Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Heath Mello in studio

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Heath Mello in studio · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: We are happy that you are with us. And my
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Speaker 1: guest today is Heath Mellow. Good morning, Good morning.
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Speaker 2: How are you.
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Speaker 3: I'm doing well. I'm doing well.
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Speaker 2: Good.
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Speaker 1: Heath Mellow and I have known each other for a
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Speaker 1: long time, and we're first going to talk a little
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Speaker 1: bit about who Heath Mellow is. But Heath Mellow is
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Speaker 1: the CEO and the chairman of the Greater Omaha Chamber
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Speaker 1: of Commerce.
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Speaker 2: You had that position since two thousand and twenty three,
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Speaker 2: I believe. Is that correct?
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Speaker 1: That's correct, but he did a lot of things before that.
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Speaker 1: I'm just going to give a little history and then
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Speaker 1: let you talk about yourself. Heath was born in the
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Speaker 1: area in Gretna, correct, yep. And you were born I
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Speaker 1: know this in nineteen seventy nine. That makes you forty seven.
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Speaker 1: That makes me old enough to be your mom. Let's
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Speaker 1: not talk about that though. I know he's a wife, Catherine.
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Speaker 1: He has a beautiful wife, two kids. But let's talk
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Speaker 1: about You were in the legislature for a while two
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Speaker 1: thousand and nine to twenty seventeen, representing fifth District, which
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Speaker 1: is South Omaha Bellevue. After that, you were chief lobbyist
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Speaker 1: for University of Nebraska, seventeen and then in twenty twenty
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Speaker 1: three you became CEO and Chairman of the Chamber. Let's
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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about Heath Mellow.
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Speaker 3: Well.
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Speaker 4: First off, thank you, Mayor for the opportunity to spend
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Speaker 4: some time with you this morning on the on the
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Speaker 4: comment line. You know, you captured everything really well in
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Speaker 4: terms of you know, kind of my my journey through
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Speaker 4: public policy, through economic development, through higher education, you know,
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Speaker 4: being someone who was able to get elected to the
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Speaker 4: legislature at the age of twenty nine.
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Speaker 2: And yeah, you were a young and down there working and.
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Speaker 4: I was part of the young crew of state senators
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Speaker 4: elected in two thousand and eight, and it was it
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Speaker 4: was a great experience, and they.
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Speaker 2: Were very successful in the legislature too.
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Speaker 3: I think, well, you're you're kind.
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Speaker 4: It was it's a it's a team sport, as I
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Speaker 4: always say, in terms of working with working with other senators,
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Speaker 4: working with the governors, working with a lot of different
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Speaker 4: folks to get to get good, good legislation passed. And
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Speaker 4: that was a great period of my life, you know.
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Speaker 4: And then the universities you shared. After I was done
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Speaker 4: in the legislature, I was able to spend nearly six
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Speaker 4: years at the University of Nebraska being their chief lobbyist
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Speaker 4: and their vice president of external relations. It gave me
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Speaker 4: a really good broader view, I would say, of the
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Speaker 4: state of Nebraska overall. While I lived in Omaha, drove
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Speaker 4: to Lincoln every day. I got to travel the state
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Speaker 4: and work with the university faculty and staff and researchers
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Speaker 4: across the whole state on issues that impacted them at
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Speaker 4: the State House, things that impacted them in Washington, d c.
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Speaker 4: And it was just a really great experience. And I
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Speaker 4: always tell people that was my dream job. I thought
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Speaker 4: I was going to retire at the university doing that
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Speaker 4: job and had no intention of ever leaving. And then
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Speaker 4: the Greater Ama Chamber opportunity came up, and you knowing,
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Speaker 4: being from Omaha, caring about Omaha, caring about economic development,
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Speaker 4: it was really a once in a lifetime opportunity to
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Speaker 4: take this role at the Chamber and to be able
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Speaker 4: to help work with great community partners, great elected officials,
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Speaker 4: great businesses to help advance Omaha's collective future.
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Speaker 1: And Heath Mellow is with us today, And you know,
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Speaker 1: I thought that your background, what you did in the legislature,
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Speaker 1: what you did with for University of Nebraska. Made you
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Speaker 1: the perfect choice for your job at the Chamber because
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Speaker 1: you not only understood the state, but I mean you
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Speaker 1: understood the legislation in the state and so much that
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Speaker 1: the Chamber does as far as economic development. There's a
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Speaker 1: lot that you have to do with what is going
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Speaker 1: on with the state and the state legislature, and you
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Speaker 1: knew how it ran. And I thought you were just
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Speaker 1: a perfect choice for that. Now, one thing I need
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Speaker 1: to bring up just to remind people because I want
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Speaker 1: to make a point. And Heath and I were challengers
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Speaker 1: with each other. I mean, we were both candidates in
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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen for the mayor of Omaha. You know, I
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Speaker 1: always tell people this. I said, you know, if people
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Speaker 1: say you don't hate your opponent when you're running for
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Speaker 1: an office, there lion.
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Speaker 2: Because you just have to to get through it.
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Speaker 1: But you know, I wanted to bring that up because
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Speaker 1: I think it's just it's a good example of how
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Speaker 1: it doesn't matter your differences in the past. It really
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Speaker 1: doesn't matter your political affiliation. You can get together and
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Speaker 1: you can get things done if you have the same
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Speaker 1: goal in mind. And you and I wanted to do
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Speaker 1: what's best for Omaha and we've became good friends.
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Speaker 4: We did, and I may Or, I tell this story
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Speaker 4: to folks all the time, where you know, you one,
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Speaker 4: you made me a better candidate and a better person
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Speaker 4: through that campaign experience.
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Speaker 3: When I went and then when I went to go.
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Speaker 4: To the university, and then I came to the chamber,
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Speaker 4: I shared with people. You know, Mayor stotht uh welcomed
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Speaker 4: me and the chamber with open arms. We we developed
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Speaker 4: a really quick friendship in terms of trying to do
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Speaker 4: some great things for the city. Our teams working really
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Speaker 4: really well together.
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Speaker 2: Uh.
