Dear Member,
On our website, we have compiled City Council Candidate answers to questions sent to them by our Public Policy Committee. The questions are a combination of the Policy Members’ input and questions submitted by membership and the larger community. Before completing your ballot, I hope you will take time to review the candidates’ answers.
I’ve been asked why the Chamber did not host a candidate debate or forum. We found in 2023, when we first moved from a debate event to this online Q&A model, we were able to reach far more voters, thousands actually, instead of hundreds! In addition, candidates have an opportunity to give more detailed and thoughtful answers, which in turn, helps you the voter get to know them better. We love doing events at the Chamber; but I believe this model works better within the Chamber’s mission.
When I vote this year, I’ll be keeping in mind a Chamber belief that business is foundational to a great community. But it’s not just having businesses in your community- they need to be thriving businesses. In the many minimum wage conversations I’ve been in recently, I heard a comment to a business owner, “…at what point does a minimum wage increase actually make you close your business or move it?” While I understand what I believe to be the intent of this question- the desire to balance the needs of workers and business, I question the mindset from which it is asked. We should not expect or settle for a community where the small business owner is pushed to the very edge of closing or moving shop by burdensome regulation. In this scenario, life and each work day will be difficult for both the employer and employee. Instead, let’s remember that lives are improved with increasing prosperity. For many, the path to prosperity starts with good jobs at all levels and good jobs come from healthy employers that have the confidence to grow and innovate.
In another meeting, a small business owner asked about the bookkeeping services of another local small business owner. The question wasn’t for herself but rather her employee who was just starting their own business. I thought about that for a bit in light of the minimum wage conversation. This is a natural progression of business growth, an employer hires someone, teaches them a trade or how to run a business and that employee leaves to start another business. Their absence leaves an opportunity for the next person to enter the workforce and the cycle begins again. This cycle and the training employers provide has been discussed over and over in the minimum wage conversations. It is just one reason strong businesses are foundational to a community. When you walk into a small business, you’re not walking into just a restaurant or bookshop or an autoshop; you’re walking into an owner’s dream, their life savings and investment. You’re also walking into a place where valuable lessons of business education and apprenticeship are taking place.
In the candidate questions, you’ll see that we certainly ask about minimum wage, but other topics too. In Longmont, we value businesses of all sizes and see them as foundational to our community. I encourage you to remember this as you review the candidates’ answers and complete your ballot.
– Scott Cook, CEO Longmont Chamber