Two civic leaders ask whether the expansion of the chamber in Oldsmar overlooks its business community.
By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published October 12, 2004
OLDSMAR - For decades, this town's chamber of commerce focused on businesses within the city's borders.
Oldsmar was on its own, with wide expanses separating it from neighboring communities across the Pinellas-Hillsborough county line.
But now the area is booming, and the chamber based in Oldsmar boasts more than 800 members in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. After merging with Town 'N Country's chamber earlier this year, the chamber changed its name to the Upper Tampa Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce.
But two Oldsmar civic leaders wonder whether that expansion has come at too great a price.
"I think we should have left the name Oldsmar in there somewhere," Oldsmar Historical Society president Loretta Wyandt told City Council members last week.
Oldsmar Flea Market manager Babe Wright, who does not belong to the chamber, said that the new name shows that the organization has lost sight of its focus by expanding.
But those concerns did not stop council members from approving $23,000 for a business assistance partnership between the city, the chamber and Pinellas County. The program is aimed at helping business owners start and grow their companies.
Council members did, however, ask chamber president Kevin Gartland to report back on where the partnership money is being spent and to give city officials an overview of the program.
Wright, a former council member, worries that tax dollars from Oldsmar residents would go toward helping businesses in Hillsborough County.
The chamber "doesn't represent Oldsmar in my opinion," she said Monday. "They want Oldsmar taxpayers to contribute $23,000 to support their business assistance program. I just don't think that's the proper use of taxpayer dollars."
Gartland said Monday that business assistance specialist Jerry Custin, whose work is funded by the partnership agreement, spends most of his time working with Oldsmar businesses.
"The only involvement we have in Hillsborough County are those types of issues that affect both sides of the county line," he said. "That's the way we want to see that position continue."
Though chamber members voted to take Oldsmar out of the chamber's name, Gartland said, they haven't taken the chamber of commerce out of Oldsmar.
The headquarters is still located on State Road 580, he said, and many of the chamber's programs are devoted to serving the city. The chamber also has offices in Citrus Park and Town 'N Country.
"I can understand some of the old-timers being disappointed that times change, but at the same time I think it's the chamber's responsibility to change with the times," he said Monday, "and to make those changes that are necessary to reflect the way that our region and our economy and our work force are changing."
Council members say the chamber's growth is good for the city.
"What we're trying to do is help the businesses here in town," Mayor Jerry Beverland said Monday. "And it has been a great help to them. The larger they get, the more benefit to Oldsmar."
This isn't the first time the group's name has changed.
Two years ago it became the Oldsmar/Upper Tampa Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce, after 35 years as the Oldsmar Chamber of Commerce. Soon after, it opened a Citrus Park office.
Oldsmar City Council member Jim Ronecker, who was chairman of the chamber's board at the time of its last name change, said Oldsmar taxpayers' dollars would be well-spent amid the chamber's growth.
"The chamber does an excellent job of policing the way their funds are used," he said. "Pinellas is not paying for Hillsborough businesses."
