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The Covington Chamber is a member of the South Sound Chambers of Commerce Legislative Coalition, and last week we presented our 2023 legislative priorities to local elected officials and state legislators. Our focus in 2023 is on economic vitality and growth for the South Sound region, specifically in the areas of transportation, budget and taxes, small business support, continued investments in workers and education, housing attainability, energy and climate change, public safety, and health care. Read our issue paper here. Thank you to Green River College for serving as presenting sponsor along with Comcast and to the Auburn Area Chamber, Kent Chamber and Seattle Southside Chamber for including the Covington Chamber in the panel discussion. Thank you also to our members who attended to support our work. 
 Amy Hobson, a business and marketing teacher at Kentlake High School, is looking for volunteer judges to help with a mock competition. This is an important and valuable experience for students to “shake off their nerves” before they head into their first formal DECA competition.
Dates: Thurs., Dec. 8 AND/OR Thurs., Dec. 15 (2:15 p.m.) Location: Kentlake High School, 21401 SE Falcon Way, Kent, WA 98042 DECA is a business and marketing club that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in business, marketing, finance, and hospitality. Students compete in a role play where they are given a real-world scenario in their career focus area and present their ideas and solutions to a judge. Judges have a rubric to determine if students have identified the key performance indicators for the scenario, as well as their professionalism.  Puget Sound Energy shared the following information with us early this afternoon to help businesses and residents prepare for the winter storm that's expected to start as early as 1 p.m. today. This is the message in its entirety. It has not been edited except for formatting. "With today’s snowy weather and the potential for winds this afternoon and evening, below are the steps PSE is taking to prepare for possible outages. We’ll also be posting this to the PSE Alerts Banner on pse.com. Also, I have included information on how PSE restoration process.  Adobe Stock Photo Preparing for outages
Region-wide outages Region-wide outages are typically caused by significant weather events. In the Pacific Northwest, it's most common for region-wide outage events to be caused by fall and winter wind and snow storms, but other causes could be earthquakes, flooding, wildfires or other natural disasters. Outages may impact several thousand to several hundred thousand customers. Beginning of the outage event Regional storm bases and our Emergency Coordination Center open to support crew and resource coordination, response strategy and internal and external communication. Assessing damage As soon as conditions allow and it’s safe to begin field activities, our damage assessors drive to reported outage locations across our service area to:
Storm response plan established Information from the damage assessors is used by the storm bases and Emergency Coordination Center to determine resources needed, outage restoration prioritization and other response strategies. Outage restoration prioritization
Restoration efforts continue 24/7 Our crews and outage response personnel work around the clock until all customers have their power restored. How does PSE estimate when my power will be restored? Each region-wide outage event is unique, and estimated times of restoration (ETRs) are developed based on the following factors: number of predicted outage locations, damage severity, resource allocations, active weather and access challenges. As our field teams gain boots-on-the-ground visibility, we add and update ETRs on the outage map. At times, more system damage can occur due to ongoing active weather, and ETRs may need to be updated. There are three general stages of ETRs: 1. ETR is To Be Determined (TBD): During a region-wide outage event, we don’t add ETRs to the outage map until damage assessment is well underway. The time required to establish ETRs varies based on field conditions and the severity of the event. In large outage events, it can take 24–48 hours to establish regional ETRs. 2. Regional ETR: The date/time we expect most customers in a given region to have their power restored. Many customers will be restored sooner than the regional ETR; some customers may have their power restored after. While regional ETRs are not specific to individual outages, they are general timeframes for restoration that help our customers plan. We strive to share regional ETRs within the first 24–48 hours of a large-scale outage event. 3. Outage-specific ETR: Outage-specific ETRs – provided by our field personnel – are established when we have adequate field visibility and a crew assigned to restore your power. Sometimes, outage-specific ETRs are updated based on additional information gathered during repairs. We understand ETR information is important so our customers can plan. Please know we work to provide the most accurate information as quickly as possible, and we thank you for your patience as we move through the process. We are excited to tell you about our new 2023 Covington Community & Business Resource Guide. This replaces our Membership Directory. Here are highlights about the new guide, to be published in February 2023.
If you are a Covington Chamber member, contact executive director Dana Neuts to secure your ad spot. If you are not a member of the Covington Chamber, contact ambassador Jen Suski to secure your ad spot. See our 2023 rate sheet here.  At our November 10, 2022 monthly networking luncheon, we presented 16 $25 Fred Meyer gift cards ($400) to The Storehouse food bank for their Thanksgiving fundraising campaign. In addition to the food provided by The Storehouse, families will be able to use the gift cards to buy their own main course, whether it is a traditional turkey, tofu or something specific to their culture. This donation was made possible by our Good Work Fund, a restricted fund that comes from our member sponsors, each of whom invests $750 or more in the Covington Chamber each year. A portion of their membership investments goes directly to the Good Work Fund. Every month or so, a committee selects a local cause, project, or community "good work" to support. Past donations include coats for Thrive Wellness Clinic's "No Cold Kid" campaign, $500 to support Oil Change Day, $300 to buy safety vests for litter clean-ups, and $600 to purchase PPE for local businesses at the height of COVID-19. Thank you to these sponsors for making our Good Work Fund possible:
  The 2023 Covington Chamber board of director elections are complete. On October 27, 2022, the board of directors certified the votes. The slate of directors for 2023 include the following:
Voting members of the board of directors will nominate and select officers for 2023, per our by-laws. Congratulations to our board members, and thank you to each of them for agreeing to serve in these vital roles!  Please join us in congratulating Bridget O’Connor, community engagement officer for Red Canoe Credit Union, who is the new chair of the Covington Chamber board. Bridget served as chair-elect in 2022, and when chair Cass Laney stepped down, Bridget graciously accepted the chair position, per Covington Chamber bylaws. The board confirmed her appointment on October 28, 2022.
Thank you, Bridget, for your willingness to fill the vacancy a little earlier than planned. The board and staff are excited to work with you in your new role. |
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