The Athabasca District Chamber of Commerce will be producing a business directory.
Talk of producing a directory had been debated at several past chamber meetings, but was put on hold when publisher Ross Hunter from the Athabasca Advocate, a chamber member, said the directory would be competing with the paper’s community directory.
The chamber and Hunter met several times and were unable to come to an agreement on the directory, at which point the chamber decided to go ahead with the project.
The directory talk was started because the chamber is looking to have a full-time paid staff person to be the face of the Athabasca District Chamber of Commerce.
The directory is supposed to bring in revenue to help fund the position.
At the last chamber meeting on July 11, AEC director Angela Betts told the chamber there needed to be some kind of commitment on the chamber’s part to continue with the guide.
The chamber members present at the meeting passed a motion to hire a salesperson for the directory project.
Chamber member Noel Major voiced his opinion on the directory during the meeting, pointing out that the Athabasca Advocate already produces a community directory, which is published and updated every year.
“We’re a non-profit organization,” Major said. “We’re not here to compete with the members of the chamber.”
Major said he believed there was another way for the chamber to raise money to support a full-time staff person.
“(The Advocate) has been doing this for how many years,” Major expanded. “It’s (their) revenue and we’re going to start infringing upon that. I would come up with another way to raise money to hire a student.
“I don’t think we’re in business to be in competition with other businesses,” he added. “I understand that the chamber could raise some money, but do we have to be in competition with one of our members?
“Businesses should be prepared for competition, (but) they shouldn’t be prepared for competition from non-profits that aren’t competing on an equal basis.”
He added that none of his businesses would place ads in the business directory.
Betts said the chamber couldn’t back out now because there were businesses that had already placed ads.
“The issue for me is that I have gone out to this community and sold ads in this guide, promising what it is supposed to be, and believing in this product and the chamber, and I cannot refund those people,” Betts said. “You might as well close your doors. The chamber has a reputation to uphold.”
Betts continued to explain that she viewed the Advocate’s production and the chamber’s business directory as two different things.
“The specifications of the chamber directory are that it will get further than the Advocate guide,” Betts explained. “It will be taken with me to the oil and gas trade shows and will be available in the (Alberta Energy) Corridor, including the M.D. of Opportunity, it is not just on the Town of Athabasca.”
At the beginning of the meeting, Betts said the residential ‘white pages’ listings were being left out of the chamber directory to try and patch things over with the Advocate. To this, chamber member Kathy Wright said, “You guys are making a mistake.
“If the white pages aren’t in there, you might as well give it up now then,” she said. “That’s just me personally, but I’m confused on why you are, except that Ross (the Advocate) is unhappy either way. You ticked him off either way.”
Betts added, “Kathy is bringing up a valid point. Originally the directory was supposed to include the residential numbers so it would be valuable for household listings as well. Now it is just a business guide, so I am not sure that it will sell as well that way.”
The result was a decision to include white pages in the directory.
The chamber stated at their last meeting that several attempts were given to the Advocate to be a part of the directory.
“We continued to try and work with the Advocate to see if we could find a common ground on that,” Betts said. “We were not able to work out an agreement.
“It’s a frustrating topic for (Hunter). He absolutely sees it as the chamber competing with him in no uncertain terms.”
Chamber vice-president Phyllis Pitura (who has now stepped down from the role) said the disagreements with the Advocate boiled down to the chamber not wanting to give up the rights to the directory to accommodate the Advocate.
“It’s to generate revenue for the chamber,” Betts explained. And Pitura added, “We would like to do this again in a few years.”
