The Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has decided to sell its two Main Street properties, including its buildings.
The board is hoping to use the proceeds of the sale to pay off some $100,000 in debt, including a $25,000 loan for the vacant property between the Chamber of Commerce, 1575 Main St., building and Speedee Mart, 1501 Main St.
What happens afterward remains will depend on whether the community will support the chamber and what chamber members want to do, according to chamber President Bill Matthews.
“We feel that within a reasonable length of time, we’ll be able to sell the property for more than our obligations,” Matthews said. The chamber board plans to list the properties for a combined $179,000, and it will take offers for both lots.
The future is “for the community to decide and the membership,” Matthews said. “There’s some discussion about options going forward. It might make sense to combine with other, like-minded people, to combine our resources with something the community could support.
“I think there’s a need for an organization to represent the economic development of the community – other than the city. If we go away, then what next?”
That’s the membership’s choice, he said. At this point, Matthews sees himself as a facilitator of that process.
The board is certainly willing to continue as a chamber, he said, but the bylaws will need adjustment to reflect its organization going forward.
Matthews was busy late last week writing a letter to the membership to report the chamber’s status and to call for action.
“The whiteboard is empty, and it’s up to the membership how they want to fill up the whiteboard – if at all,” Matthews said. If the membership wants new board members, officers and bylaws, now is the time to go for it.
“The barriers are down, all of the barriers are out of the way,” he said. “It’s a clean slate. It really is. The business community has to decide how they want to go forward.”
“When this is all over, does the Phoenix rise from the ashes?”
Matthews said he doesn’t know the answer to that yet.
In the meantime, the chamber is meeting its obligations to the City of Sweet Home, which contributes $15,000 annually, to operate the Visitor Information Center, using people who have stepped up and volunteered to staff the office.
One volunteer is working open to close Monday through Friday, he said. “She (Sandi Thompson) is just wonderful.”
Michele Carter is another “amazing” volunteer, he said. She is working 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
She’s taken over preparations for the Culpepper & Merriweather Circus scheduled for Monday, May 22, Matthews said, and she is “handling it like a champion.”
Another volunteer, Brenda Spencer, has taken over literature, Matthews said. Making the calls, she has updated the literature and brochures available at the chamber.
Other active volunteers are Dawn Valloni, Mindi Howland and Carolyn Morton.
“The Visitor Center portion has never been healthier,” Matthews said, and some days it stays busy with people calling or stopping, many considering relocating to Sweet Home, in looking for information.
“The Visitor Center is healthy and doing stuff. We’re meeting all of the obligations that’s expected from the city.”
Matthews said that some board members are preparing to resign.
“This has been a long, arduous process,” he said, but some board members have agreed to stay on until the chamber sorts out its problems.