Local business chamber likely to become “another sort of entity”
CHAMBER FUTURE
Douglas Chamber of Commerce has not elected or re-elected a President, Secretary and other voluntary officeholders, and instead will be managed by a committee of eight until its future is decided.
At its annual general meeting at the Tin Shed on Thursday, the Chamber decided its current structure and charter was lacking “relevance” – and that it needed to seek an updated purpose to move forward with if it is going to properly represent the area’s businesses.
There was above the needed quorum present to elect or re-elect officeholders but instead, a management committee was appointed in the meantime.
Eight committee members will ‘hold the fort’ for another three months – with the future of the Chamber to be decided probably in January.
“The idea is for it to operate for the next three months to try and find another sort of entity that the Chamber can morph into,” Chamber Coordinator Suzanne Robson said.
“Whether it’s some sort of business group of some kind or something. It just seems that according to them, the chamber’s losing relevance.
“When the committee doesn’t have time to organise seminars and workshops and things like that, we’re not going to be doing anything. So it’s sort of like chasing your tail really.”
New business group options to be explored
Ms Robson will spend the next month looking closely into other options for the Chamber and whether it can become a different type of structure or business grouping.
“They’re not going to have another meeting until November so it gives me a month or so to do some research to see if I can come up with some formats that maybe they’ll be interested in.”
She said she will look for inspiration from the Business Council of Australia and Queensland Chamber of Commerce for ideas or suggestions about exactly what type of form the future business group or chamber will take.
“There is nobody new on the committee – they’re the same committee members minus one who couldn’t continue.”
The Chamber has suffered declining membership and feels most of its previous work has been taken up by a Business Officer at Douglas Shire Council.
“I think there’s a doubling up to a degree. The ‘Do It In Douglas’ campaign – it’s a really good campaign but when it comes down to it, that’s what we should be doing but we don’t have the time or the knowledge that Council does.”
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