Chambers of commerce key to growth of communities
Sunday, March 26, 2006
BUTLER COUNTY — They represent businesses small and large. Their services include everything from health care plans to recreational sports scholarship. As a block, they can wield tremendous political clout.
And the numerous chambers of commerce have been impacted by the growth that the companies they represent have helped foster.
West Chester Chamber Alliance
The West Chester Chamber Alliance was at the right place at the right time.
When the Union Centre Boulevard interchange opened in 1997, the chamber then Southeastern Butler County Chamber was the fourth largest of the five Butler County chambers. Today, it has more than 900 members, making it the largest by at least 250 members, said Joe Hinson, the chamber's president and CEO.
"Location, location, location. The new interchange propelled growth along the (Interstate-75) corridor between here and the Dayton market," he said. "All this has positioned us as the business hub for the metroplex of Cincinnati and Dayton, and we're sitting right in the middle."
In addition to the networking services the chamber offers its members, it holds two leadership classes each year, one for professionals and one for sophomores and juniors in high school. The chamber also partners with Miami University and Butler Tech to offer classes to business professionals through a Workforce Academy.
The chamber celebrated its 30th anniversary March 10.
Every other month, the West Chester Chamber Alliance joins with the other four county chambers at a Butler County Chamber Caucus to develop creative ways the organizations can work together. The caucus has sponsored a meet-the-candidates night for county commission hopefuls, after-hours events to bring together members from all over the county, and two legislative breakfasts a year. A Web site is planned to debut at the end of April, Hinson said.
Butler County Chamber Caucus
In addition to joining their respective local chambers of commerce, area business owners often attend Butler County Chamber Caucus briefings.
Representing nearly 3,000 businesses in the Butler County area, the BCCC aims to focus the efforts and resources of the five chambers of commerce – Fairfield; Greater Hamilton; Middletown, Monroe and Trenton; Oxford; and West Chester.
"I think what it does is allow for a continuous open dialogue of what's going on in the county, not just what's going on in the local area," Hinson said.
For example, what's going on Route 63 may not affect West Chester Township, but it affects the county, Hinson said.
"Indirectly it would, but directly it's not something we're dealing with every day."
Legislative briefings also allow local business owners the opportunity to voice their concerns directly to elected officials.
Government committees from the five chambers submit the questions to the BCCC beforehand and about 10 to 15 question are posed to elected officials during the briefing.
The questions usually are something that affects all businesses in some way, shape or form.
"That type of forum seems to work real well," Hinson said.
"I think it's advantageous that all the chambers, though they're all in different parts of the county, are able to come together to interact and communicate on a frequent basis because I think the goal for all of the chambers is to provide a better business climate for our members and the county."
Fairfield Chamber of Commerce
In its Golden Anniversary year, the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce will concentrate on a more outward focus for its businesses, said Dan Goebel, chamber board of directors vice chairman.
"The chamber recently adopted a vision and put it to a statement that all business succeed and that drives the efforts of the board," Goebel said.
The chamber will celebrate its birthday at its annual dinner in April.
Goebel said the chamber will have a more active role in the community, and will help connect the city and members on issues.
"The growth of both the city and the chamber, the chamber's renewing efforts intermediary between the business community and the city to help facilitate solutions," Goebel said.
The hope in reaching out to the community is to bring in more members. The chamber had 517 members as of February, but increased just more than 4 percent from March 2005. Membership has gone up 10 percent from March 2004.
Over the next five to 10 years, the goal is to increase membership benefits, Goebel said. A Chief Executive Officer round table is a membership benefit program currently being discussed, Goebel said.
Goebel said the chamber's strength are their events, such as the Business Showcase, which is the largest business fair in the county.
"We've been able to develop some real strong events. We've had some excellent networking meetings that occur weekly," Goebel said. "The benefits to the members are obviously from everything from combined workman's comp to resource sharing."
Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce
Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce President Kenny Craig said that while different businesses join for different reasons, the chamber has three focus areas: business advocacy, economic development and member services.
"We represent our member businesses to all levels of government," Craig said. That's important because a major part of doing business is working with local governments, sometimes state governments, to ensure greater profitability. Small businesses do not have the resources to represent themselves to government. We do that every day for large businesses and small businesses."
In terms of economic development, Craig said the chamber makes regular calls on businesses to see what it can do to help them prosper. Last year, Gary Richards was hired as a business district manager to focus on the city's six districts. The chamber also works with city and county economic developers to push projects.
Networking also falls under the umbrella of economic development, he said.
"Our annual meeting is selling out every year," Craig said. "We're packing the Hamiltonian Hotel. That tells us our member businesses are excited to come out and are excited to see what's happening."
In terms of hard membership services, the chamber can offer medical insurance savings, access to the membership directory and advertising through the chamber newsletter and other discount programs. But, Craig said one of the biggest reasons why businesses join is the prospect of saving thousands of dollars on workers' compensation insurance through the chamber's group rating discount.
Craig said the Hamilton chamber works with other county chambers through the Butler County Chamber Caucus. In addition to the caucus' annual legislative briefings, Craig said caucus leaders are considering issuing positions on state legislation.
Oxford Chamber of Commerce
President JoNell Rowan said the chamber is trying to do things differently this year.
Members are anxiously awaiting the publishing of a new quality of life booklet this month.
"It's going to tell you everything that's wonderful about Oxford and what's unique to the area and Miami University," Rowan said.
The chamber is also going wholly on its own for its business expo in 2006 after years of holding them in conjunction with the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. The Oxford chamber held a joint expo with Hamilton in 2005 with a separate Oxford-only expo.
Oxford's annual golf outing is expanding this year. Rowan said the goal is to draw in families and other employees after golf to a taste of Oxford event.
She said most of the chamber's services in networking and workers' compensation and medical insurance are the same as other chambers.
Because Rowan is the chamber's one-woman staff, she said she works closely with the city on economic development, recruiting and retention efforts.
The Chamber of Commerce
Based in downtown Middletown, The Chamber of Commerce represents a trio of cities — Middletown, Monroe and Trenton
Last year was a year of growth for the chamber. Bill Triick, the chamber's chief executive, said chamber leaders wanted 60 new members by the end of 2005 — and they exceeded that, drawing 67 new members.
"We had net new growth," Triick said.
Today, the three-city chamber has about 470 members total.
This year, chamber leaders want that growth to continue. And they're looking to new leadership to help that process along.
In January, Greg Martin, 53, was named chairman of the chamber's 15-member board of directors. The president of Greg Martin Excavating Inc., Martin has his eye on an array of goals. Those include: Pushing the westward expansion of Ohio 63 and exploring the pooling of scarce government resources across the region. One idea Martin has mentioned is sharing police and fire dispatch services.
And as a contractor, Martin also feels keenly a lack of skilled trades workers in the area. He is interested in addressing that need, as well.
"We are part of the same region, and the time has come when all three cities can prosper," Martin said.
