JULY 2016 – President’s Article by Jill Riley

The Redlands Chamber of Commerce recently presented the State of the Community Luncheon. More than 250 interested community and business leaders attended this event.  While the Chamber took advantage of the opportunity to promote Energy Upgrade CA, to the hundreds attending the focus of the event was presentations by the Mayor and Council Members, reviewing accomplishments and challenges during the 2015/16 fiscal year and plans for the 2016/17 year.

The Mayor presented The 2016 Beautification Award to the Redlands Music Association for the adaptive reuse of Mission Gables. He went on to present Hero Awards to the Redlands Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Chris Martin, Elizabeth Escobar, Hank DeBoer, Rudy Lozano for the tireless volunteer hours that they all donate to making Redlands the extraordinary community it is. The Mayor presented and thanked Toni Momberger, past editor of the Redlands Daily Facts for everything she has done for the City of Redlands, acting as ambassador, cheer leader and educator on all things Redlands . Two very special awards were presented to city employees Erik Reeves and Blue Collar Athletics for going above and beyond the scope of their job descriptions and giving so generously to the community.

The Mayor and Council presented an optimistic vision of the future with a careful eye on the budget.

On behalf of the Chamber I would like to extend a very special thank you to the following sponsors for helping to underwrite the State of the Community Luncheon; the Ayres Hotel, Alta Vista Credit Union, The Gas Company, Redlands Community Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, Redlands Professional Firefighters Association, General Employees of Redlands (GEAR), Walmart, Redlands Police Officers Foundation, and Southern California Edison. The 2016 State of the Community Luncheon was definitely a success!