On November 8th, the citizens of Lorain County will have an opportunity to support the Lorain County JVS by voting Yes on ISSUE 15, a replacement 1.75–mill, 10 year Levy.

The Lorain County JVS is vital to the future of Lorain County’s economy. The JVS trains over 3,000 adult workers for the jobs of the future as well as graduating over 2,000 high school students every year, receiving career-technical training with industry approved credentials and college credit options.

This levy will protect the existing programming as well as expand training for high demand programs in the medical and culinary professions. It will also provide for updates in technology and laboratory space designed to align curriculum to key areas of manufacturing in Lorain County.

A YES vote for ISSUE 15 will allow Lorain County to develop a competitive advantage for our companies and their future workforce. Please join the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce in supporting ISSUE 15, as it is Key to the future success of Lorain County and the health of our business community.

The Chamber would like to ask for support of another important Levy on the ballot this November 8th. ISSUE 22, which is a ¼% 5 year temporary sales tax to fund the Lorain County criminal justice system, will cost the average household 12 cents a day and will not affect the cost of your mortgage, utilities, food, gasoline or medicine.

Lorain County, like many of us, has seen drastic reductions in our revenues and after reducing staff by 30%, combining departments and other cost cutting moves, the County has no choice but to ask for support of ISSUE 22. The increase works out to 25 cents on every $100 in taxable purchases.

The Lorain County Chamber is asking our business community to support ISSUE 22 in an effort to keep our justice system operating to keep our County safe.Description

Please be sure and save the date of December 1, 2011 for our Annual Holiday Reception to be held at DeLuca’s Place in the Park (5:00 – 8:00 p.m.)  We have a great evening planned, and for $27.50 per person, you will get great food (not just finger food), live music (not piped in musak), $1000 jewelry raffle (no cubic z’s),      I-PAD door prize (an I-PAD for crying out loud!) (plus additional door prizes), an original cookie favor (no keebler elf cookie),  cash bar (we’re working on a special holiday punch, so stay tuned) and the best networking west of Cleveland (bring your business cards and be dressed to impress).  You can sign up today and be sure to bring your spouse, your staff, and a potential Chamber member with you.  The Lorain County Chamber always kicks off the holiday party scene with a great time, so put it on your calendar today and sign up on line www.loraincountychamber.com   Thank you to all of our sponsors and members who have donated dollars to make the 2011 event a night to remember:  Jewelry Sponsor:  Levit Jewelers;  Music Sponsor, General Plug;  Station Sponsors:  1-888-OHIOCOMP , First Place Bank, Hospice of the Western Reserve, Lawyer’s Title, Mercy,  Premier Toyota, Sprenger Health Care Systems;   Event Sponsors:  Gateway Industrial Products, Hoffman Group, LCCC, Lake Erie Crushers , Lorain National Bank, Superior Electric Supply;  Door Prize Sponsors:  Campana Insurance, Ramada Elyria, Pulse Magazine; Cookie Favor Sponsor :  Janet’s Cookie Jar;  Invitation Design:  BFL Marketing.    It takes a Membership to throw a great party!

It won’t be long before we start to go to work on our 2012 Membership Directory and Resource Guide.  Did you recently move or have a phone number change?  Did your main contact name change?  In order to make sure that your contact information is correct and up to date, please go to our website home page www.loraincountychamber.com  and type your company name in the membership space that asks for company name.  When you get to your company profile, click on the Update Now button and enter that information.  You can also send Tammy new contact names and email addresses via her email for updating your contact list as well.  Always be sure to tell her whom should be deleted.  This update information is also always included in your yearly dues letter as well and can be completed that way as well.  Either way, don’t be caught with out of date emails, websites or contact information.  Update today!

A fire is the most common type of emergency for which small businesses must plan. A critical decision when planning is whether or not employees should fight a small fire with a portable fire extinguisher or simply evacuate. Small fires can often be put out quickly by a well-trained employee with a portable fire extinguisher. However, to do this safely, the employee must understand the use and limitation of a portable fire extinguisher and the hazards associated with fighting fires. Evacuation plans that designate or require some or all of the employees to fight fires with portable fire extinguishers increase the level of complexity of the plan and the level of training that must be provided employees.

For additional information and multiple options and risk assessment, please go to the OSHA page listed here:

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/evacuation/portable_relation.html

It is hard to believe that we are 65 days away from the start of a new year.  Where did the time go?  It seems like we were just at a Crushers game, or on the Jet Express, or at the Palace Theatre!  It’s been a busy year and it’s been a busy October.  So, let’s recap:  October started out fast and strong with the Elyria Sunrise Rotary’s annual Clambake at the VFW.  Good food and great door prizes were to be had as Sunrise Rotary raised money for things like Little League East’s Rotary Field, the Santa House in Ely Square and working with Franklin School, just to name a few.  We held a small intimate golf event called Business & Bogeys at Elyria Country Club for the hardcore golfers who got a sunny day, after many days of constant rain.  We held our October Business After Hours at Lorain County JVS and had some great food provided from the culinary school students.  With nearly 100 people in attendance, everyone commented on how good the food was and what a great job JVS is doing in teaching the students who attend this great school.  There was the Brown’s Tailgate Party hosted by Sprenger Health Care which had many County Chamber members in attendance as well.

The County Chamber is a provider of Group Rating to our members that choose to be in our group and in doing so, we have to stay on top of what is going on at the BWC.  So besides our monthly Safety Council meeting (which was very interesting and appropriate, with the topic on Cell Phone Safety and Distracted Driving presented by Brian Hoagland of the Hoffman Group) we also were in attendance in Garfield Heights for changes and issues in businesses across the state in regard to injuries and illnesses.  We participated in the Take Five Breakfast Seminar held at LCCC on the topic of “Is Your Companies Health Plan Healthy”, attended the community open house at Lorain High School, attended the Arthritis Foundation and EMH’s L’Amour du Vin in Avon and attended the ground breaking ceremony for Sprenger Health Care System’s Towne Center expansion in Avon Lake. 

When you add in the work done behind the scenes with our SBDC clients, the Regional Sewer project, Workforce Investment Board, French Creek YMCA Board, Lorain Growth Corporation Board and NOACC – just to name a few of the additional meetings and or events that took place this October, you know why we always seem to be going from one meeting on to the next meeting!  But some of us were lucky and actually got to go someplace warm for a few days in October and enjoy their birthday and October baseball!  There are still 3 days left in October so we will recap those in the next edition ~ when we talk about the happenings in November.  Remember to go out and vote on November 8th!  A hearty congratulations and Good Luck to Dominic Polito from the Cleveland Indians who is getting married this weekend.  Congrats DP!

Lastly, we send sympathies to members who lost loved ones:  Gail Stumphauser from Leadership Lorain County on the death of her daughter; Marie Bonaminio from Bonaminio’s Lorain Flower Shop on the death of her daughter; The City of Elyria with the passing of Safety Service Director Chris Eichenlaub; and First Federal Savings of Lorain on the passing of their retired President and CEO Robert Brosky.  Your Chamber family thanks you for all that you have done to make Lorain County a better place and we will keep your family in our thoughts and prayers.