Business Owner Roundtable in Rural, Remote Colorado

Senator Ellen Roberts (R) explains that 88 percent of Colorado’s population is in the “Front Range” area that stretches from Fort Collins to Pueblo.  As a result, Senate districts like hers in the rural, remote area of the state that reaches to the Four Corners where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona all connect, may face extra hurdles in dealings with state government.  In particular, business owners can be frustrated working with state agency officials and employees who may have little understanding of the challenges in their part of the state.

Roberts and her Senate Republican Caucus colleagues have established the roundtable discussion approach to promote better communication and problem solving for the business owners and the state officials.  Leading the roundtable in Durango on Sept. 20, 2012,  jointly with Assistant Minority Leader Mark Scheffel (R), the two senators described the value of knowing the practical impact of laws and regulations on business. Scheffel indicated this was not a case of all regulations being bad—some are important for health, safety and other reasons. The key is to determine what is unfairly or unproductively hindering business. Nor was this a strongly partisan appeal, as “we have to do much of our work in cooperation with the other party.”  They encouraged the attendees to speak about real life experiences—what was working well and what needs to be improved. Roberts told them that “when we are debating these business issues, it is your stories that come back to me and I can share them with my colleagues, showing what the real impact is on the ground.”

About 25 business owners participated, representing accounting, health service, real estate, restaurant, electrical and other services. The legislators asked for their challenges and the owners provided a series of problems with Department of Revenue (DOR) regulation compliance, inability to speak with “a live person,” and the delays caused whenever you have to send in anything in writing as opposed to electronically. They showed their frustration when they described how in some situations that they were better off paying penalties that they didn’t deserve rather than spend the time and energy fighting a disputed payment.

The owners had some understanding of the DOR’s position, as the agency has been dealing with budget cuts. “Maybe we should restore some of that funding” was one of the comments, as “we seem to have lost some of the people you could rely on to help resolve problems.”  Scheffel asked the group if there were any lessons to be learned from the owners’ dealings with the other state governments in the Four Corners area—New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. One owner mentioned how Utah has designed the tax “due dates” to occur at the same time, which makes reporting easier, while another mentioned that in New Mexico if there are tax issues, you can always get someone at their revenue department on the phone who can help.

This is a trying time for owners, as health insurance and other costs are skyrocketing. The theme of the conversation, however, was generally positive. Roundtable participants appreciated the chance to describe their situations and asked to be included in discussions in the future. 

Some tips from Roberts for other rural, remote legislators include: 

• Start the roundtable by explaining how important it is for you to listen to the participants and how you will use what you hear back in the capitol.  Keep it informal (“we’re Ellen and Mark, not senator”) and try to encourage them to talk.  Although many of the participants are used to these meetings, some are new to the experience.
• Work with your local chambers of commerce, as they are a natural connection for these kinds of conversation. In general, look to existing organizations to help organize and promote roundtables or other discussions.
• If you can, bring a member of your caucus from another part of the state to a business owner roundtable to show that other legislators have concern for them and their problems. Further, it shows that all the state appreciates businesses that provide jobs and needed services and that take the risks of ownership in tough economic times. If you can bring a well-respected leader, all the better.
• As a legislator you need input from various sources. Town hall meetings with a broad range of viewpoints are critical, but so are meetings with groups of similar people, like business owners and teachers. These focused roundtables make participants comfortable and they can respond to and expand on each other’s comments.
• Understand the political realities, but make every participant feel welcome and respected.  As a Republican, she might expect that most business owners at the roundtable would be fellow party members, but certainly not all of them. Further, good ideas can come from a variety of sources, so you have to constantly be paying attention to what you hear.  Lastly, in Colorado, you almost always will need some bipartisan support to be successful in getting your bill passed.
• Identify “good stories.”  Recognize when you hear a constituent tell a story that will help explain your point to your legislative colleagues.  In a prior roundtable Sen. Roberts heard a story of the impact that a recent towing bond law had for a business owner in rural, remote Colorado.  The new law was driven by interests in the major metropolitan parts of the state, and the story showed how frustrating the change was in human terms for this owner in her district. Legislators have to be on the lookout for these stories, and often need to ask the roundtable participants to write up their perspective and send it to the legislator.
• When you finish the roundtable, clearly show you are accessible: “Don’t wait for me to call you if you think I need to know something, please call me” she tells them at the end.
• Work with your caucus staff.  In Colorado, legislators have no personal staff.  In this meeting the Senate Republican Caucus staffers were able to take notes and provide answers to some of the questions, freeing the legislators to facilitate the discussion and focus on and listen to what people were saying.
• Plan on staying a while after the meeting has ended. Some participants will have things to tell you privately or just want to have some personal time with you.