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Speaker 4: And I share that story to any political audience I can,
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Speaker 4: which is, you know, you may at some point you're
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Speaker 4: time run against somebody and it's really heated, it's really intense.
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Speaker 4: But you when you get to know them as a
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Speaker 4: person and work with them in different ways, uh, you
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Speaker 4: develop a completely different worldview in terms of how you're
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Speaker 4: able to accomplish the things you want to accomplish together.
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Speaker 4: And we had a we had a great time working
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Speaker 4: together in terms of your administration in the chamber. We
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Speaker 4: got some great things done. And I tell people like
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Speaker 4: that's that's the uniqueness of Nebraska.
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Speaker 2: And that's how it should be done too.
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Speaker 1: It is and you know, I just looked at it
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Speaker 1: as we both wanted the same job at the same time.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's the I mean, and it's it's uh,
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Speaker 4: it's something that I share with folks, which is, look,
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Speaker 4: you would never people would have never thought that, you know,
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Speaker 4: I would. I'd want to go do as much work
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Speaker 4: as possible, hand in hand with Jeene Stother. And they
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Speaker 4: said when you ran against hers, like yeah, and I
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Speaker 4: was like, look, when you spend time, uh, you spend
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Speaker 4: time with with with mayor Stother, you see your vision,
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Speaker 4: you see what she's trying to get done. It aligns
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Speaker 4: with everything that I wanted to do in the chamber.
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Speaker 4: Opportunity provided that and said, hey, we're good partners, we're
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Speaker 4: good teams, and you like working with good leaders. And
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Speaker 4: I think that's uh, that's the unique political dynamic that
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Speaker 4: I think, unfortunately is missing right now in a lot
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Speaker 4: of our body politics, whether in Washington, DC and other places,
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Speaker 4: is people who are able to move past, uh, move
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Speaker 4: past a short term.
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Speaker 2: And work together to get things done.
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Speaker 1: You know, Heath and I at least once a month,
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Speaker 1: once a month, would have breakfast together and people would
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Speaker 1: look at us and go is that Heath Mellow and
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Speaker 1: Jeans Stunt Arthur, geez, what's going on over there? But no,
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Speaker 1: you know, I've enjoyed working with you too. Now let's
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Speaker 1: let's Heath Mellows with us today. The Greater Omaha Chamber
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Speaker 1: of Commerce. First of all, the greater that word, and
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Speaker 1: that means the Omaha Chamber of Commerce serves more than
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Speaker 1: just Douglas County. In fact, it serves eight counties. Heath,
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Speaker 1: do you want to explain to our listeners why it
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Speaker 1: is to all of our advantage that we are the
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Speaker 1: greater Omaha and that would be Potawatamy, Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, Washington,
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Speaker 1: Cass Mills, and Odo.
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Speaker 2: How do you like that?
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Speaker 3: That is, you're one of the few people who know
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Speaker 3: all of those counties.
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Speaker 2: Mayor I should do you know that?
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Speaker 4: I think you know it's really unique that we're, you know,
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Speaker 4: a regional economic development organization. It's focused. Yes, we're based
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Speaker 4: in Omaha. Our history is in Omaha, in Douglas County.
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Speaker 4: But over the years, economic development projects don't always look
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Speaker 4: at artificial boundaries like Harrison Street, for an example, as
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Speaker 4: a dividing line. When it when they determine where they
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Speaker 4: want to move a company or expand a company, and
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Speaker 4: they don't look at that dividing line of Harrison Street
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Speaker 4: for an example, in terms of where they get their workforce.
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Speaker 4: And so over the years, the Chamber grew kind of
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Speaker 4: as a regional hub in the sense that if we
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Speaker 4: bring in a company, they're going to look to hire
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Speaker 4: people who live in Omaha, who live in La Vista,
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Speaker 4: who live in Council Bluffs, Blair, Gretna, Fremont, And that
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Speaker 4: creates a lot of opportunities because when Omaha does well,
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Speaker 4: Fremont does well, and when Gretna does well, Bellevue and
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Speaker 4: Pounds of Bluffs as well, and that region. That regionalism
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Speaker 4: mindset has really helped elevate the Omaha, the City of Omaha,
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Speaker 4: and the Omaha region to another level. And seeing you
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Speaker 4: you've embraced that regionalism work when when you were mayor
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Speaker 4: working with mayors and officials across the region on a
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Speaker 4: number of projects. That just separates metro metro cities who
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Speaker 4: do that well versus metro cities who don't do that well.
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Speaker 4: And we're fortunate as that hub to be able to
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Speaker 4: help facilitate that work.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, so you're building community, you know, and in
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Speaker 1: the entire region. So if you were to define Heath
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Speaker 1: Mellow is with us, who is CEO of the Chamber
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Speaker 1: and president. If you were to defined what is the
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Speaker 1: goal or the focus of the Greater Omaha Chamber, and
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Speaker 1: you could tell people what why are you there, what
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Speaker 1: do you want and what do you want to accomplish?
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Speaker 2: What would that be?
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Speaker 4: You know, we've you know, in a nutshell, it's it's
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Speaker 4: to grow our economy. It's to help businesses grow and
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Speaker 4: thrive in our economy.
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Speaker 1: So to support economic development, economic development, of business growth,
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Speaker 1: economic developments are north star.
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Speaker 4: But we do, you know, enhancing our business climate through
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Speaker 4: our public policy work, our kind of public relationship building
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Speaker 4: with elected officials and appointed officials. That's that helps facilitate
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Speaker 4: that economic development and economic growth. But we also serve
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Speaker 4: nearly three thousand members, so.
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Speaker 2: I was asking three thousand members.
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Speaker 4: Three thousand nearly three thousand members. We provide a variety
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Speaker 4: of services to them, development and training programs like Leadership Omaha,
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Speaker 4: you know, to to other small business support efforts like
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Speaker 4: the Reach program that you were a big proponent supporter
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Speaker 4: of at the city.
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Speaker 2: To help small businesses grow, some small.
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Speaker 4: Businesses grow as well as work that we do of
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Speaker 4: just helping connect businesses. You know, we have some of
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Speaker 4: the largest networking events in the state of Nebraska in
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Speaker 4: terms of connecting businesses where they're trying to find new partnerships,
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Speaker 4: new custom and that's you know, that's something that.
