BusinessTN

From Massachusetts to California -- and from Knoxville to Memphis -- the last year has seen many communities across the United States making tough fiscal decisions as they work to weather the fallout from the recent economic downturn. This is especially true in predominantly rural counties without an anchoring metropolis such as Nashville, Knoxville or Memphis, where small incorporated towns work hard -- and with far less support -- to build and maintain the vibrancy of their communities.

According to the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), local chambers -- business and community associations funded by membership dues that are not part of local or national governments -- serve as the heart and backbone of their communities. Chamber members work together to improve their communities and, when necessary, impact important business or civic decisions. Across Tennessee, business leaders in the big cities, small towns and the rural counties often turn to their local chambers of commerce for advice and assistance on how to sustain and build their livelihoods in the face of declining sales and increasing unemployment.

In many ways, Gibson County is a typical example of a metropolis-less region. One of the largest counties land-wise in Tennessee at approximately 603 square miles, it has no metropolis within its own county boundaries and a population of slightly less than 50,000 people. (It is a part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.) The county does, however, have 10 incorporated cities within its boundaries, including Bradford, Dyer, Gibson, Humboldt, Kenton, Medina, Milan, Rutherford, Trenton and Yorkville. And within the county borders are three separate chambers -- the Humboldt Chamber of Commerce, which was chartered more than 100 years ago in 1905 and has 236 members; the Milan Chamber of Commerce, with 185 members; and the Greater Gibson County Chamber of Commerce, which is situated in Trenton, the county seat, and has 275 members.

"Gibson is a diverse county," says Tara Bradford, the executive director of the Greater Gibson County Chamber of Commerce. "We have five special school districts -- Milan, Gibson County, Bradford, Trenton and the Humboldt City Schools. We have 10 incorporated cities. Every community is proud of its unique heritage. Historically, we've been fighting against ourselves with territorial issues, and there has been a belief for a long time that we could do more together than apart. What we need to accomplish is bigger than any of us."

Approximately a year ago, the Greater Gibson County Chamber of Commerce approached the chambers in Milan and Humboldt about a possible merger -- an idea that was not a new one, according to Bradford. "This is an issue that has been discussed regularly for 15 years," Bradford says. At the time, Bradford was the director of the Milan Chamber, and it was understood that if a merger were to take place, she would become the overall director, since the Greater Gibson County Chamber had no director at the time. "We felt that a merger would give us strength in numbers," she says. "We believed that it would allow our members to work together to expand our business base."

It turned out that "we" didn’t include "Humboldt," as Humboldt leaders quickly responded that they were not interested. Milan leaders were willing to at least discuss the idea. "We brought in some third party groups, listed the pros and cons and put together a task force," says Victor Parkins, now the president of the Milan Chamber and the editor of the Milan Mirror Exchange. "Both Gibson County and Milan would have to have a full membership vote to change the by-laws."

The executive committees of the Milan and Greater Gibson County Chambers worked out the details for the merger, and a third-party accounting group looked at the financial viability of the merger declaring it a non-issue, according to Bradford. Nonetheless, there were plenty of other issues keeping Milan officials from approving it, not the least of which was a lack of interest by its members.

"I became president of the Milan Chamber in the middle of it all," Parkins says. "I can see the advantages on both sides of the issue, but the members of the Milan Chamber spoke loudly and clearly that they did not want to move forward with this proposed merger."

Parkins cites a number of questions the Milan Chamber members raised that led to their tabling of the issue, including such basic ones as whether a merger was needed, along with the practical concern of whether a merger would mean the loss of an office (and therefore jobs) in Milan since the Greater Gibson County Chamber office is in Trenton.

In many ways, the concerns of the different officials and members were no different than those faced by any smaller group or organization pondering a merger into a larger entity.

"Members of the Milan Chamber of Commerce felt we would lose our identity," Parkins says.
After all, what a development-minded person may see as splintered, a resident may view as diverse. And while hard economic times can create environments of desperation-fueled experimentation, it's much more common for it to create a climate where any change is deemed too risky. Again, Gibson County provides the perfect microcosm.

"The membership felt uncomfortable changing things when they could not predict how it would affect the businesses involved during the current economic climate or in the future," Parkins says.

The end result? The Greater Gibson County Chamber Board voted to move forward. Milan's board tabled it twice. Proponents of regionalism take note: It's all well and good to tout the potential value of combined development efforts. But actually planting a seed that takes root takes more than high hopes and enthusiastic expectations. Even better, bring an example or two to the table.

"Within the state of Tennessee, we couldn’t find a good example for what we wanted to accomplish with the merger," Bradford says. "The closest example is when chambers and economic development offices have merged. There is hope that a merger can be discussed again in the future, perhaps when other chambers in similar counties successfully merge."

In the end, it doesn't take high-level machinations, ill intentions or dramatic turns to retard efforts at true regionalism. For a small, metropolis-free county like Gibson, a lost job, an uncertain benefit or just a lack of interest will do just fine.