By Kaitlyn Tolleson
The El Dorado Chamber of Commerce has officially expanded its name by becoming the El Dorado–Union County Chamber of Commerce as of Monday, according to Jeremy Stratton, president and chief executive officer of the chamber.
“For us, this is a big change,” said Stratton. “We are expanding our name. We are not the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce anymore. We are working with the whole county.”
Stratton named off three reasons behind the name change as the following:
• He said that 28.6 percent of chamber members are from outside the city limits of El Dorado.
• The chamber is putting effort into economic development. “Most of our industrial properties are in the county and most of the clients we deal with are in the county,” said Stratton.
• The state, specifically the Governor’s Office and Economic Development Organization, has been pushing the chamber to be more regional in its approach.
“We all need to work together,” said Stratton. “This matter has been discussed for three or four months now. I was on a time-line trying to get it done by December, but our board approved it right away.”
The Smackover Chamber of Commerce, the only other chamber in Union County, is aware of the decision to include all of the county and Stratton said that he hopes Smackover’s chamber will continue to grow.
“We have talked with them several times to assure them that we do not want to take over their operation,” said Stratton. “They do a great job with the Oil Town Festival. We don’t need to get involved in that.”
Stratton explained that this decision is purely for “marketing purposes” and having more of a regional approach to economic development.
The next Economic Development Luncheon will be hosted by Smackover in February 2016.
Kyle Wimsett, president of the Smackover Chamber of Commerce, said that Stratton came to one of their meetings and talked about the change, which Wimsett said was “received fine” by chamber board members.
He explained that Smackover “was basically treated like a red-headed step-child” and he thinks that covering all of Union County will help grow chamber membership.
Wimsett said that he also hopes it doesn’t take away from Smackover.
“El Dorado is definitely the spoke for the county, but it is important to work together,” said Stratton.“We will work with all municipalities. We will work with the Union County judge.”
Stratton said the chamber is looking toward the future and planning for great things to happen in all of Union County.