PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, a product of three combined chambers, has a newly redesigned website and a revised membership strategy.
“We want to give our members a better idea of what we are doing,” said Executive Director Jennifer Wells MacGillonie.
“The new website will help us accomplish this.”
The redesigned site, http://jeffcountychamber.org, is up and running.
The old site, www.ptchamber.org, will be taken down in the next week or so, said consultant Keven Elliff, who helped design the new site.
The new site has three subdivided sections, for Port Townsend, Port Ludlow and the Port Hadlock/Tri-Area regions, representing the three chambers that merged into one in January.
It has a series of specialized links along with a blog-styled centerpiece that allows chamber staff to add news.
The old site, in contrast, had a limited number of menu items on the left and a single area in the middle. Staff members could not easily revise the site, so the same message could be online for weeks at a time.
“The old site was fine when it was created seven or eight years ago,” Elliff said.
“But the new format will allow the chamber to communicate with its members and for the members to communicate with each other in real time.”
On Wednesday, the two most recent entries promoted tonight’s Concert on the Dock and highlighted changes at Columbia Bank.
Chamber members, of which there are now about 400, will be able to promote individual businesses using this format.
The blog also will include a comment option, where anyone can log in and respond to one of the official postings.
While these comments are expected to adhere to community standards, they will not be deleted if they disagree with the official chamber position, Elliff said.
“The main goal of the new site is to improve communication and increase transparency,” Elliff said.
“I am struck by how many things are happening in Jefferson County.
“It is a great place to do business, and we need to communicate that fact.”
Elliff said Jefferson County has the highest per capita rate of sole proprietorship businesses.
“Many of these are chamber members,” he said.
“So we want to give them a way to talk to each other and create a regional identity in a way that we have not been able to do before.”
The merger of three organizations has “taken the chamber to a new level,” said chamber President Kris Nelson at the chamber’s Monday meeting.
“As a larger organization, we have more reach and there are more things we can do for our members.”
Said Chuck Russell, who was on the board of the Tri-Area chamber and who remains in the same capacity: “We’re very pleased with how it has gone so far.
“We have gained use of their resources and membership.”
Nelson said she would like to see the chamber merge with the North Hood Canal Chamber of Commerce, which includes Brinnon and Quilcene.
The president of the North Hood Canal chamber, Mike McFadden, while noting he is in his last term in that job, said he didn’t think such a merger was likely.
“We have our own identity down here,” he said.
“The last time this came up, we asked if a merger meant they would hold some meetings down here, and they said no.
“I got the feeling they were only interested in our money and wanted our lodging tax dollars.
“There was no advantage for us.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
