Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (May 17/02) - The Inuvik Chamber of Commerce elected some new faces to their board and plans a new attitude that will boost the profile of the group.

The new President of Inuvik's Chamber of Commerce, Paul Watters says the chamber will begin a new membership drive and boost the profile of the business lobby group. - Terry Halifax/NNSL photo

The chamber met last Thursday to elect a new president and executive and also to discuss how they can restore the membership they had built last year.

Paul Watters from Haylor Financial Services was voted in as President, taking over for Derek Lindsay.

As well, the chamber elected three new directors, Megan Holsapple, Bernie MacNeil and Lillian Brewster, who will sit as Vice President. Tammy Littlechilds was nominated as Secretary Treasurer.

Watters said the group has been plagued with shortages on the board and while they hope for better attendance, he says they are ready for more of the same.

"There has been shortages on the board right from the start and I expect it will continue," Watters said.

"As a group, we just didn't gel, because everyone was so busy," he said. "Just finding time to do even the administrative things were too much."

The group is looking at establishing an associate director's position for the past president, to ease the transition of the new board and also as a show of homage to the work Lindsay did while in the position.

Last year's membership was 44 members, but Watters says those numbers have slipped to just 13 this year.

"We haven't really even requested that our past membership renew," he said.

They plan to send out a mailer with an invoice for this year's membership in hopes that people will support the initiative.

To boost the chamber's image, they hope to spearhead one high-profile initiative that will increase the visibility of the group.

"We're looking at taking on a project to call our own, that we can use to cheer on the chamber," he said.

Some of the projects the group is considering are the upcoming Midnight Madness or the Great Northern Arts Festival. They will also share a booth at the Inuvik Petroleum Show with the NWT Chamber.

"They were very disappointed when they found out there was no space left at this year's show, so I stuck my neck out and extended the invitation for them to share our space," he said.

The NWT Chamber secured a group insurance plan that Watters hopes will draw in some small business owners who couldn't otherwise afford group insurance for their employees.

The chamber plans to meet the second Thursday of each month.