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Speaker 3: We are proud.
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Speaker 4: We are proud of in terms of year after year
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Speaker 4: getting recognized for awards for our events and our networking
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Speaker 4: opportunities that we provide these three thousand members. So it's
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Speaker 4: a kind of, as I always say, economic development, public policy,
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Speaker 4: member services is what drives our work day and day out.
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Speaker 4: But a lot of it, as I say, centers around
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Speaker 4: our unique role of helping do economic development for Omaha
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Speaker 4: and for the region.
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Speaker 1: And you know, the City of Omaha, I hate to
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Speaker 1: use a word, pays the Chamber, but we pay the
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Speaker 1: Chamber approximately seventy five thousand dollars a year to do
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Speaker 1: economic development for us. I think a lot of people
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Speaker 1: don't under don't realize that the City of Omaha does
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Speaker 1: not have an economic development department and a department director.
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Speaker 1: The talent is with the Chamber and so we work
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Speaker 1: in collaboration with the Chamber. So we give money to
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Speaker 1: the Chamber every year, which, by the way, I always
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Speaker 1: thought seventy five thousand dollars was a steal. You might
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Speaker 1: consider asking for more, but I always thought that that
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Speaker 1: was a good relationship because you have the experts, the
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Speaker 1: talent that our team and I brought in two economic
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Speaker 1: developers in the Mayor's office that works directly with the
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Speaker 1: Chamber for business growth and economic development. And you know
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Speaker 1: when you talk about business growth too, I mean you
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Speaker 1: do everything from helping site selection for example, for businesses
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Speaker 1: that want to come to Omaha, workforce access. You said,
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Speaker 1: all of those things are important. But let me ask
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Speaker 1: you this because I always bring this up when businesses
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Speaker 1: are looking if they are looking in to Omaha to
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Speaker 1: move here, there's a little double edged sworde with our
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Speaker 1: unemployment rate being two percent, So then the businesses are
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Speaker 1: looking here saying where am I going to get the employees?
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Speaker 4: You know it is it's a blessing and a curse, yes,
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Speaker 4: of having such low unemployment. And I think if anything
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Speaker 4: we have consistently tried to remind the region is we
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Speaker 4: have to continually look at our ability to upskill our
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Speaker 4: our local workforce. Because if we're not able to have
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Speaker 4: that workforce, whether for a manufacturing plant or or a
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Speaker 4: financial services company, they're going to look elsewhere. And so
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Speaker 4: part of that upskilling focus is really a driver. But
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Speaker 4: we have late and we started this, we started this, uh,
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Speaker 4: this effort and process when when you and I were
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Speaker 4: working together was really starting to shift some of the
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Speaker 4: chambers work around talent attraction of what we can do
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Speaker 4: to attract new people to want to come to Omaha, UH,
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Speaker 4: to share with them opportunities that exist, to share with
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Speaker 4: them the unique quality of life that we we know
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Speaker 4: is really amazing here in the Omaha metro area. And
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Speaker 4: and when people people don't know about Omaha they come here,
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Speaker 4: that's the first thing they say is I've never been here,
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Speaker 4: and this is an amazing community. So really it's it's
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Speaker 4: what are we doing to retain and upscale the talent
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Speaker 4: and workforce. But more right now we're realizing we have
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Speaker 4: to go compete, just like we do for companies to
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Speaker 4: come move here. We got to go and compete to
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Speaker 4: have people come move to Omaha. And so if how
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Speaker 4: do you sell Omaha?
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Speaker 1: So if you're trying to get a business to come here,
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Speaker 1: what do you tell them why is Omaha great for business?
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Speaker 4: Well, we've got one of the best business climates in
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Speaker 4: the Midwest in terms of the ability for businesses to
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Speaker 4: operate with the city government to the state government. We
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Speaker 4: now have more competitive economic development tools to help them,
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Speaker 4: some city tools, but more important to do, state tools
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Speaker 4: to help them in terms of making it make it
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Speaker 4: making it cost neutral for them in terms of moving
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Speaker 4: a location here uh to to Omaha. But also it's
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Speaker 4: it's the two things I just talked about.
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Speaker 3: Workforce.
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Speaker 4: That's still one of our strongest attributes as a region
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Speaker 4: is our workforce fills the needs for a lot of
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Speaker 4: industries that we just have high quality people doing high
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Speaker 4: quality work. And that's the one thing we hear over
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Speaker 4: and over again from businesses is you know, our Omaha
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Speaker 4: operation is one of the best operations we've got across
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Speaker 4: the country because our workforce, they show up, they're dedicated,
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Speaker 4: they're community focused. And then candidly, it's it's the quality
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Speaker 4: of life activities, the quality of life investments that have
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Speaker 4: been made over the last fifteen to sixteen years that
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Speaker 4: really have driven our ability to sell Omaha to people
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Speaker 4: who are coming with companies as well so if companies
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Speaker 4: company is going to relocate an operation here to the region,
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Speaker 4: they're likely bringing people with them, and they want to
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Speaker 4: move to a community that they feel is on the
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Speaker 4: up and up, that's moving forward, that has great schools,
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Speaker 4: a safe community, you know, us being one of the
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Speaker 4: safest cities in America, you know, for the last decade.
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Speaker 2: And that's that's very important, very important.
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Speaker 4: That public safety dynamic. When we're competing against other cities
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Speaker 4: that don't have the public safety that we have here.
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Speaker 4: All of that ties into the to the Omaha advantage,
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Speaker 4: like we've got the economic development tools, the workforce, the
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Speaker 4: quality of life, and just it's just easier here. I'll
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Speaker 4: always say, it's just easier to do business, easier to
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Speaker 4: network and connect, and that's really a selling point we
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Speaker 4: try to drive home.
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Speaker 1: Heath Mellow is with us today. He is the CEO
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Speaker 1: and chairman of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. And
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Speaker 1: you know, I always tell people we are smack dab
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Speaker 1: in the middle of the country. We're affordable, direct access
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Speaker 1: to highways, to rail, to air freight or right there.
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Speaker 2: And the cost of living.
