By Tom McClimon
March 7, 2011

Conference of Mayors President Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz participated in a "Town Hall Meeting" at the International Franchise Association Annual Meeting in Las Vegas on February 16. She told participants that, "working with private businesses has been my priority" as President of the organization. "You create the jobs and thus we need to work together," Kautz said.

Conference of Mayors Franchise and Small Business Task Force Chair Charlotte (NC) Mayor Anthony Foxx and Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran joined Kautz on the panel. Foxx talked about meetings he has organized in his city to help small businesses access needed capital. "Getting access to capital is still a problem for small businesses and we all need to work together to get this resolved," he said.

This is the fourth year that the Conference of Mayors leadership has participated in the annual meeting of the International Franchise Association. The organization’s new Chairman, Jack Earle, Managing Partner of Earle Enterprises, opened the town hall gathering by discussing the importance of the partnership between the Conference of Mayors and the International Franchise Association.

At the conclusion of the town hall meeting, both organizations’ presidents, Kautz and Earle, pledged to continue to further the partnership by incorporating into each respective organizations’ next annual meetings a plenary session on ways mayors and small businesses/ franchisees can better work together.