BLUFFTON -- Local business leaders and public officials crammed into a conference room at the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday to press the state Chamber of Commerce to bring local hot-button issues to the forefront of its legislative agenda.

Those who attended discussed the need for better educational systems, more highway funding and comprehensive tax reform.

But the most heated discussion centered on the proposed Jasper County port and the state chamber's recent statement of support for the S.C. State Ports Authority in its dispute with Jasper County.

"I find it surprising that the state chamber would support a non-taxpaying entity instead of a group involving small businesses," said Parks Moss of Palmetto Electric Cooperative, who supports a private development plan for a deep-water port on the Savannah River in Jasper County.

Several others spoke in favor of building the Jasper County port. They included Sun City Hilton Head resident Roland Faricy, who said the port "would be a huge opportunity to improve the quality of life in this area, and it needs to be built."

Otis Rawl, the state chamber's vice president of public policy, who led the discussion, said the state chamber agrees that port expansion is vital to the state economy, but the process should move forward cautiously. The state chamber says the best operating structure for a Jasper County port would be through a public-private partnership led by the State Ports Authority.

"You don't want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg," Rawl said, referring to the State Ports Authority. "This is one of the most efficient ports systems in the world -- we need to be careful before we go ahead and change it."

Rawl said the state chamber would try to push legislation to keep the ports issue out of the courts. A series of appeals could stall progress indefinitely.

"We know we've got to get this issue solved now," Rawl said.

"(The proposed port) certainly has the ability to enhance and reshape our region," said Bill Miles, president of the local chamber. "It's in everyone's best interest to make it happen."

Business leaders also expressed a desire for increased funding for local roads, especially with the area's projected growth and the possibility of a new Jasper County port.

"There's a failure (in Columbia) to understand and appreciate what's going on down here," said Dean Moss, general manager of the Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority. "Our highways cannot support our growth."

Hilton Head town manager Steve Riley said the state needs to be more proactive when it comes to highway funding and should increase the state gasoline tax and use the money to finance projects through a federal matching funding requirement.

"The state needs to put more money into the highway infrastructure, period," Riley said.