Business Advocacy Groups Consider Some Form Of Strategic Alliance

It has been many years since the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce, the Spokane Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the Spokane Area Economic Development Council split the sheets.

Now they are talking about getting back together again, setting up house, sharing costs, pooling resources where possible, cooperating on projects of mutual benefit or concern.

Officially, at least, it ends right there. They’re just going to live together maybe.

But knowledgable insiders say that - given today’s emphasis on reinventing and downsizing industry and institutions to achieve greater cost efficiencies - living together can lead to only one thing: wedding bells.

Indeed, they say, such a marriage would create just the sort of super-organization needed to succeed Momentum, the economic-development umbrella organization which helps to fund the above agencies.

Momentum has only a year and a half left in its second five-year program. What comes after that remains to be seen.

A task force is studying the question, and is expected to make its recommendations to the Momentum board within the next few months.

Meantime, a draft overview of a so-called “Strategic Alliance” between the above agencies identifies six areas where they might do well to share resources:

Research.

Communications.

Public policy.

International business and trade.

Business and job retention.

Co-location.

With the probable exception of co-location, the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce has expressed interest in becoming a partner in the process, too.

But EDC President Bob Cooper, point man for the alliance, says there is “no support” for a merger of the involved agencies. “There will be no melding,” he assures.

And Cooper insists, discussions are not aimed at supplanting Momentum.

Momentum chief of staff Susan Meyer agrees there’s no talk of merger - either of the agencies or of Momentum.

“The discussions between agencies are pointing toward coordination, collaboration and co-location of the agencies,” she says. “But that is entirely different from combining agencies in one organization again.”

Meyer said she is “only an observer. The agencies are undertaking the studies on their own.”

But, she notes, an original goal of Momentum was a more-coordinated effort among agencies pursuing related, ofttimes overlapping strategies.

In 1991, while Momentum underwent a lengthy self-analysis as to whether or not it had a future, some member agencies pushed an alliance similar to today’s movement.

Ultimately, the business community reinvented and refinanced Momentum for another five years, and the movement toward consolidation lost impetus.

“What the agencies are setting out to do now is take the final step toward cooperation by pooling resources to accomplish shared purposes,” says Meyer.

Meyer said the two chambers, the EDC, the convention and visitors bureau all have areas where collaboration would serve mutual interests.

For example, she said, all need research, but EDC is the only one with a research department. Conceptually, all could benefit from a combined effort in this department.

Cautions EDC’s Cooper, “The alliance is very preliminary in concept. A lot could change.”

Indeed, Cooper says, there are some skeptics who question whether it’s even a good idea for the agencies to move in together. If the trio moves into the same building together, consolidation will automatically ensue, critics of co-location contend.

Cooper thinks not.

But consider the recent retirement of longtime chamber boss George Reitemeier, retirement age creeping up on convention bureau chief Hartly Kruger, and Momentum’s questionable future.

There has never been a better chance of bringing this community’s business advocacy groups back together again under one roof, one board, one action plan, one budget.

But whose roof?

With one exception, the agencies are all renters.

The Spokane Area Chamber is the only one with real estate assets. It owns its offices on West Riverside next to the Spokane Club, which covets the site.

The quarters are too tight for all the agencies. But some suggest the chamber could sell the property, and use the equity to build a new home for all at Riverpoint business park that would be a one-stop business service center.

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel’s column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review