notes from conference call
Jennifer Cole
Thanks, Mary Walton, for forwarding me the notes from one of the calls:
Good morning. I was on the morning conference call with Denny on March 7th. I have a few notes, but just more of an FYI. They are as follows:
- Update - Status of Litter Board - all good; Board established and good.
- The Battle in front of us...The Governor recommended cuts in funding to localities for this year and subsequent years to follow.
- Denny encouraged us to contact legislators & senate; ask them to agree with Senate Budget on Litter.
- Use compelling messages
- The Senate agrees with us on budget
- Specifically, have myself and the Administrator for King William County contact Tommy Norment or his Assistant(s). He also specifically asked other localities to do the same.
I followed through with an e-mail to Tommy Norment and gave a memo to Mr. Funkhouser to make a phone call that
I think Denny and his people send us all the excel sheet of the important people we must call. I have contacted all of them on the list prior to the session ending, but as you probably know, the legislature will go into special session to work out the details on the budget, so we still have time. So please, please please, contact them again, and even if your delegate or senator is not on that list, make sure you touch base with them, because as I have mentioned numerous times—these folks are making deals, and we want to make sure that our elected officials are not dealing our money away. I think it is very important to stress the following:
1. The Return on Investment is unlike no other tax or fund in the Commonwealth (See Denny and Chuck’s cheat sheet they sent out last week)
2. Note your organization’s yearly accomplishments when sending to your jurisdiction’s senators and delegates and note the overall accomplishments when sending to folks outside your area of influence (if you do an annual report, include it!)
3. Jobs jobs jobs. I don’t know about you, but cutting this funding may mean cutting jobs like mine which are not municipal but non-profit, and certainly means cutting hours. Considering that the governor has been campaigning as Bob Jobs, it makes no sense to take the paltry sums of money (a few hundred thousand here and there) if it means some people will be out of work.
4. A clean Virginia is one that attracts tourism, industry, homeowners—all of whom contribute to VA’s tax base.
5.
Keep your message simple, and to the point. Go get ‘em!
Jen
Jennifer Cole
Executive Director, Clean Fairfax Council
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 466
Fairfax, VA 22035