Florence chamber, council talk of working together and the need for a plan
by Mark Cowling | Florence Reminder & Blade Tribune
Members of the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce said they could benefit from a strategic plan to maintain momentum when new leaders take the reins. A lapse in communication may have recently cost the chamber a good opportunity to make such a plan, according to discussion Monday in a Town Council work session with the chamber.
Town staff recently offered the services of a facilitator to help the chamber develop a strategic plan, but the Town Council ultimately voted against paying for it. The way it was reported in the Florence Reminder, “It looked like the chamber didn’t care about it,” chamber Treasurer Antoinette Smith said at Monday’s meeting.
But in fact, “we were all very vested in the program. … We were all geared up to be there the next day to start strategic planning,” Smith said, adding that chamber members didn’t know they needed to advocate for it before the Town Council.
