Elgin chamber touts accomplishments

Things are looking up for Elgin's economy, Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce officials said at their annual meeting Tuesday.

The chamber earned accreditation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year, joining 213 chambers - out of more than 7,000 - across the country, said event emcee Rick Jakle, owner of Fox Valley Broadcasting.

Accreditation is earned by demonstrating excellence in programming and eliciting positive changes in the community, Jakle said at the luncheon at Grand Victoria Casino.

The chamber, which is celebrating is 107th anniversary, held 93 events and programs last year for its 600 or so members. Chamber staff members also worked individually with chamber members on a variety of things, including marketing, utility issues, overcoming regulation hurdles and promoting ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings, Jakle said.

The organization gained 83 new members and lost 99 members in 2014, due to factors such as going out of business, moving out of the area, or being unable to make membership payments, said Jason Pawlowski, the chamber's director of marketing and special events.

"The gap from our ratio of new members added to members dropped over the course of the year leveled out for the first time in a couple of years, which speaks not only to the value of the chamber's services, but to the overall strengthening of the economy in the Elgin area," Pawlowski said.

Elgin posted 350 housing starts last year, 17 percent more than in 2013, and the third-highest in the state after Chicago and Naperville, Jakle said. The city's workforce numbers 60,000 and its unemployment rate in November stood at 6.5 percent, the best November statistic since 2007, he said.

"I think things are definitely looking up," he said.

Chamber board Chairman Terry Royer touted the work of the economic development group, a division of the chamber that has a $275,000 yearly contract with the city of Elgin for economic development services.

A new, 80-acre industrial park will be built this year on Mason Road west of Randall Road on Elgin's far northwest side, Royer said. Also, the EDG was instrumental in bringing new speculative, or "spec," buildings to Elgin, and worked with the city to attract a new Subaru dealership that opened in November, he said.

The EDG will continue several key programs in 2015, including a housing program - developed with the nonprofit agency Hope Fair Housing - through which companies can offer financial incentives for workers to purchase homes in neighborhoods such as Elgin's historic district, he said.

Newly appointed state Comptroller Leslie Munger, who made an appearance at the end of Tuesday's luncheon, acknowledged that "it's been tough doing business in Illinois" and pledged to use taxpayer money more efficiently and productively. "We have to cut out the credit cards. We have to live within our means," she said.

Munger, a longtime volunteer of the Lincolnshire-based Riverside Foundation, also said any belt-tightening shouldn't come at the expense of needed services. "We need to reduce spending, and we can't do it on the backs of those who are most vulnerable," she said.