If you attended the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance (NCLA) Regional Issues Summit this morning at the Embassy Suites in Loveland you might agree the theme for the morning was: Collaboration.

And that would mostly be true. Speaker after speaker talked about how we work well as a business community and region to protect and advance the interests of Northern Colorado. But the tension was palpable between state administrative officials and area health care and energy development officials. It was a preview of what will be animated in the 2020 Legislative Session.

More than 250 business leaders, elected officials and others from the Northern Colorado community attended to learn about and discuss recent and upcoming policy decisions affecting you, your business, our region and our state.

NCLA Chair Carol Salter asked the crowd to look around and acknowledge the fact that “These are your people” and the ones who will come together to fight for what’s best for our region and continue making Northern Colorado a favorable place to live and do business.

The core of the Summit included panels featuring experts from Colorado on issues that matter to business:

  • Health Care and the “Public Option”
  • Climate, Energy, and Air Quality
  • Transportation

Northern Colorado is fortunate to have these leading experts sit at a table together, representing different ideologies and have an honest conversation about the issues at hand, often agreeing change is only going to happen if we come together.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis was in attendance and touched briefly on early education, health care, transportation and affordable housing. He was impressed with the work being done in Northern Colorado and reflected on how collaboration was a key takeaway from a recent trip to the area.

The summit concluded with a celebration of a true collaboration of local communities working together for the good of North I-25. We were honored to present the NCLA Transportation Champion Award to Senate Majority Leader Chris Holbert, Former Region 4 RTD Johnny Olson and Former Transportation Commissioner Kathy Gilliland. These individuals, along with others in our area, have contributed countless time and energy to advocate for the widening the North portion of I-25 to three lanes. We can’t thank them enough.

Resources from the 2019 Regional Issues Summit will soon be posted on FortCollinsChamber.com and NCLA.biz.