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COLUMBUS — The Columbus Chamber of Commerce membership meeting featured a state of the city, county and the Chamber as the business owners and town officials met on Thursday, Jan. 25 for the first Chamber banquet of the year.
The banquet attendees enjoyed food prepared by Chef Raul and small snacks and desserts. The Chamber also named their Volunteer of the Year and Business of the Year winners for 2023. Travis and Raven Kocurek for the Hound Song Brewing Company won Business of the Year while Steve and Grace McCullough took the Volunteer of the Year award.
Executive Board President Peggy Harrison led the presentation of several initiatives and goals that were accomplished throughout 2023. She highlighted several things that the Chamber did to increase visibility for the member businesses within its ranks. Advertisements in local media and through other methods and events helped increase eye traffic to their members.
Chamber members also sponsored several events throughout the year including charity and recreational events.
Following Harrison’s report, Columbus Mayor Lori An Gobert gave a brief rundown on a few key points the city was able to accomplish in 2023 as well as what they hope to accomplish in 2024. Gobert spoke on many of the construction improvements around town, the municipal volunteer fire department and the upcoming initiatives to continue road restoration.
Gobert credited the businesses and residents for being active in the community and asked them to keep track of their state legislators to prevent most state grant funding from going into larger metropolitan areas.
County Judge Ty Prause gave his report after Gobert completed her speech to discuss some of the actions around the county. He spoke on the predicted growth throughout the county as more new neighborhoods and residents populate the rural areas outside of the three municipalities in the county.
He also implored residents to stay on top of state politics as many of their decisions directly impact the operations and government funding available for the county. Regarding politics in the form of elections, Prause also confirmed the transition of the Elections Office to the former Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 location at 1117 Travis St.
More information on the banquet and the Chamber’s upcoming initiatives can be found on the Chamber link page.
