September 21, 2011
Chamber to vote on
merger
Members of the Deep River and
District Chamber of Commerce (DRDCC) will meet next Monday to decide
once and for all on a possible merger with the Upper Ottawa Valley
Chamber, based in Pembroke.
The meeting will take place September 26 at 6:30 pm at the Bear's Den.
The motion on the table will ask members to approve the merger of the
two chambers by “dissolving the DRDCC and allowing the UOVCC to absorb
the Deep River and area region into their territory effective January
1, 2012.”
The motion would also direct the local chamber to transfer “any funds
remaining in the DRDCC bank account” to the Upper Ottawa Valley chamber
as of the same date.
The Deep River chamber has been looking at merging with its larger
counterpart for more than a year and a half.
Advantages to the merger, cited at the DRDCC's annual general meeting
in March, included the suggestion that the UOV chamber could bring a
stronger lobbying power to bear, seeing as how it has 320 members,
compared to the DRCC's 48.
Also cited as an advantage is the fact the UOV chamber employs a
full-time administrative staff person in Pembroke, whereas all the
administrative work for the local chamber of commerce is done on
a volunteer basis - and those volunteers are starting to feel burnt out.
"We need more volunteers," outgoing DRDCC president Jim Macmillan said
at the AGM.
"That's what's driving us to look at amalgamation."
However, some business owners in attendance remained unconvinced of the
merits of amalgamation.
"If you can't get people to come out and sit on the board, who's going
to drive all the way to Pembroke," asked local pharmacy owner Christine
Harding.
"I think you're going to lose your voice."
A four-page “SWOT” analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats) prepared for chamber members suggests that the “tight knit
community presence” of the local chamber is one of its biggest benefits.
“As a small chamber we do not require any paid staff in order to
maintain a status quo organization,” it says.
“We can count on other local not-for-profit organizations to willingly
partner with us on mutually advantageous initiatives that we may want
to pursue (and) we have always had an open channel of communication
with our municipal councils and with the local town administrations.”
However, the analysis notes that as a small chamber, the local
organization “does not have the ability to be consistently heard” at a
provincial or federal level.
Volunteer “fatigue” is also taking a toll, as the chamber is
“repeatedly calling on the same pool of volunteers over and over.”
Joining the larger UOVCC would give local members access to greater
exposure and greater resources, including full-time administrative
support, the analysis suggests.
“One of the biggest opportunities that we need to look at is the
opportunity to network with a greater number of professionals and
business owners from beyond our normal circle of peers.”
The analysis raises a red flag about the possibility that not all
current members will want to join the larger UOVCC.
“There is an unspoken history of the, us versus them way of thinking
that some may still believe a merger will put our district at a
disadvantage if it were to happen.
“It is possible that we will be a small player at the big table and
some of our local issues will be ignored by the majority of the UOVCC
board.”
The analysis also notes that chamber membership fees will “double or
more” and that money will go into a membership revenue account at the
UOVCC level to be used for “managing the chamber's day to day expenses.”
“Some of those funds will directly support our division but most will
not.”
It's possible the local chamber could lose things like the bursary for
Mackenzie high school students or funding for the Chamber of Commerce
welcome signs at the east and west ends of Deep River.
The analysis concludes with a list of “benefits to becoming a branch”
of the UOVCC. Among those benefits would be:
- the opportunity to expand each member's network to include 300+
businesses
- additional member to member benefits
- the chance to be promoted on the UOVCC website, which receives
between 7,000 and 11,000 hits a month
- the opportunity to be on committees “where you meet new people and
advance the message of the Deep River region”
- less opportunity for volunteer burnout with more people to assist in
chamber operations.
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