State Rep. John Sims Jr., State Sen. Stephen West and Maysville-Mason County Industrial Development Authority Executive Director Owen McNeill were at the Maysville-Mason County Area Chamber of Commerce Friday morning to answer questions, address concerns and talk with the public over a cup of coffee.
Chamber Executive Director Vicki Stiegleder said the Chamber holds the open house once a year to give members a chance to meet their representatives and chamber directors.
“We wanted to give our members an opportunity to meet our local representatives and senators,” she said. “It gives everyone an informal chance to meet and, if they have concerns, they can talk to the representatives one-on-one. It’s nothing formal, so people can come and go.”
Steigleder said it also gives people a chance to visit the Chamber office.
“It also gets people into the Chamber, so they can stop in and see what’s going on,” she said. “We also added Owen McNeill this time. He’s a new industrial authority director and people can stop in and see him, too.”
West said he wanted to be a part of the event in order to have an opportunity to meet his constituents.
“I really enjoy this meeting,” he said. “People can come in and talk to me about anything on their mind, ask questions, voice concerns. It’s just a chance to meet and talk.”
West said he had a few items on his list for the upcoming year.
“I’m focusing on about four or five items personally,” he said. “Obviously, we’ll have the normal pension, education, taxes and other issues that will, but personally I’ll be working on a medical marijuana bill, a childhood literacy bill, a fluoride bill that will give cities the right to not put fluoride in the water if they don’t want to and a school tribunal bill dealing with school discipline and the other bill will be on performance-based funding. Those are the little things I’ll be working on this session.”
Sims said he and West had a busy day on Friday by visiting several different places in Mason and Fleming counties.
“I’ve been to Simons Middle School this morning, the Chamber meet-and-greet, the museum center and the Women’s Crisis Center,” he said.
Sims said some of the things he has been working on, and will continue to work on, include medical marijuana, sports gaming and taxes.
“My bill, since I’ve been in office, was the medical marijuana bill,” he said. “I’m still working on that. I’ve been involved in some of the sports gaming bill and we’re trying to fix the non-profit tax bill because the tax bill they passed at the end of the last session is hurting our non-profits.”
McNeill said he appreciated the opportunity to speak with residents of Mason County.
“There are some individuals who did not know me and were given the chance to stop in on Friday,” he said. “We had a great day on Thursday and a great day on Friday. I’m glad we had that opportunity to meet with everyone, hear concerns and answer questions.”
McNeill said he had several things he plans to work on in the next year.
“We want to continue to increase this positive momentum,” he said. “We can’t stop with all of the successes we’ve had with PPI and all of our other great news. There are so many things going on and I want to avoid losing that momentum. I will continue to work with other prospects for Mason County. We have several groups who are working hard to sharpen the skills of those who want to be a part of the workforce, but may have barriers and they’re doing great things. (Sims) and (West) have been great to work with and have been great for Mason County. They really go to bat for the communities they serve.”
