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CCBA celebrates one-year anniversary; business alliance lends support to water legislation
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@starlocalnews.com
One year ago, a group of local business executives formed the Collin County Business Alliance to help support elected officials and provide support for major issues facing the county.
This month, on the organization's first anniversary, members of the CCBA and local officials say the early results have been positive.
"There is a very impressive list of people who are involved with the business alliance," said Plano Mayor Phil Dyer. "There are some leaders of some real significant corporations who have unbelievably busy schedules. I am very grateful they are willing to lend their support to the greater good of the community."
CCBA chairman Sanjiv Yajnik, president of Capital One Financial Services, said the organization is up to about 50 members and is always looking for more. Yajnik said the alliance was created because he, as well as other executives, felt there was a need for businesses to be more involved in their communities.
"The core philosophy is that vibrant communities need vibrant businesses," he said. "[They need] businesses that are not just guests in the community, but are active. The community is not only where we do our business, but also where our associates and our employees live and work.
"There are many groups in every city in Collin County that are appropriately focused on the city in a variety of ways. But the county is made up of many cities, and we thought there was a bit of a vacuum in the voice of business helping elected officials move forward on a variety of topics - many of which cut across from city to city."
In its first year, the CCBA focused on three major issues: water, transportation and education. Yajnik said the alliance learned about each issue and then spoke with elected officials to determine how the CCBA could be put its resources to work.
Of the groups that have received help from the CCBA is the North Texas Municipal Water District, which provides water to cities in Collin and surrounding counties. Jim Parks, the district's executive director, said additional water supplies are going to be needed as the population of North Texas continues to grow.
One of the district's major projects is the construction of a pipeline from Lake Texoma to its water treatment plant in Wylie. This project, Parks said, would allow the district to once again utilize Texoma, which has been offline since the discovery of zebra mussels in 2009.
However, even when the pipeline is completed in late 2013, it cannot be utilized unless action is taken by the federal government. And this is where the CCBA comes in, Parks said.
"The thing they are doing is lending support to our efforts in D.C. to have a piece of legislation passed that would afford us some relief from the provisions of the Lacey Act," Parks said. "The act prohibits the transportation of invasive species, such as the zebra mussel. Our legislation says if we transport water from Texoma through an enclosed [pipeline] to our plant in Wylie, we would not be subject of the Lacey Act."
Parks said CCBA members have drafted letters to the Texas congressional delegation, outlining the effect that water has on their businesses and urging the passage of the act exempting the district from the Lacey Act.
One of the CCBA members is Dr. Cary Israel, president of Collin College. As a proactive organization, the CCBA can help prevent problems from occurring rather than simply helping find solutions after a problem has occurred, Israel said.
While he sees the value in addressing all of the challenges facing the county, Israel said the CCBA should be helpful in getting each of the school districts in Collin County on the same page.
"The college represents the whole county for higher education, but who represents the whole county for K-12? What is exciting is that the CCBA can engage and bring the power of the business community to take a countywide approach, and a systematic approach, so that all of us don't have to keep reinventing the wheel if we develop models that are scalable and replicable," Israel said. "This ensures we continue to offer quality education in the county. We do that now, but we could go adrift if we don't keep working together."
For information, visit collincountybusinessalliance.org.
For continued coverage of local news, follow @Bill_PlanoStar on Twitter.
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