Boundary Regional Chamber appoints new president

By Michelle Croissant

The Boundary Regional Chamber of Commerce has a new president, Alan Cooper, who was appointed by the board in November. Cooper, who served as board member and treasurer with the Chamber for two years, replaced former president Chuck Bennett.

Cooper is a professional educator with a broad range of experience in both K-12 and post-secondary environments.  He was a principal with the Red Deer Public School District for almost 27 years before getting involved with real estate development as a co-owner and co-Developer of Riverside Meadows Subdivision in Grand Forks. He is also a co-owner of BedRock B&B on the Granby River.

Cooper is still involved with education as an Education Policy Studies Instructor with the University of Alberta and as an instructor and as a practicum advisor for students in the West Kootenay Teacher Education Program through Selkirk College and UBC.

The Boundary Sentinel recently reached Cooper on the phone in Red Deer, where he is currently teaching a course at the local college.

The voice of business in the Boundary Region

As Chamber president, Cooper says his role involves chairing meetings and, as he sees it, "being the voice of business in the Boundary Region," from Christina Lake to Bridesville. "What we try to do is to bring business development to the forefront. We try to offer a variety of events that appeal to the business community. We try to speak for businesses and really try to be a lobby group for business in the area."

The Chamber has a board of directors who come from all across the Boundary region. Executive director James Wilson is responsible to the board of directors and his role is focused on providing the day-to-day business of the Chamber, including organizing events.

Cooper really enjoys working with Wilson. "It's a real pleasure. James is just an excellent representative for the Chamber." He likes meeting the different businesses from around the area and interacting with them. "I certainly am looking forward to asking them what other ways the Chamber can support business," he said. "I also enjoy working on projects with them and seeing how we can really put business at the forefront."

The Regional Chamber is fairly new, though a Grand Forks Chamber existed at one time. The Regional Chamber was created with the support of two organizations—Community Futures and the Credit Union. "Both of them certainly contributed a significant amount of funds to set up a new chamber," said Copper, "with the idea of having a regional chamber, because we think that small communities in the Boundary are better working together than they are working separately."

Cooper says the response to the new Chamber has been good. "It's been a learning process and there are certain communities that still have their own organizations." He cited Greenwood as an example, which has a Board of Trade and is something the community wants to retain. "We said that's fine. What we'd like to do is work with you cooperatively; we'd like to sign a joint agreement saying that we will support each other." The Greenwood Board of Trade members receive associate memberships with the Regional Chamber. This was also done with the Christina Lake Chamber of Commerce, which has since ceased to operate and was replaced by a different organization.

"So things are always changing," commented Cooper," but we really try to coordinate throughout the Boundary, we try to work cooperatively with the organizations that are there already to really be a support to everybody, no matter whether they have their own organization or not."

Partnerships

According to Cooper, Community Futures has provided the Chamber with "a variety of really strong support . . . up to this point," including a large amount of seed money and a good portion of Wilson's salary. "We [will] have a time when we have to become more independent, and we know that, so we're trying to get some additional funds so we won't have to rely as much on Community Futures."

Community Futures also provides office space, meeting rooms, technical support such as bookkeeping, and professional advice. "They've been just a huge support," says Cooper, as has the Credit Union and the City of Grand Forks with significant monetary support. "We hope that will continue in the future."

Cooper says that the Chamber is hoping to expand their partnerships and "hopefully financial contributions to the regional districts too . . . C, D and E that encompass the Boundary Region also."

The Chamber endeavors to support the local Downtown Business Association, explained Cooper. "It's tough to have a DBA because it's a smaller community, so they have to work very hard; but James has been working with them carefully—I believe he serves on their board also—so we see that as one important aspect of what our work is."

Cooper said that they also want to work closely with the elected bodies; referring to both the old and new elected leadership throughout the region. "I hope to work with all of them because it is important—business provides employment for our area, it allows people to . . . stay within the area and shop and so on—so I'm anxious to work closely with every single one of the elected governments...to really have a concerned focus for business."

Neighbour’s Computers “one of the success stories”

Cooper cited Neighbour's Computers in Grand Forks as one of their success stories. "It's one of our best success stories here in town," he said. "Neighbours Computers used to work out of a very small location on 2nd Street. Business expanded and they're now in a really good location, so they're one of the real success stories."  

