Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Chamber to sell building

This week's The Woodstock Independent (TWI) reports that the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce will be forced to sell its headquarters at 136 Cass Street.

Over the past 20 years the Chamber's Boards of Directors continually dug deeper and deeper holes in loose sand by refinancing the mortgage on the building six times to fund operating expenses. The original purchase price (or mortgage?) of about $88,000 grew to the present debt of about $188,000. That is not the direction that a mortgage amortization schedule would show. By now the remaining mortgage ought to be in the vicinity of $50,000.

TWI reports that the Chamber owes another $30,000.

I wonder whether the members and the public would like to see a listing of all members of the Board of Directors and Executive Directors over the past 20 years. I know that some Board members were greatly concerned over the past five years. No one was willing to go "on the record" in the past 2 1/2 years.

As with any business, the Board of Directors is to set the course for the organization. It is the Executive Director who is to execute the plans established by the Board.

Where did direction or execution fail so badly?

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