Jackson Free Press

The Jackson Chamber of Commerce, a subsidiary of the metro-area Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership, is planning to become an independent body to better advocate for the city's economic interests. A move to complete autonomy is probably more than a year away but the leaders of both organizations are working to develop a plan for separation, current Jackson Chamber Chairman Jonathan Lee said, this week.

"The Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership does not want to see us fail," Lee said. "What's going to take a while to formulate is our fee structure."

Currently, the Greater Jackson Partnership, also known as the Metro Chamber, funds the Jackson Chamber's programs from its $2.3 million operating budget. The Partnership aims to promote business development in the entire Jackson metropolitan area, including Rankin and Madison counties as well as Jackson and Hinds County. Because of overlap between the Partnership and the Jackson Chamber in staff and programs, differentiating the two organization's operations will take time, Partnership President Duane O'Neill said.

"Quite honestly, it's the money issue," O'Neill said. "So much of it is joint ventures that (it is hard) to say, 'Here's what the Jackson Chamber alone takes out of the budget.' A lot of the programs overlap. That's one of the reasons that it takes a while."

O'Neill added that the separation should not require Jackson businesses to increase the amount they pay in membership dues."It's just coming up with the right formula and different avenues of new income for both of us that make sense," he said.

Independence was always part of the plan for the Jackson Chamber, O'Neill said. The original Jackson Chamber of Commerce, which dated back to 1889, became the Greater Jackson Partnership in 1992, at a time when many businesses and residents were leaving the city for the suburbs. In shifting to a metro-area focus, the Partnership necessarily lost some of its ability to advocate for economic development within the city's borders, said Jackson retired cardiologist George Schimmel, who helped organize the Jackson Chamber.

"If some company was looking to locate in the metro area, the Metro Chamber is a voice for the entire area, so it has to give equal balance to all the communities in the metro area," Schimmel said. "A Jackson chamber could woo and pursue that business without any conflict of interest."

When it was formed in November 2006, the Jackson Chamber represented an opportunity to focus development of the metro area on the core.

"We always had the city of Jackson at the heart of our mission, but it was enhanced so much by being able to create a Jackson Chamber of Commerce," O'Neill said. "However our organization also represents a larger territory. I think it just makes sense for Jackson to have its own entity. Others have it in the territory we cover, so for (Jackson businesses) to have their own board, their own autonomy, makes a lot of sense."

An independent Jackson Chamber would not detract from the Partnership's work, but "complement" it, Schimmel said, "by developing our distinctive voice to join all the other voices that surround us."

Lee echoed Schimmel's sentiment.

"We need someone that can sit at the table and represent Jackson," Lee said. "We need an individual organization that has nothing more than Jackson's interests at heart."

Lee noted that the state Legislature is currently considering bills that would move offices for the state Department of Public Safety and the state Tax Commission out of Jackson to elsewhere in the metro area.

Previous Comments

ID

156761

Comment

Why is Harvey Johnson and others not trying to block the state from moving Mississippi Highway Patrol and the tax commision out of Jackson. I understand that they pay no taxes but i would think if the city of Jackson dosent have new businesses ready to move into buildings that might be vacated, then the city should fight the move. Their workers use gas in the city and eat here. If the state is going to spend money to build shiny new buildings then why not build it in Jackson.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2010-03-16T13:45:01-06:00