Comstock's magazine 0919 - September 2019 | Page 31

Tell me about your organization.
We’re at around 650-700 members. Be-
cause of our agricultural industries and
the fact that most of our businesses are
five or fewer employees, we have a lot of
small businesses and mom-and-pop and
independent cottage industry businesses.
(We’re) also responsible for the visitors
authority and the film commission. …
We have a contract for service with El
Dorado County to attract tourism. … Our
film commission was started 25 years ago.
(The El Dorado Lake Tahoe Film & Me-
dia Office) executive director is Kathleen
Dodge; she has amazing relationships
that enable us to attract many projects
— media projects, film projects. She just
landed a big picture that is not going to be
released until next year, so I can’t tell you
what it is. Through our film commission,
we generate between $1 million and $7
million a year in economic impact in our
community.
Your county includes some big residen-
tial communities, two incorporated
cities and lots of rural unincorporat-
ed areas. How do you meet the diverse
needs of your members?
El Dorado County is mostly unincorporat-
ed. We have incorporated areas — that’s
the city of Placerville and the city of South
Lake Tahoe. We have a very strong work-
ing relationship with the city of Placer-
ville (and) the city council of South Lake
Tahoe. .... We have a Joint Chambers
Commission; that is our advocacy arm.
We work collaboratively with El Dorado
Hills, Shingle Springs and Cameron Park
on issues and legislation. We were really
fortunate a couple years ago to become
one of the founding members of a group
called UCAN — that’s United Cham-
ber Advocacy Network. We’re at seven
chambers in that organization, and we
have a lobbyist at the state level. … We
believe that representing our members in
El Dorado County for many
years did not have a reputation
as being very business-friendly.
The current leadership … has changed
that, and it’s a new paradigm (and)
we are overcoming that negative,
not-business-friendly environment.
advocacy is a critical component of our
relevance, but we do have opportunities
for education, networking, helping with
social media and moving businesses for-
ward. We have a business resource center
that’s available — professional business
counseling, educational seminars, a lend-
ing library — so that’s another piece.
What are the main needs of your mem-
bers?
I’m a member of a professional organiza-
tion called Western Association of Cham-
ber Executives, and (its) polling proves
that 80 percent of chamber members
place advocacy as an extremely important
piece. Networking and marketing support
is another piece, and when members hit
growing pains or challenges, (they know)
we’re here to be able to help walk them
through that.
Is the lack of rural broadband some-
thing that affects your members?
It’s on the top of our radar … and we’re
looking at opportunities and alternatives
for increasing and improving broadband.
If you talk to any Realtor, they will tell you
that the lack of high-speed internet has
been an issue in the sales of residential
September 2019 | comstocksmag.com
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