JAY – The Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls Chamber of Commerce will hold a breakfast meeting Friday, May 4, at LaFleur’s Restaurant on Route 4 in Jay.

The group will gather between 7 and 7:30 a.m. for networking and a continental breakfast, sponsored by chamber members Frantasia, Hutchinson Builders, Leavitt-Whittemore Realty and The Maine Real Estate Network. The business meeting will begin at about 7:30 a.m.

Please RSVP to the chamber office at 897-6755 by Wednesday, May 2. As always, the public is invited to attend the meeting and members are encouraged to invite a guest.

Member in the Spotlight, Kathleen Szostek, a real estate professional with The Maine Real Estate Network, will present tips for marketing your home. She will also discuss the unique needs of those 50 and above in the real estate arena.

Program speaker Jay Martin, a Maine small business advocate, serves as an independent voice for Maine small business owners within Maine’s regulatory system.

As an appointee of the secretary of state, the advocate serves as an independent, accountable and appropriate check on the state’s efforts to regulate Maine businesses, chamber administrative assistant Bonnie Perkins said in a release.

This role is the first of its kind in the state and the nation, demonstrating the state’s commitment to ensuring Maine’s small businesses have every chance at success, she said.

“This is a terrific opportunity for me to assist small business owners throughout the state who may inadvertently run afoul of Maine’s extensive and often complex regulatory requirements,” Martin said. “I will perform as an intermediary, resolving regulatory disputes so that businesses can rectify matters without undue burden or penalty. My priority is to look out for small businesses. To be effective, I will seek their active engagement, while building cooperative relationships with the state’s regulatory agencies.”

Martin works directly with small businesses, 50 or fewer employees, that have specific grievances with one or more regulatory agency’s enforcement actions. Martin’s top priority is to assist small business owners, who feel they are being treated unfairly or improperly by state agencies.