The South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce’s Osoyoos office on 85th Street will close on April 1 because the chamber can’t afford to stay at the location and the organization is having difficulties in keeping enough volunteers to run the office. The chamber is currently seeking another location in Osoyoos were they could set up shop without paying rent. Photo by Paul Everest - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-March 17, 2010
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
The South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce is looking for a new office in Osoyoos because it can no longer afford to stay at its current location on 85th Street.
Chamber President Chris Scheuren said the organization still wants to maintain a presence in town and will move out of its current office on April 1.
He said financial reasons are the main reason behind the move as it has become too expensive for the chamber to stay at the current office.
The chamber is paying between $4,500 and $5,000 a year to cover rent and utility costs there.
Scheuren also said it’s difficult to keep the office staffed since the chamber relies on volunteers.
When volunteers are away, he added, the office’s doors sometimes have to close.
The chamber’s new plan is to find a location in town where it can set up shop for free and devote the money it had been using for rent and utilities to pay someone on a part-time basis to work out of the office.
The chamber opened its 85th Street location seven years ago, but Scheuren said it almost closed prior to the amalgamation of the Osoyoos, Oliver and Okanagan Falls chambers in 2008.
When the amalgamation took place, money from the chamber’s other member communities was used to keep the Osoyoos office open.
Three volunteers run the Osoyoos office.
The Oliver office has two paid employees and 11 volunteers.
Scheuren said the chamber is still trying to figure out how it will provide service in Osoyoos after April 1 if a new location hasn’t been found here.
People seeking the chamber’s services might have to call or visit the Oliver office, he said.
Once the chamber finds a new home, Scheuren said, it will begin offering its services to local non-profit and community-based organizations to help them organize and carry out events and activities in the area.
For example, if someone wanted to organize a parade, the chamber could help, he said.
The Osoyoos Chamber of Commerce operated in town since 1953.
It moved out of a temporary office at the corner of highways 3 and 97 in 2002.
A contract to run the Osoyoos Visitor Information Centre changed hands from the chamber to Destination Osoyoos that year after the chamber was evicted from the centre.
The eviction came after a five-month fight between the Town of Osoyoos and the chamber over improving tourism in Osoyoos and the ownership of the centre.
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