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Speaker 1: People complain about the taxes a lot, but compared to
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Speaker 1: the East and West Coast.
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Speaker 2: We got it going on here.
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Speaker 1: And you know, we support a wide range of industries
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Speaker 1: from global headquarters to startup companies here.
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Speaker 2: And you know, this is a good segue. You're leading
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Speaker 2: me right into this.
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Speaker 1: But when you talk about retaining talent, and I would
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Speaker 1: talk about this a lot too when I was mayor,
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Speaker 1: and that is, you know, how can you attract young
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Speaker 1: talent to your city? And that is, well, you provide
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Speaker 1: them what they're looking for. Well, what are they looking for? Well,
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Speaker 1: they are looking for urban living, they are looking for
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Speaker 1: affordable housing, they're looking for public transportation, they're looking for entertainment,
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Speaker 1: they're looking for walkability, they're looking for public spaces, and
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Speaker 1: that is exactly what we are doing. This started with
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Speaker 1: the urban Core Committee that came out of the Greater
16:25
Speaker 1: Roma Chamber of Commerce to look at downtown in midtown
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Speaker 1: and what do we need to do in that area
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Speaker 1: to make it more attractive to young talent. One of
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Speaker 1: the things the number one recommendation out of the Urban
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Speaker 1: Core Committee, which has basically disbanded, I do believe now,
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Speaker 1: but it was the streetcar arch streetcar it was, and
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Speaker 1: so let's talk about that a little, shall.
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Speaker 3: We yes, Look, because you know we love the street car.
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Speaker 1: Well you know, and I will tell everybody I will
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Speaker 1: own that streetcar. I mean, I'm not going to blame
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Speaker 1: anybody else for it. I wanted it. The Urban coret
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Speaker 1: Committee convinced me. I know it's going to be good
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Speaker 1: for Omaha. It's going to boost economic development. It's already happening.
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Speaker 1: Steve Jensen and I did. Boy, we did presentation after
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Speaker 1: presentation on the streetcar.
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Speaker 2: Explaining why it is so good for Omaha.
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Speaker 1: But you know, as far as business goes heat, give
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Speaker 1: us your be honest here and give us your take
17:28
Speaker 1: on the streetcar, what is going on downtown, And then
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Speaker 1: I want you to talk also about there are a
17:34
Speaker 1: lot of small businesses that have come to me and
17:37
Speaker 1: come to the city and said, we are suffering our businesses,
17:42
Speaker 1: especially bars and restaurants. We're losing about sixty percent of
17:45
Speaker 1: our revenue. What can you do to help us. Talk
17:48
Speaker 1: a little bit about the issues. I mean, you do
17:51
Speaker 1: support the streetcar, so talk about that first and then
17:54
Speaker 1: talk about what the businesses are going through now with
17:57
Speaker 1: the construction.
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Speaker 4: Well, you gave a great overview of the urban core dynamic,
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Speaker 4: which this happened happened before I came to the Chamber
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Speaker 4: and happened, you know, early twenty nineteen through twenty twenty
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Speaker 4: two timeframe where the Modern street Car was the major
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Speaker 4: economic development project that came from that strategic plan, and
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Speaker 4: it was about how do we create more density in
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Speaker 4: the downtown midtown area and as you said, create an
18:26
Speaker 4: urban center that attracts talent, young talent particularly, and some
18:29
Speaker 4: of the great projects. The Riverfront Park was one of
18:34
Speaker 4: the lynch pins on the eastern side of the urban core.
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Speaker 4: You've got the Mutual of Omaha New Headquarters as being
18:40
Speaker 4: one of those projects. You have the University of Nebraska
18:44
Speaker 4: Medical Centers Project Health being one of the projects on
18:46
Speaker 4: the west end. But the Modern Streetcar was the connecting
18:50
Speaker 4: project from the med Center all the way down to
18:53
Speaker 4: the Riverfront, and that project. You know, I every time
18:57
Speaker 4: I can share this, and I know you said you
18:59
Speaker 4: and Steve did a number of presentations reinforcing this. This
19:03
Speaker 4: is an economic development project for the whole region. The
19:07
Speaker 4: opportunities that come from the massive amount the billions and
19:11
Speaker 4: billions of dollars of investment that's coming in along the
19:15
Speaker 4: streetcar route, and it's already happened it's already happening. And
19:18
Speaker 4: this was the dynamic that I think some people view
19:22
Speaker 4: this like, oh, we can spend this money on buses
19:24
Speaker 4: or other transportations, Like no, this is an economic development
19:27
Speaker 4: play that will drive other opportunities moving forward.
19:31
Speaker 1: And like we said, it is already happening. The original
19:34
Speaker 1: estimates were in the first twenty years there would be
19:37
Speaker 1: about two billion dollars worth of economic development along the
19:41
Speaker 1: streetcar line. It's already at about one and a half billion,
19:44
Speaker 1: So now they have changed their estimates to four billion
19:48
Speaker 1: in the first twenty years. I mean in the street
19:50
Speaker 1: The bottom line is the streetcar will pay for itself.
19:54
Speaker 1: It's the developers along the route that are paying for
19:58
Speaker 1: the streetcar, not the Omaha tax there.
20:00
Speaker 4: That is the single Every chance I get, every rotary club,
20:03
Speaker 4: every Kowanas club, any group that I can speak to,
20:06
Speaker 4: I reinforce that dynamic, which is you are not paying
20:09
Speaker 4: for the street car. We're not taking the city is
20:12
Speaker 4: not taking money away from streets or roads to pay
20:14
Speaker 4: for the street car. It's being funded by those along
20:16
Speaker 4: the route as those businesses. It's those developers who are
20:19
Speaker 4: building and making the billions of dollars of investment along
20:23
Speaker 4: the route that are giving that money back through taxament
20:26
Speaker 4: financing to pay for the project because they know their
20:29
Speaker 4: revenue growth as part of this, as part of this
20:32
Speaker 4: permanent infrastructure is going to go through the roof the
20:35
Speaker 4: same way it's done in Kansas City. And anybody who's
20:37
Speaker 4: gone down to Kansas City and has gone along their streetcar,
20:41
Speaker 4: their first streetcar out, their new one now connects downtown
20:44
Speaker 4: to University of Missouri Kansas City. Everyone sees the development
20:49
Speaker 4: that happens.
