Hello everyone, welcome to a new year and a new decade. I want to say thank you, and I am honored to serve as your chamber president throughout 2010. The new of the year is wearing off fast, and we all are moving in one direction or another. We have an interesting year ahead with new ideas and elections on the forefront. With that, the word goals come to mind.We all set goals, whether it be in our personal lives or our place of business. I am one that without setting goals would find myself lost and with little direction. I took up running a few years ago with one goal in mind, to run a 5k and finish the race without walking. As I crossed the finish line and accomplished my goal, satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment came over me. The most important attribute it gave me was direction, and the drive to conquer something bigger. Since then those finish lines have become half marathons, full marathons, and this August an attempt to finish my first Ironman.
Our goals here at the Chamber grow in an effort to promote the economic health of Callaway County, stimulate jobs and improve the quality of life. We at the Chamber continue to do all this to the best of our abilities.
For those of you who know me I wake up every morning, happy to put on a smile on my face, knowing I am living in a community of people that care about one another so much. We might not all agree on what is most important, but the sincerity of “what we believe can make our community better,” is in all of our hearts.
We are in difficult times and for those who play leadership roles in our community my hat is off to you. In the past, popularity throughout our communities has taken people far, but it is those who have made difficult decisions in difficult times that we owe gratitude and thanks for what we have today. As we all work in our place of business as leaders and peers in our communities, we are all going to make decisions that are not always popular. They will be decisions that are life changing, and many of them not accepted, but with the intent to make a better life for our communities and county as a whole.
I have always been told in difficult times we find our true leaders. I believe all of us will agree we are in those times, but may differ, in what degree. I will challenge all of you to make decisions that get us through today, with the intent of leading us into a growing tomorrow.
Thank you all again for the opportunity to serve our county in this capacity. I wish like most, the period we are in was at an all time high, but it is not. The lessons we all will learn, and the decisions we must face, are sure to make us all stronger in the end.
Clinton R. Smith
Manager of Administration
Callaway Electric Cooperative