TULALIP — The Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce presented its second annual Business and Community Leadership awards at the Tulalip Resort Casino June 26.

The Chamber instituted the Business and Leadership Awards program to celebrate the accomplishments of local companies and individuals who epitomize the spirit of leadership, excellent business practices and community involvement.

The Volunteer of the Year award recognizes a member or volunteer of the Chamber who has made a substantial contribution of time to the Chamber and the greater Marysville-Tulalip community. Karen Hume received the award this year for her years of work with Camp Fire, the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau, the Clipped Wings Club for retired United Airlines stewardesses — whose service projects range from supporting Special Olympics to providing Thanksgiving dinners to those in need — the Marysville Strawberry Festival and the Chamber itself, the latter for whom she helped create the Quil Ceda Village Visitor Information Center.

The Elected Official of the Year award is given to to an elected official, at any level of government, who has demonstrated a strong commitment to the Chamber, its businesses and the local community, and who has been judged to have substantially improved the business climate and encouraged economic development in the greater Marysville-Tulalip community. Snohomish County Council member John Koster received the award this year, and he was introduced as a third-generation dairy farmer who’s already received multiple awards for his service to businesses, going back more than a dozen years, and strong commitments to both commercial air service at Paine Field and a four-year university in North Snohomish County.

The Individual Business Leader of the Year award recognizes an individual member who has made substantial contributions to the Chamber and the greater Marysville-Tulalip community. Richard Toyer, of Toyer and Associates, received the award this year, honoring decades of accomplishments with the county and state Jaycees, as treasurer of numerous local and regional Rotaries and chambers of commerce, as one of the “top 10” in the Western United States by the GE Independent Accountants Network, three times, and as a member of the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

The Business of the Year award recognizes a member business that has made substantial contributions to the Chamber and the greater Marysville-Tulalip community. Marilyn Boe and Kevin Hussan accepted on behalf of the Marysville branch of HomeStreet Bank, which has supported groups ranging from the city and school district of Marysville to the Marysville YMCA and Community Coalition, as well as helped to construct a skateboard park, as well as both landscaping and informational kiosks at other parks in the city. HomeStreet Bank also received this year’s Healthy Community Corporate Champion Award. Boe and Hussan took the time, while receiving their award, to present the Salvation Army of Everett and Snohomish County with an oversized check for $2,000.

The Howard-Millikan Chairman’s Award is named for Mike Howard and Ian Millikan, past chairs of the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce, whose longstanding commitments to the Chamber and leadership on business and community issues made substantial improvements. Cal “Kitalseq” Taylor received the award this year, in recognition of his 12 years as a Board member of the Tulalip Tribes, his chairmanship of the Tulalip Business Committee, Tulalip Investment Committee and Northwest Intertribal Court System, as well as numerous other executive and management positions within the Tribes. He was praised for fostering partnerships between the Tribes and the Chamber, to the point of helping to preserve the Quil Ceda Village Visitor Information Center.

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