The Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce is undergoing some restructuring, President Dave Bauer said.
Director Michelle Anderson recently resigned and is finishing her college degree with plans to open a new nonprofit to help new businesses get rolling. Andrea Culy is filling in for her right now.
In the meantime, the chamber board is re-evaluating the position and planning to reorganize.
The idea is to provide more services to members, said Dave Bauer, who has been president of the chamber board since January. “It’s mostly about membership involvement.
“In the past, we haven’t done a real good job involving members, getting their input, getting their help with our events. It’s basically about becoming more organized and more effective.”
The chamber is working with the president of the Albany chamber to restructure in accordance to the way a small-town chamber should run, he said. That includes the director position.
“We’re going to evaluate what we need for that position currently,” he said. The board is hoping to evaluate it and fill it within the next three or four months.
This year, the chamber is working on setting up more committees to handle different jobs and events, such as, the budget, Sportsman’s Holiday and awards banquet, Bauer said. “In the past, the chamber board has done everything.”
The After Hours program started a couple of years ago, with help from CenturyTel, as a way for members to get more involved and get to know each other.
“That’s been a good program, and we’re continuing doing that,” Bauer said.
Along with restructuring, the board is working out how it will develop its partnership with the Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort and Sweet Home Economic Development Group, he said. “There has been some discussion, but there haven’t been any decisions at this point. We’re talking about creating some alignment meetings so we’re all working together and collaborating rather than working independently.”
All three organizations are similar, but they fulfill different purposes and fill different niches.
The chamber is primarily concerned with helping small businesses in town to get word out about their businesses, to be a resource and help them learn more about running the businesses, he said. It’s also about tourism and helping visitors.
SHEDG is specifically about economic development, bringing money and business to town, he said, which helps local businesses. SHARE is about revitalizing and improving the city, which also helps local businesses.
“It all works to help the business community, and we all have our part in that,” Bauer said. “Part of that alignment is defining what each entity does so we’re not crossing boundaries and we’re helping each other get there.”
The restructuring process will take place in phases, and the time it takes will depend on resources, he said. The first phase is internal restructuring.
Right now, times are tough, and membership is down a little with the economy, Bauer said, but “the board’s excited about the change. We’ve know it’s been needed for awhile.”
The chamber is always seeking volunteers and will need people to run new committees, Bauer said.
Call 367-6186 for information.