The Steinbach Chamber of Commerce met with city council in committee Tuesday night and presented a strong case for the city to continue a business tax that is turned over to the chamber in the form of a grant. The tax and grant program was called into question by city council earlier this year with a suggestion the chamber of commerce should be fully autonomous and not receive funding from the city. Chamber President Tim Schmitt made a presentation to city council Tuesday about all the work the chamber does to benefit the city and brought forward many letters of support for the tax and grant program from member businesses. He says it was important to convey this message to city council.

"Some questions were asked about that and so it caused us to go out and ask some of the businesses directly about their feelings on how the chamber performs and their involvement and that kind of thing. It's been a great chance to have some conversations and answer some questions and I'm proud to say we have had terrific feedback on that and a lot of support."

Mayor Earl Funk says city council got the message and will make decision on the tax and grant program soon.

"They showed a lot of support and all that support, you cannot fight with that. I think we're going to have to go into our study session and look at this and re-look at our grant process and we'll be giving them an answer very soon."

Council's summer study session will take place in July.

Meanwhile, city council asked the chamber for input regarding its plans to set up an economic development office. Schmitt says the chamber of commerce would very much like to be a partner with the city in this process, to develop a model that gets the best possible results for the money that is invested.