Blog

Tomorrow the Chamber is hosting a sold-out Small Business of the Year Awards Luncheon. It's a great opportunity to celebrate small business in general and to honor some worthy companies in particular. I wrote about the importance of small business in a column in the Coloradoan last weekend, which you can read here.

Out of dozens of companies, the six finalists are Alphagraphics, Brinkman Partners, MazTech & All-Tech Automotive, Palmer Flowers, Shaw & Associates, and The Cupboard.

Congratulations and thank you for all you do for our community!

Special thanks to our sponsors.

• The Event Partner is First National Bank.
• Event Supporters include Dellenbach Chevrolet, Cadillac, Subaru and Suzuki; Fort Collins Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Hyundai; Pinnacol Assurance; Snell & Wellmer LLP; Tynan's Nissan, Kia & Saab; Ward Petroleum; and Mantooth Marketing Company.
• Event Sponsors are JAX Mercantile and Perkins & Coie Law Firm.
• In-kind Sponsors are Palmer Flowers and the Hilton Fort Collins.

While we're talking small business, you might want to check out the Blogroll to the left. There are some great resources here for small businesses.

We really appreciate our small businesses, which make up the vast majority of the Chamber's membership. We love hearing your stories and the passion you bring to serving your customers and community.

Did you know that there’s an election on May 8? No? Well, you’re in good company.

The Health District of Northern Larimer County has a District Board Election that day. If you’re not familiar with it, the Health District is a special tax district that is funded by local property taxes and governed by an elected board of five people. It serves the northern two-thirds of Larimer County including Red Feather Lakes, Livermore, Fort Collins, Wellington, Timnath and LaPorte. The Health District uses about $7million of our tax dollars on community healthcare including dental, mental health, preventive health and prescription assistance.

There are five candidates competing for two four-year seats.

You will NOT be getting a ballot in the mail. If are a registered voter in the Health District you can vote May 8 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the Health District office, 120 Bristlecone Drive, Fort Collins and at Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church, 4501 South Lemay Avenue, Fort Collins. If you’re interested in voting for Health District candidates via mail in the future, you should consider filling out an Application for Permanent Mail-in Voter Status.

The Chamber has NOT endorsed in this election. I’ve read the profiles of the candidates and it looks like there are some qualified people. Of the five, I am only familiar with Matt Fries and Debbie Healy.

If you are interested in the Health District of Northern Larimer County board elections, you can find out more here.

The quarterly survey by the Kauffman Foundation and Legal Zoom of startup business owners shows mixed results with most expecting lowered consumer demand over the next 12 months but with employee hiring expected to increase. Find the results here.

Government serves important purposes, but for some things, like creating economic prosperity, for example, the free market is far superior. As the communist economic model imploded in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and China and India - the world's most populous countries - opened up their markets, the poverty rate around the globe shrank dramatically. In the past 30 years, the percentage of people living on less than the equivalent of $1.25 per day from 52 percent of the world population to 22 percent.

According to Guy Sorman writing in City Journal, the United States deserves much of the credit. You can read his article here.

Should City Council term limits be changed from 2 four-year terms (total of 8 years) to 3 four-year terms (total of 12 years)?

That question is being floated by some City Council members, especially those who will be term limited out of office next April. The Council will probably take the question up at their June 12 Work Session.

Here’s an interesting map that shows the urban areas in the U.S. with emerging nanotechnology clusters. Colorado, including Fort Collins, makes a respectable showing. A common definition of nanotechnology is engineering of functional systems at the molecular level. At Colorado State University nanotechnology can be illustrated with battery research being done by Amy Prieto, founder of Prieto Battery.

Today’s Coloradoan has a story about the new role that Poudre Valley Health System President & CEO Rulon Stacey has taken on due to the merger of PVHS and University of Colorado Hospital. Rulon is the chief executive officer of the new organization, which is called University of Colorado Health.

I put on a happy face in the article and stand behind the words – we will still benefit from his leadership in his new role – but I am sorry to lose him as a resident of Fort Collins. He has been more than the head of our health care system. Rulon has been a strong community leader, and that is hard to replace.

So, Rulon, thank you for everything you’ve done for the community, we look forward to continuing to work with you and best of luck in your new role. 

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About Rulon Stacey: 

• Rulon F. Stacey, Ph.D., joined Poudre Valley Health System in 1996. Since that time, Dr. Stacey has led the transformation of PVHS into a health system with more than 5,300 employees and a dozen facilities in three states.
• During his time in Fort Collins, Dr. Stacey has distinguished himself as a healthcare executive, international speaker and author.
• He has developed some innovative partnerships that include nearly 20 joint ventures with physicians groups in the region and Medical Center of the Rockies, and a unique joint venture regional tertiary referral center between PVHS and Regional West Medical Center, Scotsbluff, Neb.These joint ventures have allowed the health system to focus on quality outcomes, while nearly quadrupling the net revenue and net assets of the health system.
• Dr. Stacey received the 1999 Robert S. Hudgens Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives as the “Young Healthcare Executive of the Year.”
• In November 2008, the President of the United States announced that Poudre Valley Health System was one of only three organizations and the only healthcare organization in the United States to receive that year’s prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest recognition for performance excellence.
• In March 2011 Dr. Stacey was confirmed as Chairman of the American College of Healthcare Executives governing board.
• In August 2011, Modern Healthcare named Dr. Stacey among the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare for 2011.
• Regularly, Poudre Valley Health System is recognized as one of the top 100 health systems in the U.S.
• Dr. Stacey is also the author of Over Our Heads, an account of why healthcare costs in the United States are so high.
• A native of Provo,Utah, Dr. Stacey holds a bachelor of science in economics and a master’s degree in health administration from Brigham Young Universityand a doctor of philosophy in Public Administration from the University of Colorado.
• Dr. Stacey became chief executive officer of University of Colorado Health in 2012.