Breakfast Report for February

Lupe Diaz, President

Despite a cold and slippery morning, 13 people attended the Chamber Breakfast at the Benson City Grill. The view of the lake was beautiful as the ducks were flying in and the greens were covered with two inches of snow. In the background a couple of coyotes circled around, hoping for breakfast. Because of the weather we started a few minutes late to allow everyone to arrive.

Once breakfast was served the Chamber President Lupe Diaz highlighted Chamber news. The forum was announced and then we introduced our first speaker, Mr. Glenn Nichols, the Benson City Manager. He gave us a summary of where we are in the process of bidding for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) project contract under which we would provide a testing ground for the vehicle. This contract will ultimately go to Washington, D.C. for the selection of the test and development sites. Nichols said, "I believe we have a good chance of getting this contract once they award it.... We decided to work with the state in helping us bid for this federal contract; it just made better sense to have the state working with us."

Nichols discussed some of the meetings he and the city staff have recently attended before taking questions.One of  the questions concerned the potential economic impact of the UAV project would have on the community. As much as several hundred thousand dollars may be at stake. Then Mr Nichols reported that the Airport is installing a huge generator and other items to help prepare it for to provide power in case of a power outage per the UAV regulations. An extensive discussion followed. Mr. Nichols invited anyone interested to visit him at his office.

Next was Bob Nielson from the Benson Visitor Center, who gave us a report on the installation of the promotional billboards. One of the reasons this had been delayed is that it is difficult to track the results of this kind of investment. Now that they are up, the next step is to install lights for a nighttime viewing. This was passed at the Benson City Council meeting on February 25th, and the work will be done soon. Nilson also covered another phase of this project-- placing city maps at various points of interest around town. "What we hope to do is to show people what is availble in the area so they might stay awhile", Nilson said.

After the meeting people lingered for some time talking before leaving. In all, an informative meeting that brought us up to date on several projects of interest to all Chamber members.