The fragmented St. Louis area badly needs a unifying force, and the St. Louis Regional Chamber is as good a candidate as any for that role.
Unfortunately, the chamber has been preoccupied with internal drama for at least the past year, last month of Chief Executive Joe Reagan. Reagan was accused of creating a , s and criticized for deficit spending.
People are also reading…
Amid all this, the mission of regionalism has suffered.
If the group were merely a business club and lobbying organization, the main functions of many chambers of commerce, the drama would have little consequence beyond the individuals involved. In St. Louis, though, the chamber also serves 鈥 or is supposed to serve 鈥 as the region鈥檚 lead economic development organization.
That function includes gathering data about the region鈥檚 workforce and other economic assets; marketing St. Louis to businesses that are looking to expand; and serving as a neutral broker when multiple sites in the region are competing for the same opportunity.
In last year鈥檚 , perhaps the biggest opportunity St. Louis has ever pursued, the Regional Chamber was conspicuous by its absence. Officials said the group played a behind-the-scenes role, but it should have been front and center.
The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, which represents St. Louis and St. Louis County, put together a credible proposal that acknowledged sites in other parts of the region, but many people wondered why a truly regional body didn鈥檛 take the lead.
We have such a body, of course, but apparently Reagan and the Regional Chamber didn鈥檛 have the trust and confidence of other leaders in the region.
Now Reagan is gone and longtime banker Tom Chulick is his interim replacement. Rebuilding trust will be a big task for him and for whoever takes the job permanently.
The chamber鈥檚 executive committee, headed by Chairman Warner Baxter, has important decisions to make. For instance, does St. Louis need to have one of nation鈥檚 best-compensated chamber executives?
Reagan made $771,000 in 2015 and $600,000 in 2016, according to tax filings. A smaller starting salary should be enough to attract qualified candidates, and carefully written incentives could encourage the new CEO to rebuild the group鈥檚 economic development function and form collaborative relationships with regional leaders.
The executive committee may even need to ask itself the hardest question of all: Are we the right group to represent the region?
In some places, such as Nashville, the chamber of commerce is responsible for economic development and does it well. Other regions have separate organizations that coordinate business-attraction efforts. The Kansas City Area Development Council and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership are examples.
鈥淭his would be an opportune time for the regional business community to rethink the strategies and rethink the various roles that are played by the private and public sectors,鈥 says Denny Coleman, former head of the St. Louis County Economic Council. 鈥淲e have missed out on opportunities at significant job attraction.鈥
Greg Prestemon, president of the Economic Development Center of St. Charles County, thinks the chamber-led model can still work. 鈥淎 strong, focused Regional Chamber is really important to the region鈥檚 success,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that there be one overall organization that has clear prominence in economic development.鈥
Either way, continuing to do business as usual is not an option. It鈥檚 time for the Regional Chamber to either step up into a true leadership role or step back and let someone else do the job.