Mattawa Chamber about to terminate

MATTAWA - The Mattawa Area Multicultural Chamber of Commerce will have a meeting to decide its fate at the Port of Mattawa office at noon on June 13.

Mike Thiede, who has been interim president since the last meeting, sometime last year, is fairly certain it will be voted out of existence.

That's if enough members attend to form a quorum. There are only eight.

The MAMCC has had problems since about the time "Multicultural" was added to the name. The goal was to attract Hispanic-owned businesses, but hardly any reacted positively.

Thiede said he made several recruiting visits in town and was unsuccessful. Most Hispanic owners didn't see much value in membership. They were busy being business owners, working 12-16 hours a day.

Thiede can understand that. If the MAMCC goes away, he'll dedicate the time he's been giving to its affairs to his own business, Gingko Forest Winery.

The MAMCC limped along with from 4-8 regularly-attending members. And, according to Thiede, some were in for specific reasons, not to support the chamber in general.

A big reason is $16,000 that was collected for a community center project years ago by a now-defunct organization. That money ended up with the MAMCC and sits unused in a bank.

Thiede believes the disposition of that money will be decided on June 13. He may suggest the chamber gift it to the city toward the building of a skate park this summer.

"That could work," he said. "It is a community use."

It could also work toward seeing who really wants a chamber. It would no longer be an issue.

The MAMCC had its last meeting last fall. It nearly went into limbo when it closed. There were no officers.

An interim slate was elected so it could submit the annual report required by the state in March only because Thiede insisted the report was necessary.

It was decided at that meeting to have the next meeting this March to allow for snowbirds and others unable to attend during winter. The reporting was done, but the meeting never occurred.

"Two or three of us met (unofficially) a couple of times to talk about what to do," Thiede.

It appears a official decision, for termination, will occur on June 13.