The Hermiston Chamber of Commerce announced on Monday that it is declining the city’s offer to use the basement of the Carnegie Building on Gladys Avenue as its temporary home.
In a letter to chamber members, Chamber Chairman Josh Burns said the chamber board is actively seeking a temporary site elsewhere.
“The board has reviewed the city’s offer and do not think it is an appropriate location for our organization,” Burns said in his letter.
In April, the Hermiston City Council voted to have the Parks and Recreation Department operate the Hermiston Conference and Community Center and offer office space to the Chamber of Commerce in the lower level of the Carnegie library.
The Carnegie Building is currently home to the city’s Building Department and Hermiston Energy Services. The proposal by the city called for the Building Department to move to city hall. Hermiston Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said it makes sense to have both the Planning Department and Building Department in the same building.
At the time, Morgan said the move was designed to make better use of the conference center and put more of an emphasis on holding community events at the center with larger, more regional events taking place at the Eastern Oregon Trade & Event Center (EOTEC).
Since the opening of EOTEC, a number of events that have traditionally been held at the conference center have moved over to EOTEC. As a result, Morgan said event revenue at the conference center is down 35 percent through March of this year.
At the April 18 meeting, members and supporters of the chamber voiced opposition to moving the chamber offices into the basement of the Carnegie Building with plans to upgrade the space.
“We do appreciate the city’s offer as well as the potential long-term proposal to partner with the chamber to serve our community as a Visitor’s Welcome Center,” Burns said in his letter to chamber members on Monday. “We recognize it will take some time to reach this vision, and will participate in further discussions to this end.”
The chamber will continue to operate out of the Hermiston Conference Center for the remainder of the year.
