City Council Meeting - Cornelius

Councilor Schamp noted the City budgeted $270,000 for the equipment and the expenditure was less
than $190,000. He recommended the purchase be expedited so the truck was operating before it
started raining. Mr. Crowell clarified the estimated delivery time for the new truck was four to six
months. The City would continue using the old truck, but would be careful to ensure the City would
receive the full trade-in credit. Two other trucks were available as backup, but they were not designed
to do the sewer work every day.
A motion was made by Councilor Crowder for the Cornelius City Council, acting as the Contract Review
Board, authorize the City Manager to sign a contract up to $187,566 with General Equipment Company
for the purchase of a 2012 Aquatech Sewer Cleaner Truck, seconded by Councilor Heinrich. Motion
carried 5-0. Councilor Heinrich, Councilor Orozco, Councilor Crowder, Councilor Schamp, and Mayor
Dalin.
B. Chamber of Commerce Consultant
Councilor Schamp updated the City Council about the efforts made in trying to reestablish the
Cornelius Chamber of Commerce. Attendance by business leaders at the early morning meetings with
Council was low, but the executive directors of the Hillsboro and Forest Grove Chambers
recommended Mike McClarin, a State Chamber of Commerce director, be contacted to get expert
advice about the process of relaunching the Cornelius Chamber. Mr. McClarin suggested that efforts
to relaunch the chamber should be led by the businesses, not by the City. The City’s role, if any, was to
provide the opportunity for businesses to do so, which was the focus of tonight’s agenda item. While
no guarantees existed that business leaders would be interested, Councilor Schamp was confident that
if businesses invite businesses, the results would be better than in the past. He and the City Manager
proposed that the City hire Mr. McClarin for up to $750 to mediate an invitation-only meeting to
business owners identified within the community that might be receptive to the idea. He hoped to
identify 12 to 15 interested business owners to meet with Mr. McClarin to develop an agenda and plan
of action. While the City would be available to provide support, the business community would move
the effort forward.
City Manager Drake confirmed that Mr. McClarin believed very strongly that the chamber must be
reformed by the business community. Bank of the West Branch Manager Michelle Gilbertson had
created a list for the invitations, which would come from Mr. McClarin with Ms. Gilbertson as a backup.
The meeting would meet at a business and the City would not be invited intentionally to ensure the
effort was strictly business-driven. He clarified that the $750 fee covered one, two-hour session as well
as Mr. McClarin’s drive time from Salem. The purpose of the meeting was to see whether there was a
desire to reform a chamber.
Mayor Dalin said he hoped this meeting would ignite a desire to bring the Chamber back into existence
because it was important to have a group setting in which businesses could talk and come up with
ideas. He still wanted to provide opportunities on a regular basis to foster interaction between the
businesses and City Council to provide the city honest feedback about what is happening. The Council
should be available to the business community. He did not want to lose the spark Council once had at
the morning coffee meetings, although other formats could be used. He supported hiring Mr. McClarin
and planning the meeting if that would bring such an environment back.
Cornelius City Council Meeting
Minutes-July 16, 2012 Page 3 of 5