20:50
Speaker 1: It's it's so popular down there, it's expanding down there.
20:54
Speaker 1: But this the Urban Core Committee, I think they really
20:57
Speaker 1: in the chamber. They really are because given businesses the
21:02
Speaker 1: tools and the confidence to expand relocate here and succeed. Yes,
21:06
Speaker 1: you want your current businesses to grow and succeed. You
21:09
Speaker 1: want new businesses to have the confidence to come here
21:13
Speaker 1: and relocate. And and the other thing I always bring
21:17
Speaker 1: up about Omaha is such strong civic partnerships that we have.
21:22
Speaker 1: We just have a culture of investment here in Omaha.
21:25
Speaker 1: Philanthropy here is like no place else.
21:29
Speaker 3: It is, uh you know, we are.
21:31
Speaker 4: Every time we host people in from out of town,
21:33
Speaker 4: they remark like this is unbelievable with this public private investments.
21:37
Speaker 2: They get when they look at a river from.
21:39
Speaker 4: A riverfront park, they look at they look at the
21:43
Speaker 4: Chi Health Center, convention Center that's being that's being elevated
21:47
Speaker 4: and being.
21:47
Speaker 2: One hundred million dollar expansion.
21:49
Speaker 4: I mean, it's these kinds of things that people see.
21:52
Speaker 4: The Steelhouse, Uh, you can see all of the new library.
21:56
Speaker 4: I mean, you can name all of these unique public
21:59
Speaker 4: private parkartnerships that have really transformed our city over the
22:04
Speaker 4: last decade to put us in an completely different gear
22:07
Speaker 4: when you compare us to other cities.
22:09
Speaker 1: Are size of what we offer, and you know, when
22:12
Speaker 1: the College World Series is going on, I always tell
22:14
Speaker 1: people the thing I love the most is talking to
22:16
Speaker 1: people from out of town that had never been here before.
22:19
Speaker 1: Are people that were here maybe three or four years ago,
22:21
Speaker 1: and then they come back and they're like, holy cow,
22:24
Speaker 1: look at this downtown. And when I think when I
22:28
Speaker 1: moved here thirty three years ago, and I got off
22:31
Speaker 1: that plane the first time in April and there was
22:33
Speaker 1: a snowstorm and I was like, what is going on here?
22:37
Speaker 1: But I think of everything that has happened, it's just amazing.
22:41
Speaker 1: And when people look at our downtown and see what
22:44
Speaker 1: has happened. And then they tell me I feel so
22:48
Speaker 1: safe here and it's so clean here. I think, boy,
22:51
Speaker 1: we got it going on.
22:52
Speaker 3: We do.
22:52
Speaker 4: And that's I think that's the Omaha. That's the secret
22:55
Speaker 4: sauce of Omaha. Is that ability. That the ability for
22:58
Speaker 4: the public sector to partner with philanthropic community, the business
23:01
Speaker 4: community on some of these big, big.
23:02
Speaker 3: Projects, and it's it's completely transformed.
23:05
Speaker 1: Omahak Heith Mellow is with us today. I'm sorry to
23:08
Speaker 1: interrupt you. We got to take a break, but could
23:10
Speaker 1: you stay just for.
23:12
Speaker 2: A couple more minutes? Of course, of course, okay, we
23:15
Speaker 2: just have a few more minutes.
23:16
Speaker 1: But I want to bring up Grow the Good Life Act,
23:19
Speaker 1: which is in the legislature. You know a lot about that.
23:21
Speaker 1: It's LB eleven sixty five. It's about tax incentives and
23:25
Speaker 1: it's kind of called the up bill.
23:27
Speaker 2: I want you to talk a little bit about that
23:29
Speaker 2: if we could do it just briefly.
23:30
Speaker 1: Absolutely all right, Heath Mellow, who is the CEO of
23:35
Speaker 1: the Greater Omah Chamber of Commerce, and we will be back.
23:38
Speaker 1: But I did want to ask you before you left
23:41
Speaker 1: about uh, there's a legislative bill. It is eleven sixty
23:44
Speaker 1: five and they call it the Grow the Good Life Act.
23:47
Speaker 1: But that was a bill that you worked a lot on.
23:50
Speaker 1: I know it's a state chamber did too to offer
23:53
Speaker 1: tax incentives, and it was it was for all businesses,
23:57
Speaker 1: but it basically started for Union Pacific to keep their
24:02
Speaker 1: headquarters in Nebraska. You know, there's a merger going on.
24:07
Speaker 1: We did not want to lose the up headquarters to
24:10
Speaker 1: Georgia if if Norfolk Southern the merger with Norfolk Southern,
24:16
Speaker 1: and so it has always been said that we do
24:19
Speaker 1: not have enough incentives to attract businesses here in the
24:23
Speaker 1: state of Nebraska like other states did.
24:25
Speaker 2: So this was a bill that you were involved with.
24:27
Speaker 1: Can you explain it because there are some that will
24:30
Speaker 1: say and some in the legislature that said, oh, this
24:34
Speaker 1: is just corporate welfare is the term they use. You're
24:38
Speaker 1: just giving this big fortune five hundred company money.
24:42
Speaker 2: Can you explain a bit about that bill.
24:45
Speaker 4: Yes, I'd love to. That dynamic really is. You know,
24:50
Speaker 4: we focus on trying to retain good employers and employers
24:55
Speaker 4: that have good paying jobs. And Union Pacific has over
24:58
Speaker 4: three thousand people employed in their headquarters here in Omaha,
25:01
Speaker 4: and their pay average way over one hundred thousand dollars.
