Chamber Mulls Over Business After Murtha

The Greater Johnstown-Cambria County Chamber of Commerce celebrated it's 100th anniversary Thursday evening and, for the first time in 36 years, they celebrated without Congressman John Murtha.

Economic momentum is in question, but from what business leaders said, they're optimistic.

Operating a Chamber of Commerce takes people and money. The Johnstown Chamber gets a lot of that money from the proceeds of the annual Showcase for Commerce, an event that is what it is because of John Murtha.

But now that he is gone, the future is very uncertain.

Yet some said they're ready for the challenge.

"Over the years we've built a reserve and a contingency fund so we'll have time to adjust to that, if and when it happens." said Chamber President Bob Layo.

"Some people might be afraid that we might have some back pedaling of some of the progress that we've made, but we're good at working together here, and if we all find a way to work together -- big companies to medium and small companies -- I think we're going to be just fine," added Problem Solutions President Mike Hruska.

Defense industry leaders have put together a panel for problem solving, titled "Defense Contracting in the Region: Looking Forward to Meeting the Challenges and Capturing the Opportunities."

That meeting is scheduled for March 23.