Nearly 100 small business owners in Ames met Wednesday to learn and discuss ways to cut through government red tape and run their businesses more efficiently.

The Story County Business Survival Summit included a discussion on how state government can work with small businesses in Story County to reduce pressures and costs of state and federal government regulations.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, who is a former small business owner, was the featured speaker at the summit. Pate is founder and chair of the Jobs Coalition for Mainstreet Iowa, a group of business people working together with government officials to identify and remove wasteful and burdensome government rules and regulations.

Patrick Collins, a representative for Pate, said there are many rules and regulations for small businesses that go back years and years, but no one knows why the rules even exist because they are useless. The summit informed small business owners about things that can be done and that they are not powerless against the government. It also provided examples of change and progress made in similar situations.

As a group, they identified changes that need to be made and how to make them.

“A lot of people don’t challenge the red tape because they don’t feel they have the leverage to do so,” Collins said.

The summit was jointly sponsored by the Ames Chamber of Commerce and the Secretary of State’s Office.