Chamber of Commerce needs better communication

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore & District Chamber of Commerce held an open forum on Jan. 22 at the Civic Centre with local business representatives to discuss what can be done to make Strathmore a more appealing place.
“We recognize that the chamber needs to do something different, but we want to hear what the community is expecting of the chamber. We wanted input from the business community and others in the community,” said Robert Breitwieser, vice president of the Strathmore & District Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t think we’re just looking at businesses, we have people that have no businesses who are interested in the town. A vibrant chamber of commerce helps to make an exciting town, so as the board we can take that input and begin looking forward with a new direction if necessary.”
The intention behind the meeting is for everyone to come up with a vision of what Strathmore will look like in the future.
“If we have to change our vision, we can do that to meet the needs of the community and that was our purpose of coming together this evening, to hear what the community wants to tell us about the chamber and what they can change for the future,” he said.
Breitwieser, along with other committee members, have put in countless hours to make Strathmore a liveable place, but knows there can always be improvements.
“I’ve always been a positive person, (while) working hard in this community to make it better and we’re going to continue to do that,” said Breitwieser. “I think we have dedicated people on the chamber that is thriving.”
The biggest issue to have come out of the gathering was the lack of communication within the chamber, which needs to be addressed and improved immensely.
“I think we’ve recognized that, it’s just we’re hamstrung by the lack of administrative support and we can’t afford to hire anybody. What we really need to do is to get more people become members of the chamber,” said Breitwieser. “The more members (allows us) to become financially viable. We can hire people to promote the chamber and the businesses.”
The board will take the ideas from the gathering to help promote future planning of the town and to promote a luncheon in February.