Chamber councils will bring together industry officials

Friday, March 23, 2007

I am sure if you are not a member of the chamber, you don’t really think a lot about what the chamber does or what membership in the chamber means. The chamber is made up of your neighbors, friends and possibly family members. You deal with chamber members every day.

Did you use any electricity today? The Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative is a member. Stop at Burger King, Roy Rogers or Chick-fil-A for lunch? The owners are all members. Being a chamber member means being involved in the Charles County community. As your neighbors and county residents, chamber members are interested in the prosperity of our county.

The chamber’s mission statement states that the ‘‘Charles County Chamber of Commerce provides leadership in supporting and promoting the free enterprise system through business development, education and sound ethical values for the benefit of our members and communities.”

The chamber is the largest business organization in the county. It is a not-for-profit corporation, which is funded solely by it members and receives no tax dollars. Members have large and small businesses, home-based and in commercial buildings. The chamber is overseen by an elected, all-volunteer board of directors with a small paid staff. Joining the chamber of commerce is a commitment. It is a commitment to succeed in business. When businesses succeed, we have job stability and economic growth in the county.

The chamber offers educational and training opportunities to members, networking forums, business referral services, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, golf tournaments, business expos and a yearly business and community directory.

While the chamber has always been actively involved in the community, this year, one of my focal areas is to create chamber councils to bring together chamber members in the different industries and services to meet collective goals.

We are considering the following councils: accounting, banking, car dealers, construction, design professionals, DoD contractors, information technology, investment services, marketing professionals, restaurants and retailers.

These councils are just the beginning, and the chamber leadership is open to forming councils for any industry or service group that is interested in the formation of a council. The councils would be formed to advocate, network and problem solve. The councils will provide an opportunity for members to gather with other members who are in the same industry or service to deal with common interest areas.

We are looking for leaders and for our members to join the councils. What is the difference between a committee and a council? Committees work on issues that are across the board for all chamber members, while councils’ issues are industry⁄sector specific. The committees recommend positions to the board of directors to be established as the chamber’s position on various issues of the business involved.

A chamber council brings together the leaders and players in a given industry or service sector to discuss issues in the region or nationally for that sector or industry. Members become acquainted with each other as people vs. competitors. As they become friends and partners in problem solving, they are able to coordinate efforts to benefit their industry or sector in any number of ways. They use a variety of means available to that sector at that time, especially through the chamber. Councils are an information-gathering group for their industry and a marketing⁄promotional group. Councils might do mutually beneficial surveys to gain data that would be unaffordable individually.

Compared to individual companies, the council, as a group, is a more powerful advocacy group for its industry with government. In effect, councils do anything they decide to do, to benefit their industry or service sectors, that is legal, moral and within the policy guidelines governed by the executive committee of the chamber board.

Chamber members have enthusiastically embraced the councils, and individual councils are now forming. Contact the chamber staff for more information at 301-932-6500.

While the councils are in the formative stages, we are always looking for people to serve on our committees. We have chamber-specific committees, such as the Business Expo, membership, past presidents and Presidential Ball. In addition, we have committees that serve the interests of the members and the community at large, such as the legislative, Working Woman’s Day, scarecrow, transportation and economic development.

Members are encouraged, but not required, to serve on at least one committee.

During the legislative session, our legislative and government affairs committee looks at legislation proposed in Annapolis. The committee then takes a position on business-related legislation. During the rest of the year, the committee monitors code home rule legislation presented by our commissioners. The transportation committee monitors traffic and transportation issues in the county, and makes recommendations to the appropriate agencies calling for improvements. The economic development committee advocates for improvement in the economic environment. The education committee provides advice, assistance and resources to members and the community related to business awareness, education, leadership development and training. The technology committee advises and educates members on new technologies.

We also have fun. Early in January each year, we dress up for the annual Presidential Ball. Many of you have attended our annual Home and Garden Show, and coming up in April is our annual Working Woman’s Appreciation Day. We also have the Diva Golf Tournament and Classic Golf Day scheduled for later in the year.

I am proud to be a member, and president, of an organization that has provided more than 50 years of volunteer service to Charles County.

As you can see, the chamber is active in not just the business community, but in the day-to-day welfare of Charles County. If you own or run a business, please join us in these endeavors; if not, please support our member businesses.

Gore Bolton, owner of Bolton and Associates LLC, is the president of the Charles County Chamber of Commerce for 2007. The chamber may be reached at 301-932-6500 or 301-870-3089 or by e-mail at info@charlescountychamber.org.