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The Northeast Kingdom Chamber Board of Trustees Votes To Drop Tradename Issue, Citing the Importance of Focusing On Its Membership & Mission

At the beginning of the year, we wrote a letter to you, our membership, citing the reasons why the Northeast Kingdom Chamber was pursuing a tradename appeal before Washington Superior Court regarding the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce name. Today, we are once again reporting back to you, to inform you that the Northeast Kingdom Chamber Board of Trustees voted at a recent board meeting to drop the tradename appeal. Among the reasons cited for dropping the appeal were the potential loss of momentum on important chamber projects, possible energies and costs expended and the concern that a court trial might create divisiveness within our membership area.

WHY DROP THE APPEAL?

When the Northeast Kingdom Chamber first started this appeal process in the fall, it was believed this issue would be completely resolved within a few months of our notice of appeal. Clearly, that has not happened, as this tradename appeal appears to be the first ever for a non-profit organization (or any other organization for that matter) seeking retention of its former name. Even with our attorney aggressively pressing for this concern to be promptly considered before the courts, this issue has dragged on for months.

Earlier this month at a court status conference, the parties and the court discussed the potential options for seeing this case to final resolution. These options ranged from having the parties submit the case to the court “on paper” for a decision, to holding a full court trial on the merits. Having learned that both St. Johnsbury Works DBA St. Johnsbury Chamber and the court preferred the option of a court trial, dragging this issue out for more months to come, the Northeast Kingdom Chamber Board of Trustees has decided to do what we believe is in the best interests of our membership and region and drop this tradename issue. We believe our efforts and resources should not be squandered on a court trial, when there is so much to be done to help our businesses and improve the economic vitality of this region. Simply put, we are committed on focusing our attention squarely on the future, not the past.

WHY THE APPEAL IN THE FIRST PLACE?

As many of you know, the roots of our chamber grew from our origins as the St. Johnsbury Chamber. Established in the 1880s, this organization was known as the St. Johnsbury Chamber until we changed our name in 1990 to the Northeast Kingdom Chamber, a move heartily endorsed at the time by the then-membership of the St. Johnsbury Chamber and, ironically, the State of Vermont. It is important to note that while our membership appeal has regionally broadened over the years, our membership in St. Johnsbury, our home community, has always been strong (a full 50 percent of our membership). That tie to our history will always remain very important to this organization, but, while we must admit we are a little sad to see this piece of history go, we acknowledge we need to move on and create an equally rich future.

To be honest, we also appealed the trade name decision because we and the 38 other chambers in the Vermont Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (VACCE) believed the Secretary of State’s action to strip our chamber of the tradename set a very unfortunate precedent. Even now, there remain no criteria for the retention of a tradename, thus this situation could very well affect 41 percent of chambers statewide and hundreds of Vermont businesses now and in the future. We have decided, with the assistance of VACCE, to pursue a legislative change to this Secretary of State oversight, rather than pursuing this matter further in the courts.

GOING FORWARD

It is important for you to know that our chamber dropping the legal appeal of the tradename does not change how we represent our members nor our purpose. St. Johnsbury Works DBA St. Johnsbury Chamber will not take over our role as representing our St. Johnsbury member businesses. The Northeast Kingdom Chamber is not changing its focus, mission or purpose as we go forward. We realize that having two chambers located in the same town is confusing, however, we are confident that through our continuing communication with you, our members, we can differentiate our work from that of others. We want to make clear the value of what our chamber offers as we execute work that reflects our mission, size and scope.

As we noted in our last letter to you, we are sincerely focusing all of our efforts on the many great initiatives and projects ahead of us, including the printing of our newly revamped tourism map/brochure, a redesigned chamber logo and the biggest refreshment of our web site in chamber history. These are projects that directly benefit you as members.

If you have any questions on any issues regarding the chamber, please feel free to contact the chamber at 802-748-3678 or at director@nekchamber.com.

Many thanks for your support of the chamber.

Sincerely,
Board of Trustees, Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce

nEK CHAMBER OFFERING EXPANDED RIBBON-CUTTING SERVICES

The Northeast Kingdom Chamber has announced it will greatly expand services when assisting businesses with grand openings and ribbon cuttings. The chamber, based in St. Johnsbury, has 400 members throughout the tri-county region.

In addition to offering its usual services, inviting dignitaries and promoting the openings/ribbon cuttings prior to the event, the chamber will also write and distribute press releases and photos after the event to send to regional and state media outlets. The business will also be given a memento of the celebration - a framed photo of the actual ribbon cutting.

"The Northeast Kingdom Chamber is committed to the highest level of customer service," said Chamber President Wes Ward, from Wes Ward Auto Repair, whose own shop was recognized for customer service by AAA in 2008. "The NEK Chamber wants to look at every opportunity possible to promote local businesses to a broader audience."

The service is being offered to businesses, regardless of chamber membership, and the NEK Chamber will work with other chambers and associations in the region to ensure representation at the event.