April – Meet the new Division 14 Councillor and Merger Talks
On 7 April we held our April breakfast at Currumbin RSL. The event was a joint breakfast with the Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce. Following the Council Elections it seemed fitting that we welcome our new Division 14 Councillor to talk to us all about her vision for the Division.
As many of you will be aware Cllr O’Neill was previously the President of the Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce.
Another reason for the joint breakfast was to discuss a merger between the two Chambers, as a result of Gail standing down as President of the SGCCC. The room was very supportive of the discussions and since then a sub group of representatives from both Chambers have been meeting to address the various issues involved with merging.
There are a number of strong synergies which merging will grow upon. These include the different styles of the two chambers;- Southern is strong on advocacy, petitions and issues, with a keen interest in improving the local transport and connectivity to the Airport;- The Creek to Creek Chamber has a strong networking and meetings base with an active membership who attend a high proportion of events. In the next few years both Chambers will all have a number of issues which if we unite and have a stronger voice we can promote, including the extension of light rail to Coolangatta via the airport, improvements to local roads, the delivery of better infrastructure, including the M1, light and heavy rail and broadband to our part of our city and inclusion in the Commonwealth Games packages and legacy projects.
On the day a number of questions were raised. There were two main questions ; Timing? which we now anticipate will be shortly. And the mechanism for a merger? This is very likely to be two Extraordinary General meetings, (EGM’s) held simultaneously. At these EGM’s the eligible membership will be asked to vote on proposals to merge, to appoint an interim management committee, to merge funds (under both constitutions any funds must be passed to a similar group with similar constitutional stances and beliefs), and to adopt a new set of constitutional rules to ensure continuation of the current Chambers’ works. Based on the feedback each group has received so far it is anticipated that the proposals will be successful and a new Chamber will be formed. Don’t forget that to be eligible to vote at an EGM each member must be financial, ie not lapsed!
The subject of a name was also discussed and a proposal is now under consideration to call the new Chamber the “Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce”.
These matters are now close to resolution and it is likely that the EGM’s will be called during June.
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