PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend, Tri-Area and Port Ludlow chambers of commerce will unite in 2010 for a trial relationship.
“What we propose here is getting married, but we’d like to live together first,” said Chuck Russell, Tri-Area Chamber of Commerce board member, drawing laughs at Monday’s Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Fort Worden State Park Commons.
Russell, longtime owner of Valley Tavern in Port Hadlock who has attended recent Port Townsend chamber board meetings along Port Hadlock chamber representative Dana Petrick, drew the analogy after Ryan Anderson, Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce president, explained the proposed formation of a unified Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce.
Only missing in the mix is the Quilcene-Brinnon Chamber of Commerce, which opted out of the idea when it was first proposed this year.
“We want to represent all of the county . . . by bringing forces together and unifying the message we can better deliver the message [of Jefferson County business],” Anderson told about 50 attending the lunch Âeon, including Russell, Tri-Area chamber vice president, and that chamber’s president, Frances Rawski.
One membership fee
Anderson said advantages would include paying the price of one chamber membership — Port Townsend’s — to be a member of all three chambers.
Anderson said more targeted marketing with a common message was another advantage.
Times were changing, Anderson said, and there was the possibility that Port Townsend one day would no longer be the commercial center.
“Port Townsend is the economic driver in East Jefferson County,” he said.
When Jefferson County constructs a sewer system in the Tri-Area, that will attract new business to that area, he added.
“There is a strong indicator that the economic center is not going to be Port Townsend; it is going to be the Tri-Area,” Anderson said.
“Right now Port Townsend is kind of the big dog on the street,” he said, which should not “snow plow” the issues important to Port Ludlow and the Tri-Area of Port Hadlock, Chimacum, Irondale, Center and Marrowstone Island.
As proposed, he said, two members from each chamber on the countywide chamber board and subcommittees would be formed to ensure that all community identities are recognized.
Equal voting
Voting would be equal, “not just the city” of Port Townsend, he said.
Port Townsend chamber luncheon meetings would remain every Monday, he said, starting next week at the Elks Lodge No. 317, 555 Otto St., off state Highway 20, about two miles south of Port Townsend.
Tri-Area and Port Ludlow chambers would alternate meeting places.
The plan is to consolidate resources and make sure that each area gets three business mixers a year, he said.
Anderson said the Tri-Area and Port Ludlow chambers each would contribute 15 percent of its revenues to the countywide chamber, as proposed.
What happens with Port Townsend Lodging Tax Advisory Committee funds, generated by a 3 percent tax on lodging, is uncertain with Port Townsend Deputy Mayor George and county Administrator Philip Morley discussing that matter.
A Web site would be created for all three chambers.
Anderson stressed that nothing about the proposal was set in stone.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com. Chew serves on the Port Townsend chamber board.
