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Margaret “Peggy” White has been named the interim Executive Director of the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce. White has been a chamber employee since 2001. The chamber also informed its members of financial woes by a letter. The financial woes, plus the "interim" Executive Director title, seem to suggest that the ideas in an EverythingNRV.com opinion piece published back in October might need to be examined more carefully.
“This appointment follows a decision by the Chamber to not replace the vacancy created by Dawn K. Adams’ separation from employment effective October 3, 2007,” said chamber President Spencer Rygas, in a letter to the chamber membership, which was obtained by EverythingNRV. In the letter, Rygas told the membership, “The Executive Committee, along with the former Executive Director, has for over 6 months, extensively reviewed multiple years of budgets and operations to analyze the prospective financial security of the organization. Though the Chamber is solvent and has cash reserves, we found that status quo operations would ultimately result in near term yearly deficiencies. We determined that significant and immediate measures were required for long term financial sustainability of the organization.”
“It was discovered that the organization had an increasing reliance on fundraising to balance the budget year to year, at the same time it was becoming impossible to raise the same amount of money with the same resources and efforts with which we allocated in the past”, said Rygas. “In addition to the challenges on raising money, our largest fundraisers had diminishing value to the membership. We recommended that ongoing operational expenses should be budgeted at levels requiring nominal, if any, reliance on fundraising to maintain a balanced budget, and had to figure out a way to significantly reduce cost.”
Rygas went on to say, “Our decision to not replace the considerable payroll expense of the 4th staff position is the sweeping change that is necessary to alter the ongoing budget to the point of long term financial sustainability. Eliminating the time spent on fundraising will allow our core staff to more effectively execute the Chamber’s Program of Work and provide critical value-added support and services to its membership and other constituents.” “The Chamber plans to retain a three person staff, and has no plans to establish a search committee for new employees,” said Rygas. “ Our staff of Peggy White, Brenda Bazzle and Donna Rorrer are all knowledgeable, having have been with our Chamber since 2001 or before. Each has expressed excitement at the opportunity to focus heavily on the needs of our members and the initiatives that Pulaski needs from its Chamber of Commerce.” When contacted Wednesday afternoon, Peggy White politely refused our requests for comments on her new position. The letter bears out that an opinion piece, published by everythingNRV.com back on October 18th of 2007, was right on target as to what needs to take place for the Pulaski Chamber. A part of that editorial piece said, "Perhaps the time is right, right now, for community leaders to come together again and push for talks (between Montgomery County Chamber and Pulaski Chamber) to start." It went on to add, "community leaders (not those who might be personally waging a turf war) should press for representatives from each Chamber" to begin merger talks. It makes sound business sense for the Pulaski County Chamber to back off the cavalier additude a moment and hold some talks with the Montgomery County Chamber. What could it hurt to talk? There's no downside with the thought.
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Queen Elizabeth, England's last Tudor monarch, came to the throne during a turbulent period in the nation's history. Although she has been described as vain, miserly, and fickle, she was remarkably successful as queen. During her reign, England pursued a policy of expansionism in commerce and geographical exploration, literature, and the arts flourished. The Elizabethan era saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the colonization of North America. Which US state is named after Elizabeth?
