Is new chamber inflating its membership claims?

COMMENTARY

“At the time, InsideIndianRiver received an email from Wilson confirming that he personally delivered the refund check, yet the business is still listed as a member of his chamber.”

MARK SCHUMANN

Despite support from Commissioners Wesley Davis and Tim Zorc, the new the Vero Beach Chamber of Commerce was rebuffed by the County Commission Tuesday in its request for a seat on the countywide Economic Development Council.

Zorc and Davis are friends of the upstart chamber’s founder and acting president, Charlie WIlson. Davis contributed $500 to Wilson’s latest political campaign. Zorc is a former business associate of Wilson’s. But Commissioners Peter O’Bryan, Joe Flescher and Bob Solari were not persuaded by the “Charlie Chamber’s” Chairman Dan Stump, who argued the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce does not effectively represent the interests of Vero Beach.

Stump told commissioners the new chamber wants a seat on the Economic Development Council in order to “offer some advice for the benefit of the whole county.”

Commissioner Flescher said he wants to see the new chamber prove itself. O’Bryan suggested perhaps the City of Vero Beach should designate which chamber will represent Vero Beach on the EDC.  Solari said he was concerned about expanding the size of the 22-member EDC and did not want to weight it with still more chamber representatives.

When it became clear Flescher, O’Bryan and Solari were not willing to join him in supporting the new chamber’s request for a seat on the EDC, Zorc withdrew his motion.

During his presentation Tuesday, Stump told the Commission the new chamber has 107 members. The chamber’s website only lists 71 members, including the Lobster Shanty, which is no longer in business. The new chamber’s list of 71 members also includes at least one business that demanded a refund last year after its bookkeeper inadvertently paid an unsolicited invoice from the new chamber. At the time, InsideIndianRiver received an email from Wilson confirming that he personally delivered the refund check, yet the business is still listed as a member of his chamber.

As it was seeking charter members last year, the new chamber mailed invoices to hundreds of businesses. Some who received the new chamber’s invoice said they paid it thinking it was a renewal notice from the established Indian River Chamber of Commerce, which shortened its name years ago from the Vero Beach/Indian River County Chamber of Commerce. (See: Businesses complain of confusion over new chamber’s dues invoice)