FAIRBORN — The Fairborn Area Chamber of Commerce is lending a hand to the city’s initiative to strengthen its relationship with existing businesses and attract new businesses to the city.

The chamber has created a five-member economic development subcommittee that will partner with the city to help it move forward with its mission.

The subcommittee will make a presentation at tonight’s City Council meeting to lay out its goals and encourage community members to get involved.

“I’m very excited about the direction Fairborn is headed,” said Deb Leonard, president of the chamber. “We are really looking forward to having great economic growth with Calamityville and all the different opportunities in Fairborn. We want to move forward for the city and for the residents.”

The subcommittee has three main objectives — recruit new businesses; promote and support local businesses; and encourage the city to be more customer-friendly to existing and new businesses.

Paul Newman, executive director for the chamber, said those three elements have been lacking in Fairborn, but with the help of new Development Director Chris Wimsatt, the city is on the right track.

“We need new businesses, which of course spur jobs and provide a tax base to help our city,” Newman said.

Wimsatt said there currently are 1,520 businesses in Fairborn.

“We want to help make the ones that are here healthy and provide a business environment for what they need,” Wimsatt said. “And we always have open arms for new.”

Leonard, Newman, Mike Foy, Donna Wilson and Al Molnar make up the subcommittee, which originated in 2010 before the steering committee disbanded.

After questions were raised at recent council meetings about the existence of the group, they met earlier this month and decided to revisit this endeavor.

“The philosophy is the city with a plan wins,” Fairborn City Manager Deborah McDonnell said. “Because we haven’t really had a coordinated effort before, we weren’t as effective in the past as we will be in the future. We really need it in order to create a community that really has its own place in the Miami Valley as well as support the growth of the Dayton region.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2281 or smatthews@coxohio.com.