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Boards: To Merge Or Not To Merge?

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By LOIS KINDLE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 2, 2008

RUSKIN - RUSKIN - Four years after the first attempt, a move to merge the four South Shore chambers once again has legs.

After last month's meeting of the Ruskin Chamber of Commerce board, President Pat Warbritton was approached by several members about reintroducing the idea to sister chambers in Apollo Beach, Riverview and Sun City Center.

Warbritton said she subsequently invited the presidents, president-elects and past presidents to lunch on June 17 to see if there was any interest in raising the merger issue.

Representing the Ruskin chamber at that meeting were Tony Zipperer, Patti Thornton and Warbritton. Billie Gordon and Jill Andrew represented Riverview and John Looper represented Sun City Center. The Apollo Beach chamber board declined the invitation.

"The idea is to have one chamber representing all of South Shore," Warbritton said.

In 2004, members of the Riverview and Ruskin chambers voted overwhelmingly to approve a consolidation proposal presented by James Adcock, who chaired a steering committee studying the issue. The all-or-nothing proposition was made during three open houses in Ruskin, Riverview and Apollo Beach.

"Sun City Center elected not to participate at the time," Adcock said.

He said the committee's feasibility study recommended the merger, based on consolidation of staffs, overhead, cost efficiencies and other factors.
Apollo Beach took the proposal back to its members, who voted it down.

"Chambers are in business to meet the needs of their members," Warbritton said, adding members want to market their products and services all over South Shore. "They say it's hard to shell out money to different chambers and to meet the time commitment involved in belonging to more than one."

A South Shore chamber created from the merger would have a new board with 18 members, with each area getting equal representation. Once established, the board would appoint a chairman. The executive board would include three vice chairmen, one from each community, and one at-large, a secretary and treasurer. The president would report to the board. Two assistant directors would report to the president, and all staff positions would be open to existing chambers' staff.

This time, Warbritton said, proponents hope the result will be different but, if not, the chambers approving the measure may merge without those who don't.

So far, three boards - Ruskin, Riverview and Sun City Center - are considering the proposal.

"We're looking at the possibility," said Gordon, president of the Riverview chamber. "It's really up to the membership.

"I think consolidation is an excellent opportunity that would be advantageous for a number of reasons."

Gordon said those reasons include the ability to focus energy and resources on one event at a time; cost savings to smaller businesses that would only have to join one chamber; the roughly 1,200 voices that would have greater leverage with county and state governmental agencies; larger networking opportunities for members; and a stronger community presence.

"It's in the interest of small business, members and the community," Gordon said.

John Looper, chairman of the Sun City Center board, said it is premature to be discussing a merger, but the board is looking into the possibility.

"Our board has selected a subcommittee of three to stay abreast of the issue to help our members," he said. "We're on a fact-finding mission."

"At this time, the Apollo Beach chamber does not have an interest in pursuing a merger," said Apollo Beach chamber President Meg LaLonde in a prepared statement. "While these are tough economic times, the Apollo Beach Chamber of Commerce wants its focus to be on its members and on implementing innovative ideas that benefit and promote them.

"We recognize that each chamber represents a unique community and each has strong community pride," LaLonde said. "We would welcome community collaboration, while maintaining autonomy."

Warbritton said the next step is for the same people who met in mid-June to get together again at July's end.

Reporter Lois Kindle can be reached at (813) 865-1553 or lkindle@tampatrib.com.

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