Area business leaders who gathered for Friday evening’s annual meeting of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce weren’t unanimous on the outlook for the local and national economies.

But most were in general agreement about how the Lawrence community should conduct future economic development activities  with an open mind and an aggressive attitude.

“We need to be very proactive with economic development,” said Mike Maddox, community bank president for Intrust Bank. “We probably need to be more proactive than we have in the past. The competition is much more aggressive than it used to be, so we have to become more aggressive, too.”

A crowd of 600 people, as estimated by chamber officials, filled the main ballroom of the Lawrence Holidome, where the chamber installed commercial real estate agent Kelvin Heck as its new chair and presented service awards to four Lawrence residents.

But the event also featured plenty of before-dinner conversation among chamber members. Many were looking ahead and wondering whether Lawrence has distanced itself from the slowing economy that has plagued much of the nation.

“The Lawrence economy is still good, and the best part is it is very steady,” said Dale Willey, president of Dale Willey Automotive. “We never have the peaks and valleys like they do in so many other parts of the country, probably because of the university.”

Not all were so bullish, however.

“The economy hasn’t turned yet in my opinion,” said Walt Houk, president of Travellers Inc. “I think it may be starting to, but I still don’t see the great signs of recovery yet. I think some people’s personal investments are going to have to start doing better before they really get back to spending again.”

Heck, who took over leadership of the chamber board from Ann Gardner, editorial page editor of the Journal-World, declared economic development would be the group’s top priority during his one-year term.

Lawrence’s potential to attract high-tech companies to the community was touted by many chamber members, but most also urged the organization not to forget about the need to attract a wide array of jobs.

“We need to be open-minded when it comes to economic development,” said Martin Moore, a local developer involved in the redevelopment of the 900 block of New Hampshire Street. “There are lots of good jobs that we can attract, and I don’t think we really need to say we’re going to concentrate on just one type.”

Whatever type of jobs the community does decide to pursue, residents should be united in their efforts rather than divided, such as what happened with the controversial American Eagle Outfitters project two years ago, several members said.

“Personally, what I really would like to see the most is everyone pulling in the same direction,” said Jerry Samp, with A.G. Edwards & Sons. “Let’s all get together and decide which direction we’re going to go, but then let’s decide we’re all going to work together to get there.”

During the awards section of the evening, the chamber honored several including: commercial real estate agent Allison Vance Moore as the Wally Galluzzi Volunteer of the Year; Rehelio A. Samuels, the city’s director of human resources/human relations, as the Buford M. Watson Jr. Public Service Award winner; Lawrence developer Bob Billings as Citizen of the Years; and Jean Milstead as the Athena Award winner.