Tucson chamber chief working to address thorny business issues

Michael Guymon firmly believes business and government can work together to make Tucson a better place for everyone.

In fact, he thinks they must, and as head of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, he’s trying to make that happen with a renewed focus on local advocacy for 1,400 member businesses.

Guymon was named president and CEO of the Tucson Metro Chamber in February 2022 after the departure of former chamber chief and longtime colleague Amber Smith.

A Tucson native and a familiar face in local political and business circles for more than 25 years, Guymon was hired by Smith at the Chamber in 2018 after more than seven years as a vice president for regional partnerships for Sun Corridor Inc., the Tucson area’s main economic-development agency (formerly Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities Inc.)

Guymon also spent nearly three years as executive director of the Metropolitan Pima Alliance, a nonprofit group founded in 1997 to bring representatives of business, government and nonprofits together to discuss the development and growth-related issues.

After a year in the saddle, the affable Guymon, 49, says he’s committed to being a strong advocate for business with an emphasis of staying ahead of issues and keeping chamber members in the conversation in a rapidly changing world.

Recently, the Chamber announced it would shift its advocacy efforts to a local focus, dropping its legislative lobbyist position and instead hiring a new Tucson advocacy director.

Guymon said he is working with other chambers of commerce in the region to jointly lobby the Legislature on issues of mutual interest in the future, but a more local advocacy approach is needed.

“I have plenty to do with the city and county,” Guymon said.

He clicked off a list of critical local issues: the Chamber’s support of reauthorization of the Regional Transportation Authority, which funds critical road improvements with a half-cent excise tax; retail theft problems addressed by the Chamber’s recently revived Coalition Against Retail Theft; and a variety of land-use planning issues at the city and county level.

“These are things that have an immediate effect on businesses here in Tucson, so we want to make sure that as these plans are unfolding, as these public-comment periods are occurring, that business has a voice in how these plans are crafted,” Guymon said.

Guymon is on the same page as Chamber Chairman Edmund Marquez, a native Tucsonan of the same age as Guymon who has long been active in local civic affairs.

“The chamber has to lead, that’s what our job is, what our role is,” said Marquez, principal in Edmund Marquez Allstate Insurance Agencies and chairman of the chamber since last year.

“We have to lead in regard to advocacy with the city and the county and we have to have open lines of communication. It doesn’t mean to attack the city or the county, it’s somebody to work with them, to have a voice, to have a seat at the table, to make sure we’re part of the conversation,” he said.

Though the Chamber conducted a nationwide search for a CEO to replace Smith, Marquez said Guymon was perfectly suited to his role leading the chamber after his long experience in local politics and economic development.

Guymon sees the Chamber working hand-in-glove with Sun Corridor in sustaining economic development in the Tucson region.

“Sun Corridor attracts the companies to our region through the front door, and the Chamber’s here to make sure that they don’t leave out the back door,” he said. “Sun Corridor is the attractor, and we’re the retainer, so we work with businesses large, medium and small to really address their needs, and make sure that they continue to grow and thrive here in Tucson, and don’t look for opportunities elsewhere.”

Guymon’s plate is full with an array of thorny policy issues.

Regional transportation

Guymon says the Regional Transportation Authority and its half-cent excise tax to fund road improvements must be reauthorized past 2026 to support economic development and the local economy in general.

The RTA’s future has been clouded by controversy.

Tucson, whose voters extended its own half-cent sales tax for street repairs last year, wants more say in how the authority spends its money after some city projects have been delayed because of a $150 million shortfall in RTA funding.

Guymon said transportation is vital to businesses and Tucson’s roads are among the top issues business site selectors have asked about as they consider new operations here.

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“Their No. 1, top issue was our roads are horrible condition,” Guymon said. “And obviously that matters for the people that are trying to get to and from their place of business if they moved the company.”

Minimum wage

The Chamber has vehemently opposed Tucson’s minimum wage ordinance, which was overwhelming approved by city voters in 2022.

The measure incrementally raises the minimum wage employers with 26 or more workers must pay to $15 by 2025 and links further increases to inflation.

Tucson’s minimum wage is currently $13.83, the same as the state minimum wage approved by voters statewide in 2016, but is set to rise to $14.25 next year.

The Chamber and other business groups have long opposed minimum wages on the grounds they should be set by the free market, and that minimum wages are a burden to smaller employers that limit hiring and curtail growth.

Guymon said minimum wage mandates cost more than just extra pay for starting wages as other workers’ wages must also be raised, creating a floor for all wages while creating a patchwork of laws where a company with multiple locations has to set different pay scales.

Rising wages amid the ongoing tight labor market shows the free market can and does set appropriate wage levels, he said.

“When you have McDonald’s putting up giant red signs in their windows, saying ‘starting wage $15 an hour,’ which is currently above both the city and state minimum wage threshold, that’s the market dictating what it believes should happen,” Guymon said.

Guymon noted that a pending bill in the Legislature would penalize cities with ordinances setting minimum wages above the state level — currently Tucson and Flagstaff, which has adopted an even higher minimum wage — by allowing employers to claim a credit for the difference in minimum wages they pay, which would be deducted from the city’s state funding.

Guymon said the minimum-wage issue especially affects restaurants and is a hot topic for the Chamber’s Restaurant Advisory Council, which was active in negotiating with the city and county over COVID-19 restrictions at the height of the pandemic.

Retail theft

In January 2022, the Chamber relaunched its Coalition Against Retail Theft, an effort to bring retailers, law enforcement and policymakers together to address a surge in shoplifting and vandalism that has plagued retailers nationwide in recent years.

Guymon said a big part of the problem in Tucson is an ongoing shortage of police officers to prosecute theft cases, but businesses, law enforcement and prosecutors can work together to stem the tide of retail crime.

The chamber has won a commitment to focus more on theft from Tucson Police Chief Chad Kasmar and has tried to help with police recruiting through high schools and the military.

The Chamber also has worked with County Attorney Laura Conover to increase prosecutions and to educate businesses on measures to ensure prosecutions.

“The county attorney is working on certain changes within how these cases are prosecuted, but businesses also need to do a better job of collecting the right evidence that is needed when these individuals are caught to get them prosecuted at a better level,” Guymon said.

City permitting

The Chamber continues to press the city to improve its permitting process, which despite efforts to staff up and streamline processes still suffers a long backlog for building permits and plan approvals.

Guymon said that with city permit approvals taking months, instead of days at Pima County or other jurisdictions, it’s become a competitive issue for Tucson.

“We know they are still working out the bugs, and they have a lot of vacancies,” Guymon said, noting the city is still searching for a new permanent director for permitting.

“But it has been a long time since the city has had the ability to turn around permits in a timely manner,” Guymon said. “Business wants to work at the speed of business, and that definitely affects our ability to attract and expand because those companies expect what they experienced in similar markets.”