Get TOCC out of the Chamber of Commerce

The cc is an organization looking out for businesses. It is not an organization designed to support the interests of small governments.

This is how the council is trimming the budget, by joining a commercial entity as a government? Oh, I guess the pro-development council members were persuaded by the local developers. Going forward, please be more circumspect about spending my tax dollars!

The intent of joining is good but a mere look at the leadership as I have and not worth while joining

The intent of joining is good but a mere look at the leadership as I have and not worth while joining

This is none of the town's business.

Public discussion, disclosure, and citizen input are needed before a decision on this sort of affiliation would be made. Why has this not occurred? Mr. Mayor, please don't push through initiatives like this without soliciting and respecting the process of obtaining considered and proper public input!

I don't understand the logic of our Town joining the Chamber of Commerce as its only municipal member. We need a public hearing to answer questions: How does joining the CoC benefit our Town? Does the local CoC support the same anti-labor and anti-Obama efforts as the national CoC? Does the Town's dues support the efforts of the national CoC?

Please do NOT join the chamber of commerce.

Agreed.

Agreed.

While I'm opposed to the town joining the council, I am much more disturbed by the way it was done- quickly and with no notice.

Having the Town join the Chamber of Commerce was done in haste without notification to the full Council to consider whether this made sense or was a proper action for the Town to take. In addition, residents only learned after the fact that such a vote had been taken, which is hardly a way to carry out Town business in a transparent way, which is what has been promised. I find all this disturbing. If it makes sense after due consideration to join the Chamber, fine; but the way it was forced through without notice was, in my opinion, improper. In addition, the mission of the Chamber, as stated on its website, is "to build an environment that encourages business to grow and prosper within a thriving Bethesda-Chevy Chase community." I do not see how the Town fits within this mission statement, and I cannot find any other municipality in the Chamber's list of businesses (their word, not mine).

I do not think TOCC should be a member of this group and I did not think an appropriate process was followed.

I very much object to the substance of this decision, but even more strongly to the lack of public process involved.

I do not support this hasty decision, taken without due consideration by the Town residents. It is outrageous.

This an issue that deserves a public hearing. I hope that the Council will set aside its vote giving residents time to comment before a decision is made.

I am furious that our town has joined this body in such a hasty manner.

I do not support the ideology of this organization. Moreover, it supports businesses. We are not a business but a governmental entity.

I feel very strongly about this. I do not want the town to support their national causes, I want some distance locally, and the process of joining sounds indefensible.

I echo David Lublin's comments above. The bringing this up as New Business and deciding it the same night is hasty and ill-advised.