by Stacey Paretti Rase

Things sure are different these days. Your dry cleaner closes at three o’clock on weekdays because they are extremely short staffed, so you shift your schedule to pick up your clothes on your lunch break. Then, you sit in traffic for thirty minutes to travel a mere four miles for the errand. When you return home from work later that evening and turn on the local news, you hear one New Orleans area resident after another lament over their plight, seemingly stuck in the red tape of bureaucracy. You wish there were some way you could make a change in the community, but the situation seems too dire, too complicated, too mind numbing to even begin processing a solution. You decide to sleep off the helpless feeling, just to begin again the next day—picking up your morning paper and shaking your head at the front page.

Sound familiar? It did to the leaders of the West St. Tammany Parish Chamber of Commerce, too. But they decided to do something about it. The organization has been working tirelessly throughout the past six months, focusing on our community’s post-Katrina concerns. Board Chairman Marty Mayer says that now, more than ever, is the time for northshore residents to become active in advocating for thoughtful change.

“This is not the time to sit back and play armchair quarterback. Too many people have done that for too long and we’re paying a dear price for it. We need to play a vital role in our region’s and state’s future,” says Mayer. “If not now, when?”

Mayer and his board are indeed filling that vital role. Immediately following the storm, the Chamber collaborated with the Louisiana Department of Economic Development to address the needs of area businesses by setting up a Business Counseling Center, as well as to facilitate business relocation to the northshore.

“It was imperative that we responded quickly,” Mayer says. “We as a business community needed to take a leadership role. We felt that there were too many voices, but not one voice leading the charge for business interest.”

In October, the Chamber joined an effort to centralize a succinct message and plan. Collaboration with other business organizations in the region, including the Hammond and Slidell Chambers of Commerce, and various legislative lobbyists became the catalyst to form the Southeast Louisiana Business Coalition, which drafted a ten-point plan outlining the most pressing immediate needs of our region. The plan was comprehensive in scope, emphasizing the importance of having one voice to carry the recovery message and one federal coordinator to oversee the Gulf Coast’s rebuilding.

“It was important that we took in a regional view,” stresses Mayer. “We don’t live on an island. Even though St. Tammany Parish was heavily affected, we realized that we were in a good position here to step up into a leadership role and reach out to all businesses in our region for input.”

The organization has kept its word. Last month, the Chamber drafted two resolutions that it believes will aid in fostering a comprehensive regional reform approach to recovery. The first requests that Governor Blanco appoint a representative of St. Tammany Parish to sit as a member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, pointing out that the parish, whose businesses contribute significantly to taxes which will be used for recovery efforts, is an inegral part of the greater New Orleans region. The second calls for the consolidation of South Louisiana’s levee boards, stating that, “In the midst of recovery from the worst natural disaster in the history of our nation, we can no longer afford to let politcal turf and patronage control decisions which affect human life. We now have an historic opportunity to fix what is broken, from both a physical and a procedural sense.”

If we build it …

In the past few months, the Chamber has also made its voice heard in sessions organized by parish officials to brainstorm ideas in the five areas of business development, housing, education, health and social services and infrastructure. The latter issue is of great concern to Events Vice Chair John Donahue, who believes that supporting the area’s businesses with adequate physical features, such as proper drainage, sewerage, and flowing transportation corridors, is paramount.

“Change is going to happen, whether we’re involved or not,” Donahue says. “Of course, now there are a lot of people who want to move their businesses to the northshore. If you build [the infrastructure], they will come. If you don’t, they will come anyway! We are seriously lacking north/south and east/west corridors in our community and that needs to be addressed immediately.”

The organization is working to redefine comprehensive plans for water and wastewater in the parish. The Infrastructure Committee is also insisting on an adoption of a standardized building code by the parish and all municipalities.

Todd Richard, Public Policy Division Vice Chairman, notes that a long-term infrastructure plan had been developed for our overburdened parish, but with the influx of new businesses and residents following the storm, it is essential that the long-term plan be accelerated. “We had an overburdened infrastructure before the storm,” he says. “The strategic plan for growth was for 10 to 15 years. We now need to make that plan happen in one to two years. We need to weigh in on this topic now and be at the forefront to enhance our community in this time of rapid change.”

Help wanted

Another area of utmost concern in our post-Katrina climate revolves around an issue that the Chamber was addressing even before the storm: workforce development. The previous focus was on healthcare—the number one industry in St. Tammany Parish. That Health Care Alliance has since expanded its scope to include all workforce segments, as many industries are facing the challenge of filling job openings since Katrina.

“This issue is so important,” says Treasurer David Guzan, who is also CEO of Fairway Medical Center in Covington. “If [these industries] don’t succeed, healthcare in our community doesn’t even have a patient base. We are working on a proposal now to determine workforce needs, employ a strategy to connect the workers with the businesses and provide support services, as well.”

To that end, the new Coalition called on consultant Jan Robert to assist in identifying avenues to find, train and retain employees. Through a six-month pilot program, she is helping the community to pinpoint funding opportunities to support training programs. Robert is also working on a cooperative endeavor with the Workforce Investment Board, which covers the First Planning District areas of St. Tammany, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, to create a Workforce/Business Services Center. She continues to compile data and survey the needs of employers throughout St. Tammany.

Taking care of business

Following the storm, the Chamber realized that a business’ survival was not going to be insured simply by reopening its doors to the public. It was necessary for business owners to access all of their options and receive accurate information on assistance to move forward. In order to address those needs, the Chamber partnered with the Louisiana Department of Economic Development to open a Business Counseling Center in Covington—one of only five such centers in operation in the state. The center is staffed with volunteer counselors from the International Economic Development Council, who give free advice to recovering businesses. The sessions are designed to take an in-depth look at a business’s plan and provide practical information on funding, insurance, acquiring workforce, contract procurement and tax provisions.

One of the Chamber’s time-honored traditions proved to be beneficial in business recovery as well: networking. Stella Helluin, Membership Division Vice Chair, says that membership interaction has been an effective way for business leaders to communicate ideas with one another during their difficult time. Networking events also helped business leaders recently relocated to the area to meet with long-time northshore businesses.

“We had many displaced businesses joining the Chamber here following the storm,” Helluin says. “So many new members came over from St. Bernard. In the first months, there were 10 to 12 people walking in our door every day.”

Helluin now faces the task of retaining the nearly 1,000 members of the West St. Tammany Chamber and assuring that the approximately 18,000 employees represented in that number have their interests heard. In light of the current challenges facing businesses, there is a great need for coordinated involvement and communication among the Board of Directors, the membership and the public. In the process of aggressively advocating for positive change, the Chamber hopes to follow its mission to be the voice of and to business, provide business support and build coalitions toward future goals.

The time is now

Although the board members interviewed here have varied responsibilities, they all share the same desire to stimulate effective change in our community during this difficult time. Moreover, they challenge not only their membership, but also the residents of our region to stand up and make their voices heard.

“If business leaders don’t take part in this effort, we’ll never have the chance to see again what we love so much about this area,” stresses Richard. “Local government can’t do it all. We have to assist them.”

Donahue agrees. “Politicians are there to activate legislation,” he says. “But they need our help to decide what’s most important. I’m not saying that I have the answers to every problem, but I do have something to contribute to help to come up with the best answers for our region. Everyone has that something to contribute.”

Perhaps Mayer says it best when he points out that citizens have not only a chance, but also an obligation to become involved in a regional plan. “Otherwise, the truth is, we don’t have any room to gripe later about what we’re left with.”