With director gone, chamber ponders alliance

Leaders say partnering with the city or maybe the Largo chamber may be in order as the group redefines its role.

By JULIANNE WU

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 23, 2000

SEMINOLE -- The Greater Seminole Area Chamber of Commerce should consider creating partnerships with City Hall or other chambers, several chamber members said Thursday.

The issue was raised at a chamber luncheon meeting, where members also debated the future of the executive director's position recently vacated by Pat Schmoranz. Some favor strengthening the position, while others said an office manager job would suffice.

Schmoranz will move with her husband, Larry, to Texas next month, where he will begin a new job.

"Your chamber is not in a crisis," said president Larry Cunningham at the event in Banquet Masters. "We just want to recharge, redefine and renew. We are proud of who we are, but sometimes we need to color outside the box."

New member Janet Long, of Seminole, was among those who favor some type of partnership with the city of Seminole.

"As the city grows and expands, the infrastructures of the chamber need to be more involved," she said.

Although he said it was "'premature," Cunningham said the city is looking into ways to help the chamber.

Mayor Dottie Reeder said she is on a task force sponsored by the National Conference of Mayors that is studying tapping into federal money to help small businesses. The chamber now offers small-business counseling and computer courses in cooperation with St. Petersburg Junior College, but it is not involved in federal grants.

Reeder estimated there is about $35-million in procurement money that could be available to cities.

"We want to build up our businesses," Reeder said. "And sometimes it is easier for cities to get federal funds."

It also became very clear Thursday that the 50 or so in the audience did not think partnerships should include a merger with any other area chamber any time soon.

When Cunningham asked how many people would want that, no one raised a hand.

"We do need to look at partnerships across city lines," however, said James Olliver, provost of the Seminole campus of SPJC and the chamber's treasurer.

"Keep in mind," Cunningham added, "one of our best meetings this past year was when we held a joint trade fair with the Largo Chamber. This (greater Largo/Seminole area) is not the same pond it used to be. We can't be so provincial."

On the other issue -- whether to replace Schmoranz with a strong executive or just hire an office manager -- opinions differed sharply.

Cunningham said there are no written job descriptions for paid staff members at the present time.

Chamber member Mark Higgins, who heads a Seminole insurance agency, said: "To even think about going to a part-time director is folly. We need to have a strong leader. The new director needs to be both an office manager and a salesman."

Attorney Tim Schuler, a longtime chamber member, agreed. "We have to be careful we don't go too heavy with volunteerism. We can't keep asking the same people to do the same jobs. We need a strong person who can do some of those things in the office."

Most in the audience agreed when Cunningham suggested the chamber needs to write up both a business plan with specific objectives and job descriptions before it can think of hiring someone.

At the present time, the 375-member chamber has one paid employee.

Cunningham said he already has received about a half-dozen resumes, unsolicited, from various people who are interested in the vacancy created by Schmoranz's resignation.

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