts that reduced service levels to those of 2003-04.

The Gwinnett Chamber believes that continued investment in our infrastructure and services like public safety, transportation, libraries and recreation, economic development, health and human services and more are essential to maintaining a world-class quality of life. This leads to job creation which in turn leads to increased wealth for our citizens and an expanded tax base for our public partners.

The recent combination of drastic cuts and lack of appropriate revenue to fund needed services jeopardizes our world-class quality of life and we cannot let that happen.

How can you help?
To ensure an unbiased, objective analysis can be obtained by the public, we have contracted with the consulting firm of Civic Strategies to manage the decision-making process. Anyone interested in serving on the committee should join us for our first public self-selection meeting on September 9 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the auditorium of the Gwinnett Justice and Administration building. You may also join us for a special Mid-Year State of the County Address from Chairman Charles Bannister at 11:30 am on September 16 at the Gwinnett Center. Visit www.gwinnettstateofthecounty.com to reserve your seat.

Finally, you may also donate financially to the Engage Gwinnett effort to help us get the word out and facilitate the ongoing process. For more information or to contribute, visit www.gwinnettchamber.org/engagegwinnett.

The challenges facing Gwinnett County are not unique. Communities across the nation are facing the same historic problems. But it's how we deal with these problems that makes Gwinnett unique. Gwinnett has a celebrated history of coming together as a community to tackle tough issues head-on. That's the secret to our success. Partnering with our citizens and public and private sector partners through this committee is the best way to collectively accomplish our long-term goals.