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News & Features
From the Idyllwild Town Crier weekly newspaper, 03.27.08 edition.
Chamber
soldiers on
and trips over details
By
J.P. Crumrine, Assistant Editor
Idyllwild Chamber of Commerce President
Geoffrey Caine conducted a cordial and efficient meeting to nominate
new Chamber directors, and put a brave face and positive spin on the
financial and procedural challenges facing the Chamber at Monday
night’s meeting. About 25 equally cordial and generally supportive
members and guests attended the meeting. But, as the meeting proceeded,
it became evident that the board had tripped over some important
details during the last year, and may have failed to see certain
exigencies and deficiencies in time to remedy them.
First, based on Chamber online Profit
and Loss Detail records from July 1, 2006 to March 21, 2008, it appears
that Director Ken Carlson has not been a valid Chamber member since
September 2007, having not paid membership dues since Sept. 18, 2006.
Carlson and Caine verified this fact at the March 24 meeting. Chamber
bylaws stipulate that if a member does not pay dues within 90 days of
due date, the membership is automatically suspended, and if that member
is a director, as Carlson was, the board must declare that seat vacant.
Arguably, any vote Carlson cast from December 2007 to March 2008 is
null and void. Caine wrote a March 24 check for membership dues for
Carlson and Carlson completed a membership application so that he could
be nominated from the floor to stand for election Monday night.
Second, based on those same online
records, there is no indication that recently resigned Director Josh
White paid membership dues after July 22, 2006, calling into question
White’s votes beginning in October 2007. Caine said that White did pay
dues on July 14, 2007, but could not provide check verification prior
to this writing.
Third, Realtor Gary Tompkins, nominated from the floor to stand for
election, is not a current Chamber member and technically cannot be
nominated until he is. On Tuesday, Tompkins said he would address the
membership issue, but whether or not his name can now be listed on the
ballot is an open question.
Fourth, although Caine expressed hope for the future, the Chamber’s
existing financial condition is precarious, at best. The board, which
had previously claimed that grant funds from the county Economic
Development Agency (EDA) were earmarked and could only be spent for the
requested purposes, now hopes leftover and unspent funds can be used
for other purposes, particularly operational expenses.
At issue is the problem of keeping the Visitor Center open and staffed,
a desire the attending members and audience unanimously supported, but
that the paucity of funds on hand makes difficult. Caine said that were
EDA to agree to allow a portion of the grant to be used for the
operational expenses necessary to keep the center open, the center
could hang on. But if not, it can’t. Caine will approach EDA on this
matter. The EDA grant mandates that all grant funds be used to promote
tourism.
Caine proposed an alternative solution for keeping the center open
without having EDA approval for using grant funds for operational
expenses — to pay Office Manager Andrea Cunningham from publicist funds
left over after Georgie Rhein resigned. He suggested that she could
perform publicist duties from the Visitor Center. Both Cunningham and
Director Mona Taggart doubted that would provide a workable solution.
Cunningham said the Visitor Center foot traffic, calls and inquiries,
not to mention day-to-day public relations, would make doing both jobs
impossible. The board left the matter unresolved, pending Caine’s
conversation with EDA.
Director Joe McNabb reported that carver David Roy has found the wood
he intended to carve into a new tree monument unsuitable. McNabb said
Roy had found a new cedar tree in Dark Canyon with sufficient girth
that the base could be carved from the tree without combining pieces,
as Roy had previously planned. The problem is that it would take
another $3,000 to transport the tree from its location to Idyllwild.
Roy has been paid $7,000 out of a contracted price of $15,000 for a
monument that was to have been completed in October 2007. An audience
member raised the question of whether the contract is even valid, since
the completion date has passed. McNabb could not predict a date for
completing the monument. But in response to questions and audience
protestations, Caine promised that the monument would be built and that
the board would treat donated and designated monument funds as
sacrosanct and inviolable. As of this writing, details of when and how
the monument will be completed remain vague.
Outgoing Director Steve Liebzeit, reporting on response to mailed
requests to the membership for director nominations, said there had
been none. The following nominations were made from the floor: Kathleen
Mason of Mason Gallery; Tompkins (membership uncertain); and Bill
Triplett of invisiongrafix.com. Carlson and Taggart also will stand for
election, although there may be a question of the validity of Taggart’s
recent appointment as director, given questions of Carlson’s inability
to cast a valid vote on her behalf, and whether the number of votes
cast was sufficient for confirmation, according to Chamber bylaws.
Caine promised a review of this matter.
Lastly, no currently running or continuing director, by canvas at the
meeting, supports unification with the Hemet/San Jacinto Valley Chamber
of Commerce. All support was for continued independence of the Chamber
and protection of its assets. Caine hopes the business community will
step up and do what is needed to allow this Chamber to continue. The
existing board, prospective directors and attending audience all
expressed similar hopes.
“As soon as new directors are elected, we will work with them to assist
the transition,” said Caine. A number of attending members promised to
volunteer time to keep the Chamber viable.
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