"A lot of times people will point to business problems," said Cooper, "and yes, some businesses do shut down. Sometimes, just as it happened this last year because of illness, retirement and so on, but we also have to remember that there have been other businesses open up and other businesses renew themselves." Neighbour's Computers, for example, was in a position to save and renew Contact Photos when Value Drugs had to shut down due to illness. "In that whole process," described Cooper, "you not only had a computer business expand, but it also retained an important service that couldn't have been retained otherwise.

Time to engage larger employers

The mandate of the Chamber is to work with all businesses in the Boundary Region. In Cooper's opinion, they do a really good job in working with smaller businesses, which "have been very enthusiastic and that's great, because in Grand Forks we do have a lot of small businesses." At the same time, he thinks it is time to try and engage the larger employers in a discussion.

These businesses would include companies like Roxul, Interfor and Unifab that provide a lot of employment in the region. "Their involvement [to date] hasn't been to the degree I would like," says Cooper. "Part of it is because these organizations . . . have head offices located some place else, so it is sometime difficult to interact because they have to work through their head offices. At the same time, I think it's really important because . . . they're a really strong part of the economy of Grand Forks and really should be involved."

Cooper agrees that they need to work to try to put new businesses in Grand Forks. "And we need to work also to help retain the businesses that we have, because that's also a concern too."

Corporate giants and venture capitalism

When asked if the Chamber has any sort of position on bringing in one or more "corporate giants" like Walmart, Cooper said no, they really don't. "Part of that certainly is dependent upon the population, because Grand Forks only has a population of 4K; with the whole valley in the area is 9-10K. We're likely not going to get something like a Walmart. Many people want to see something like a Tim Horton's come in. And we don't really have a position on that, but...we will support the development of new businesses and things as they show interest. All the city can do is make it as attractive as possible for businesses to come, and all we can do is support that and to—if businesses contact us—really say the benefits of locating in Grand Forks.

Cooper believes that one important thing companies need right now “is simply very good Internet access, and that will draw many, many businesses. So to have a good infrastructure for Internet and telecommunications is absolutely crucial for business now."

When asked about the Chamber's opinion on community venture capitalism, which is something that Christina Lake is seriously looking at, Cooper said, "I don't think we really have a position on that. I think we need to get more information. In terms of local venture capital...I don't have enough depth of knowledge to really comment on that at this time." He said that he knows it has worked well in several other places.

Potential resurgence of American tourists

Speaking of the current economic situation in the region, Cooper stated:

"I think we're at a point right now where there is great potential in Grand Forks, especially now with the Canadian dollar having fallen to 80 cents. I think we could see a resurgence of shopping in Grand Forks. We could also see a resurgence of American tourists coming across the border because of the deflated dollar."

When asked if he thought Grand Forks could learn from communities like Chemainus, BC that has successfully leveraged a combination of arts and history in boosting their economic development, Cooper replied, “Chemainus, of course, is the wonderful example of getting a theme, following it through, and all of a sudden you get huge publicity; and you go to Chemainus in the summertime and the place is just packed—full of people looking at the murals, and they've done murals better, as far as I'm concerned, than any other place I know."

Cooper said that the mural idea has been talked about in Grand Forks, but "it just hasn't come to fruition yet." He said the biggest problem is copying. "Because Chemainus has done it so well, you're not going to recreate the success that Chemainus has, most likely, but it still could be something positive in terms of appearance, because that's a challenge for us—to have a good-appearing town." He noted that there has been a lot done in the last couple of years in the way of beautification. "Flower pots, painting downtown, new benches, new garbage cans, a variety of things like that—all those help."

Focus for 2015 includes major fundraising campaign

When discussing the Chamber goals and focus for the next couple of years, Cooper said they need to look at funding. "We have to look at becoming more financially independent, so we're looking at a major fundraising campaign this year. So that's one thing that we have to do."

Cooper said that in order to keep things manageable, he likes the three goals he discussed earlier, in addition to the fundraising campaign. "I like one, engaging the larger businesses. I think the second one would certainly be keeping up our successes with things like Biz After Biz, which has been very successful. And the third one would be...continuing to nurture positive working relationships with the various groups throughout the Boundary Region . . . So those are . . . the goals we really need to look at this year."

"I think it's an interesting time,” reflected Cooper. “I think we'll just have to be positive, accentuate the positive, and look for . . . you never know when opportunities may come up. People have to see us as a forward thinking, progressive community that accepts change, welcomes businesses and wants to become more thriving and dynamic."