A year later, outlook positive for business group

PHILOMATH - What a difference a year makes.

At the start of 2008, the Philomath Area Chamber of Commerce is active and relevant again.

Perhaps nothing is more telling than its membership, which stands at 93 businesses, after dropping to about 25 near the beginning of 2007, organization leaders said.

"We had to win their hearts and minds back," said Jeff Lamb, a chamber member and vice president last year. "We're making it fun and worthwhile again to be with the chamber."

Even City Manager Randy Kugler, who questioned the chamber's viability in late 2006, is optimistic. "The outlook for the chamber is much more positive than it had been a year ago," Kugler said.

City government and the chamber have had a prickly relationship for years.

It was a holiday symbol that might have spurred the greatest reaction for the chamber in 2007. After the town's 100-foot-tall Christmas tree was cut down to make way for an $11 million couplet project, the chamber put up a temporary tree at the Benton County Historical Museum this winter. This year, a new tree will be planted there.

"That was a very nice, positive project they brought to the community," Kugler said.

The chamber also is trying to help its members in more ways, and started an ambassadors program to greet new businesses in town. The group ramped up the Business After Hours networking events - one will be held Wednesday at Spindrift Cellars - and restarted both its newsletter and the Samaritan Awards program.

The event, which honors local volunteers, hadn't been held for five years. "The city of volunteers, right?" said chamber member and former president Don Gist. Gist said honoring Philomath's volunteers created another "what a town" moment, similar to the Christmas tree lighting, when area church choirs banded together to sing carols.

For 2008, the chamber is looking at creating a discount card that could be used at Philomath businesses, said Debbie Thorpe, chamber president.

Thorpe said a community-wide garage sale, where unsold items could be donated to charity groups, also is being considered.

Besides dwindling membership at the start of 2007, the chamber office, in a caboose at the east end of town, was closed for more than two months. In early 2006, the chamber's full-time executive director was laid off for financial reasons. His departure closed the office until a part-time replacement was hired. But that part-timer left for another job in November 2006, and the chamber office was closed until February 2007, when part-time office worker Mona Luebbert started on the job.

Thorpe credited Luebbert with business outreach and recruiting, and running the office well, which doubles as a visitors' center.

Another business group started as the chamber was struggling. In June 2006, the Philomath Downtown Association formed to mitigate problems from the couplet.

It's now working to get Highway 34 between Philomath and Waldport designated as a scenic byway and trying to get a year's worth of consulting from the Oregon Downtown Development Association and the Cascades West Council of Governments. The group also will put up 25 flower baskets around town, install signs to help motorists find businesses, landscape medians and do other projects, said Jack Duren, a board member.

Kugler said the PDA was a "needed breath of fresh air" for downtown.

Chamber leaders said there is some competition with the PDA, but they want to cooperate and communicate to benefit the city.

"The more organizations that can work together, the better off our town will be," Thorpe said.

"We really want to cooperate with them and support what they do. … Both the chamber and the PDA feel there's much more enthusiasm around town, and a lot of things will be happening," Duren said.

Kyle Odegard can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.

Business After Hours

Ready to meet and connect with Philomath business people? Spindrift Cellars, 810 Applegate St., will hold a Philomath Area Chamber of Commerce "Business After Hours" event from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday.