Coffee brews up discussion of county topics

Mark Wills is excited about Columbia County and what it has to offer.

And, he hopes others become just as enthused after attending the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce's first Not Just Coffee morning meeting Monday.

According to Wills, the chairman-elect of the chamber's Board of Directors, the morning coffee meeting will be a forum for discussing issues pertinent to Columbia County.

"We have heard from business people that we need to have something for Columbia County businesses," Wills said. "And, we wanted something that wouldn't cost anything."

The first morning coffee meeting will be at the Evans Government Complex with Jim Lieper, the director of the Columbia County Engineering and Environmental Division, giving a presentation on the new Evans-to-Locks Road bike path. The one-hour meeting will begin at 7:30 a.m.

"We wanted to concentrate on issues that were specific to Columbia County," Wills said. "We hope to start targeting some businesses where we think there will be some interest and then go from there."

Wills said the meetings will be open to the public, although invitations were sent only to chamber members.

"Those were the only addresses we had," he said, adding that he hopes to also use the coffee meetings as an opportunity to let people know what the chamber does.

"People don't understand a lot about what the chamber does," Wills said. "When people say the chamber doesn't do anything for them, they don't realize all that we are doing."

During the morning coffee meetings, which are scheduled for the second Monday of every other month, participants will be invited to join in a few minutes of socializing before the scheduled presentation. The second coffee meeting will be Oct. 7 with Deborah Marshall, the director of the Columbia County Board of Elections, discussing electronic voting. The location of that meeting has not been set.

"I want to get people excited about Columbia County and to know what the chamber does," Wills said.