25:04
Speaker 4: And this is a dynamic where we wanted to keep
25:07
Speaker 4: that headquarters here, keep those three thousand jobs. But also
25:11
Speaker 4: the opportunity was how can we try to relocate jobs
25:15
Speaker 4: from Atlanta with this merger. But as you said, it
25:18
Speaker 4: wasn't just about Union Pacific, it was other companies that
25:22
Speaker 4: have employee bases outside of Omaha, outside of Nebraska. How
25:25
Speaker 4: do we incentivize them to move those high quality jobs
25:28
Speaker 4: from Kansas City, from Denver, to Dallas, to Phoenix. How
25:33
Speaker 4: do we convince those companies to move those jobs to
25:34
Speaker 4: Omaha as well? And so eleven sixty five is enhanced
25:38
Speaker 4: our incentive programs in Nebraska. And I always remind people
25:42
Speaker 4: these are very stringent requirements for companies to be able
25:46
Speaker 4: to get their economic development incentives. It's a pay for
25:49
Speaker 4: performance model where you have to show all of your performance.
25:53
Speaker 4: You've got to create the jobs, move the jobs, make
25:56
Speaker 4: the capital investment first. Only then after you prove all
26:00
Speaker 4: of that and go through an audit process do you
26:02
Speaker 4: get your actual incentives. And so it really creates the
26:05
Speaker 4: significant safeguards for the taxpayers, and it incentivizes the behavior
26:09
Speaker 4: that we want in the economy, which is we want
26:12
Speaker 4: high pain one hundred thousand dollars plus jobs being created
26:16
Speaker 4: here in Omahon across Nebraska, and eleven sixty five is
26:19
Speaker 4: going to help us do that, not just with Union Pacific,
26:21
Speaker 4: but with some other major employers in the metro area
26:24
Speaker 4: that we feel have opportunities for significant growth.
26:27
Speaker 2: Good good. I'm glad you explained it like that, because
26:30
Speaker 2: it is.
26:31
Speaker 1: It does pertain to any business really if if you
26:35
Speaker 1: remeet those stringent like you said, requirements. It's not just
26:38
Speaker 1: Union Pacific. But you know, we lost ConAgra headquarter. That
26:44
Speaker 1: was when I was mayored up to Chicago. They still
26:47
Speaker 1: have a huge or the largest number of employees in Omaha,
26:51
Speaker 1: so we didn't lose the all of the employees, but
26:55
Speaker 1: we had five fortune five hundred companies. Connagra was one
26:58
Speaker 1: of them. Union Pacific is also one of them. We
27:01
Speaker 1: do not want that to happen again. And I'm so
27:04
Speaker 1: glad that the Chamber is engaged in this and working
27:07
Speaker 1: with the State of Nebraska to make sure that we
27:10
Speaker 1: can offer incentives like other states do so that something
27:13
Speaker 1: like that doesn't happen again.
27:15
Speaker 2: All of that is important to us.
27:16
Speaker 1: Like I said, the Chamber is focused on attracting new
27:19
Speaker 1: businesses here, creating new jobs, economic development, but they also
27:23
Speaker 1: want the existing jobs that are here in businesses to
27:27
Speaker 1: continue and to grow and to be successful.
27:30
Speaker 4: Mayor, you captured it, and I think that's the thing
27:32
Speaker 4: I reinforce as much as I can, which is we
27:34
Speaker 4: are also as focused as much intently on expanding existing employers.
27:38
Speaker 4: We want the local businesses in Omaha and the metro
27:41
Speaker 4: area to make their growth.
27:43
Speaker 3: Expansions here and not elsewhere.
27:45
Speaker 4: So we spend a lot of time and energy meeting
27:48
Speaker 4: with companies, helping them reduce friction or find their workforce
27:51
Speaker 4: gaps and help them solve them. And eleven sixty five
27:55
Speaker 4: helps us do that better because that really incentivizes Nebraska
27:58
Speaker 4: based companies to banned their operations, which is exactly what
28:02
Speaker 4: the governor has been wanting with the legislation been wanting,
28:05
Speaker 4: and I said, the Chamber have been wanting to see
28:07
Speaker 4: some more state state focus on that and we're grateful
28:10
Speaker 4: that that was able to get past this past session.
28:12
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
28:13
Speaker 1: Heath Mellow, the CEO and Chamber and Chairman of the
28:16
Speaker 1: Greater Orama Chamber of Commerce. One last question, who are
28:18
Speaker 1: you rooting for with a college.
28:20
Speaker 4: You know, I'm at West Virginia now, I got I
28:23
Speaker 4: gotta share it like they're an underdog first time attendee
28:26
Speaker 4: to the CWS. We've seen more West Virginia folks in Omaha,
28:29
Speaker 4: feels like than anywhere. I want an old miss to
28:31
Speaker 4: go far too, but they were in the same bracket.
28:33
Speaker 4: So I'm pulling for West Virginia from.
28:36
Speaker 3: Here on out.
28:36
Speaker 1: Doesn't it just make you proud to go down there
28:38
Speaker 1: and see all these people loving Omaha, love it, absolutely,
28:41
Speaker 1: love it all right? Thanks for being with us, he'th mellow,
28:43
Speaker 1: thank you.
28:44
Speaker 5: Here we are on news radio eleven ten KFA. Be
28:47
Speaker 5: your host of the show, The Marvelous Jean Sta author.
28:51
Speaker 5: Oh my goodness, I'm Peyton Higlock.
28:53
Speaker 2: I like that. Nobody ever calls me marvelous. I call
28:57
Speaker 2: me me and gene. But me, g on, what about
29:00
Speaker 2: clean gene? Clean gene? I have Okay, I'm going to
29:03
Speaker 2: mention this.
29:04
Speaker 1: I have brought my wipes in, my disinfecting wipes, and
29:07
Speaker 1: I have cleaned up this this desk over here.
29:09
Speaker 2: I hope you notice that it looks incredible in him.
29:12
Speaker 2: Thank you.
29:13
Speaker 1: It's sparkling clean now and I feel much better sitting here.
29:16
Speaker 1: But you know, there's something I really want to bring
29:18
Speaker 1: up before we wrap up the show today. There was
29:20
Speaker 1: a caller the other day that asked the question and
29:24
Speaker 1: said that he is he had his lead water lines
29:29
Speaker 1: replaced in his yard by the city. And he said,
29:33
Speaker 1: now the city has sent a letter about insurance, and
29:38
Speaker 1: he said, why do I need insurance if I have
29:41
Speaker 1: new water lines. I want to talk about this because
29:43
Speaker 1: I think it's good information for you all to have.
