WEST VALLEY CITY -- City government has left the local chamber of commerce and plans to set up its own business advisory council because city officials maintain the chamber doesn't represent enough West Valley firms and is spread too thin because the chamber also includes Taylorsville and Kearns.
But chamber officials call it a "power move" motivated by past disputes over whether a government official should be a voting member of the chamber board. The city may also be reacting to a chamber-sponsored survey containing questions city officials objected to.West Valley City Manager John Patterson said the chamber represents only 10 percent of West Valley City businesses and those aren't a good cross section of the business community in general. Also, by including three communities, the chamber is "diluting the focus desired by our mayor and council."
Patterson said the City Council has been talking about the chamber's effectiveness for several years and only recently decided to withdraw. He said the board vote and survey flaps had no bearing on the decision.
"We want to seek a louder voice, a more focused voice of business," Patterson said. Right now, the chamber is trying to serve three communities. When we had a conflict with Kearns, the chamber was in a horrible position. Both are chamber members, so the chamber said, 'We can't take sides here.' Murray has its own chamber, Magna has its own chamber, why can't we have our own group of business people to advise the elected officials?"
Pam Ostmark, president and chief executive officer of the chamber, disagrees. "We're disappointed that they've kind of turned their back on business, but we don't feel that we'll be hurt at all. Our mission is to represent business and its interests, not the interest of government," she said. "We feel its a power move on their part to tell us what to do."
Ostmark said she believes the withdrawal was prompted by the survey and board vote disputes, not doubts about the chamber's work.
As far as the chamber's survey, "They didn't feel we should ask those questions. We felt, if you're the government, there isn't any question we shouldn't ask you. They don't have the right to tell us what we can send to our members and what we can't," Ostmark said.
"There is no animosity and we want to have a good relationship with them," Ostmark said. "We hope to mend whatever they're unhappy with, but we aren't going to do what they tell us to do. We're governed by our own board, not by the city."