OUR TURN: Chamber has chance to renew its commitment to the business community

When a window closes, a door opens.

The old maxim certainly applies to the situation confronting the board of the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce.

The sudden, and some would say unexpected, departure of Executive Director Christian Fletcher for a job in city government presents the Chamber with a wonderful opportunity to refocus, renew and re-energize its commitment to the business community.

To do that, the Chamber must select the best candidate possible to take over the reins of the organization, now that Fletcher is crossing over to the Marble Falls Economic Development Corp. as its new executive director.

Given the uncertain economic times the community still faces, where unemployment and low sales taxes remain concerns, the Chamber’s new executive director must be a person of vision, action and goodwill. Someone who can build bridges. Someone who understands the dynamics of the business community and who can forge partnerships between the government, private and nonprofit sectors. In short, this is a golden chance for the Chamber to start anew, to begin building strategies that will help area businesses grow by having someone in place who understands how a business works and what it means to manage employees, to sell a product and to market a service.

Among other things, the mission of the Chamber is selling the idea of Marble Falls as a great place to live and to conduct commerce. In short, it is a sales job, pure and simple.

The Chamber needs a salesperson, a chief executive, a business manager, someone who understands the bottom line and what it takes to grow a company — in this case, Marble Falls.

The purpose of any good chamber should be to serve its members, which are area businesses. A good chamber works to create a healthy business environment so those companies, large and small, will thrive. And, a good chamber strives to create a favorable financial climate where more businesses will join them.

Whenever possible, a good chamber does business with its local members, not contracts with outside firms.

A good chamber represents the business community’s broader perspective, not just one sector. A good chamber fights for its members. A good chamber helps its members support each other, so that all rise together.

Which means a new executive director must understand these duties and fulfill these obligations.

It’s no small job.

The Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber is a nonprofit organization that enjoys a membership of 800 area businesses, according to its website. The budget is about $600,000. Revenues are derived from events and programs, dues from members and taxes — in this case, taxes paid mostly by visitors to area hotels, known as the hotel-occupancy tax.

The Chamber is overseen by a seven-member board of directors and a 14-member advisory board.

Notice that part of the Chamber’s title includes the word “of commerce.” And, commerce means the activity of buying and selling — in other words, business. Don’t forget, chambers of commerce have also been called a “board of trade.” And, trade is another word for — that’s right — business.

The mandate of any new executive director should be clear: It’s all about the business community; the Chamber’s members, remember?

The next person to sit in that office clearly needs to be someone who understands the DNA of running a business and doing business.

Knowing how to sell the community, how to negotiate, how to keep existing companies afloat and how to help new ones thrive should be definite job requirements.

Meanwhile, we wish Fletcher well in his new job, and say good luck to the Chamber as it begins this transition.