29:47
Speaker 1: Number One, the city did not replace the lead pipes.
29:51
Speaker 1: M Ud did Metropolitan Utility District, and the city did
29:55
Speaker 1: not send the letter about insurance. So because this city
30:00
Speaker 1: wouldn't do that, and you know I knew that I don't,
30:02
Speaker 1: I had to just think about it a little bit
30:04
Speaker 1: when we got off the air. So here is what
30:07
Speaker 1: is happening. Yes, Mud Metropolitan Utility District has a plan
30:15
Speaker 1: a program now to replace all of the lead pipes
30:21
Speaker 1: if people have lead water lines in our system by
30:26
Speaker 1: twenty thirty five. While MUD's water treatment plants and water
30:31
Speaker 1: mains don't contain lead, some of the older homes still
30:36
Speaker 1: have lead service lines that connect the home to the main.
30:40
Speaker 1: The water main and the Mud begin began this replacement
30:44
Speaker 1: program in twenty twenty four and they are prioritizing neighborhoods
30:49
Speaker 1: with children disadvantage, communities, and areas with higher concentration of
30:55
Speaker 1: lead lines. This replacement is provided to the homeowner at
30:59
Speaker 1: no call to the customers, and that includes free water testing. Now,
31:06
Speaker 1: if you want to find out more information about this,
31:09
Speaker 1: because they're moving right along with this program, you can go.
31:13
Speaker 1: They have a really good website that really includes everything
31:17
Speaker 1: and it's easy to read, and it's just mud Omaha
31:21
Speaker 1: dot com. It's just one word, mud Omaha dot com
31:25
Speaker 1: and the area is called Lead and Drinking Water and
31:29
Speaker 1: you could find out everything there. Now, just to go
31:32
Speaker 1: back to let people understand if you whether it's lead
31:37
Speaker 1: pipes that MUD are replacing or your regular water lines,
31:42
Speaker 1: the water lines on your house out to the street
31:46
Speaker 1: are the responsibility of the homeowner. So if there is
31:51
Speaker 1: any issues with the water lines from your home out
31:54
Speaker 1: to the street or the alley or wherever the main is,
31:57
Speaker 1: that is your responsibility and you would call a plumb
32:00
Speaker 1: for that once it goes out to the main. That
32:03
Speaker 1: is MUD that would take care of that responsibility.
32:07
Speaker 2: Mud is working.
32:10
Speaker 1: With a company as far as the insurance, it's a
32:16
Speaker 1: private company and it offers waterline insurance. It's called Home Serve.
32:21
Speaker 1: It's not the City of Omaha. They work in cooperation
32:25
Speaker 1: with them. However, I talked to the president of MUD
32:30
Speaker 1: last night, Mark Doyle, about this, and he said he
32:33
Speaker 1: maybe assumes that that letter was sent in conflict with
32:37
Speaker 1: what their LED service line replacement program is doing right now,
32:42
Speaker 1: because if this homeowner was scheduled to have his service
32:46
Speaker 1: line replaced, and again they're doing that at no cofts
32:49
Speaker 1: to the customers, they would not need insurance. So his question, well,
32:54
Speaker 1: I know I gave a whole long answer here, but
32:56
Speaker 1: his question was why do I need insurance? If I'm
32:58
Speaker 1: getting a new line, don't you don't need it. So
33:02
Speaker 1: the MUD is going to look into this private company
33:05
Speaker 1: that is sending those letters, because if it's already scheduled
33:08
Speaker 1: to be replaced, you don't need insurance at all. But generally,
33:13
Speaker 1: the waterline from your house that goes out to the
33:16
Speaker 1: main is the responsibility of the property owner or the
33:19
Speaker 1: homeowner if it's a home and you would call a plumber.
33:23
Speaker 1: But this is this replacement of the lead is being
33:26
Speaker 1: done by MUD, and like I said, their programs started
33:30
Speaker 1: several years ago. It started in twenty twenty four, and
33:34
Speaker 1: they feel like they will be done replacing all of
33:37
Speaker 1: these lead service lines by twenty thirty five.
33:40
Speaker 5: Geen, did you give a name of a company that
33:43
Speaker 5: was trying to sell that insurance.
33:45
Speaker 1: Yes, the company's name is let me look at my
33:49
Speaker 1: notes here real quick. The company's name is a private
33:52
Speaker 1: company that offers waterline insurance. And the company's name is
33:56
Speaker 1: home Serve. Okay Serve, and MUD is working in cooperation
34:01
Speaker 1: with them. But Mark Doyle was a little surprised that
34:04
Speaker 1: if he's got this already scheduled or his pipes have
34:06
Speaker 1: been replaced, that he has received this letter. But do
34:10
Speaker 1: know that the city of Omaha is not the one
34:13
Speaker 1: replacing the lead pipes, and the City of Omaha is
34:16
Speaker 1: not sending out those letters.
34:18
Speaker 5: I got an email from Catherine and this was in
34:21
Speaker 5: the in regards to the same conversation, and she said,
34:24
Speaker 5: in her personal opinion, she said, it is not from
34:27
Speaker 5: the city, just like you said, not from the city
34:30
Speaker 5: the one is trying to sell the insurance. She said,
34:32
Speaker 5: it is from a company called American Water Resources of Nebraska,
34:37
Speaker 5: and it's just a company wanting to sell quote unquote
34:40
Speaker 5: protection using scare tactics. So maybe it's the same company,
34:44
Speaker 5: maybe it's not, maybe there's two different ones. Regardless, it
34:48
Speaker 5: is not the city that is offering the insurance. And
34:53
Speaker 5: then also I did have a question. Tom sent a
34:55
Speaker 5: quick email just to quickly clarify Gene. Who is the
34:58
Speaker 5: one paying for the replace of these water lines mud
35:02
Speaker 5: mud not? Not the homeowner. Not the homeowner.
35:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, if it's if it's lead pipe, they are doing
35:07
Speaker 1: that at no charge to the customer at all. But
35:11
Speaker 1: this thing about, like I said, it's your responsibility if
35:14
Speaker 1: there's a problem with your waterline, and you would pay
35:18
Speaker 1: for it if it's not the lead pipe replacement. You know,
35:22
Speaker 1: there are older homes that have had water lines for
35:25
Speaker 1: years and years and years.
35:26
Speaker 2: I remember the house I grew up in Wood River, Illinois.
35:30
Speaker 1: It had it had lead water pipes and the main
35:33
Speaker 1: was out in the alley way, and you know, they've
35:37
Speaker 1: never been replaced and that house was built seventy years ago.
35:41
Speaker 1: So I mean, I don't and there's never been a problem.
35:44
Speaker 1: So I'm not gonna encourage people to go out and
35:47
Speaker 1: buy insurance to protect your water lines because generally you
35:52
Speaker 1: don't need insurance coverage, but if there was something that
35:55
Speaker 1: did happen, definitely it's the homeowner's responsibility until it gets
35:58
Speaker 1: out to the main, so the water main, and sometimes
36:01
Speaker 1: it's in the alley and sometimes it's in the street.
36:03
Speaker 2: So I just want to.
36:04
Speaker 1: Make sure that that was an interesting question, and I
36:08
Speaker 1: did have to do a little research on it, but
36:10
Speaker 1: I wanted to give you the real, accurate answer. And
36:14
Speaker 1: one other thing I wanted to bring up too is
36:16
Speaker 1: someone asked yesterday about the gas tax and about the
36:21
Speaker 1: electric vehicles if there was a difference as for electric vehicles.
36:25
Speaker 2: Interesting enough.
36:26
Speaker 1: In the Omaha World Herald today there is an editorial
36:30
Speaker 1: from the Seattle Times and it is the caption is
36:34
Speaker 1: transportation bills shouldn't punish evs. Electric vehicle drivers should help
36:39
Speaker 1: to pay for the roads, but not more than other motorists,
36:43
Speaker 1: which I thought was interesting. But keep in mind that
36:47
Speaker 1: the gas tax is determined by the state of Nebraska,
36:51
Speaker 1: not the City of Omaha. It's different than the wheel tax,
36:55
Speaker 1: which goes to the City of Omaha, and the gas
36:59
Speaker 1: tax estate has a formula what they do with the
37:03
Speaker 1: gas tax that they collect, But the City of Omaha
37:06
Speaker 1: out of the state formula receives about sixty one million
37:11
Speaker 1: dollars a year from the state in Nebraska of the
37:14
Speaker 1: gas tax that they collect. Now, keep in mind, we
37:18
Speaker 1: have a lot of state roads in the city of Omaha,
37:22
Speaker 1: like Dodge L Street, Maple and all of our bridges
37:26
Speaker 1: are controlled by the DOT, by the Department Transportation, by
37:30
Speaker 1: the state, and so a lot of that gas tax
37:32
Speaker 1: money then that goes into the state's coffers in turn
37:37
Speaker 1: goes to help fix our roads in Omaha.
37:39
Speaker 2: So just so you know, of.
37:40
Speaker 1: That gas tax, we get about sixty one million dollars
37:44
Speaker 1: a year from the state to use on our roads.
37:48
Speaker 5: Speaking of the roads, I got this talk back earlier
37:51
Speaker 5: this morning. I just thought it was a little bit
37:52
Speaker 5: of a good one, So let's get to it. This
37:54
Speaker 5: is the talkback mic on the iHeartRadio app. You hat
37:57
Speaker 5: the little microphone you send a quick message up to
37:59
Speaker 5: thirty seconds, and we love to play these.
38:01
Speaker 2: You can say whatever you want, you don't have to
38:02
Speaker 2: hang on hold. Here we go.
38:04
Speaker 6: Hey, mayor Jean. I think it'd be cool if you
38:08
Speaker 6: made a public service announcement every once in a while
38:11
Speaker 6: reminding people that the left lane is the express lane.
38:15
Speaker 6: Even though you're going to speed limit and there's cars
38:17
Speaker 6: behind you, please get over to the right. It'd be
38:21
Speaker 6: appreciated if you could announce that every once in a while.
38:23
Speaker 6: I think that'd be cool. Thank you.
38:26
Speaker 2: Is this my husband? Because that's the thing.
38:30
Speaker 1: Is this you, Kevin Culling, Because that's one thing that
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Speaker 1: drives him insane is people that get over in that
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Speaker 1: left lane and then puts along. You are so right,
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Speaker 1: that is that is a lane for passing. That is
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Speaker 1: a lane for going faster. And if you are going
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Speaker 1: to go on the left lane and you're gonna poke around,
38:47
Speaker 1: then move over.
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Speaker 2: I agree, that's what I'm saying.
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Speaker 5: I mean, okay, maybe you're going a few miles prop
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Speaker 5: of the speed limit, but guess what, there's nobody next
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Speaker 5: to you.
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Speaker 2: Just get over.
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Speaker 1: Yes, I know what aggravating thing. But my husband hates that.
39:00
Speaker 1: He's always like, I'm going around there.
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Speaker 2: I got this one too this morning. I always like these.
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Speaker 2: This is the talk back Mike yet again.
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Speaker 6: Good morning, Jean and Peyton Scott d r N. Wishing
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Speaker 6: you guys a wonderful Tuesday and looking forward to.
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Speaker 2: Listen to show today.
39:17
Speaker 3: Y'all.
39:17
Speaker 4: Take care and goodbye from your favorite, soob in Chyenne.
39:24
Speaker 5: Thank you for the acronym. You keep us safe. Yes, Scott,
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Speaker 5: thank you, thank you.
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Speaker 1: And you know I was at the College World Series
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Speaker 1: last night and I had quite a few people come
39:32
Speaker 1: up to me and say, hey, we listened to your
39:35
Speaker 1: show and we like what you're saying. So thank you
39:37
Speaker 1: all for listening. That is it for us today. Thank
39:41
Speaker 1: you for spending this hour with us. We'd love for
39:44
Speaker 1: you to join us again tomorrow. College World Series again tonight,
39:47
Speaker 1: beautiful Chamber of Commerce weather, thank you Heath Mellow for
39:51
Speaker 1: the weather that. I am Jean Stothard and this is
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Speaker 1: eleven Tin KFA B