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Council May Become Chamber Group

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By KENNETH KNIGHT

kknight@tampatrib.com

Published: February 18, 2009

NEW TAMPA - After 16 years of representing business and resident interests, the New Tampa Community Council is on the verge of becoming a chamber of commerce.

Community council leaders said they hope to begin registering businesses and individuals as charter members of the chamber group April 19 at the Taste of New Tampa, the community-based organization's premier annual spring food festival.

"I think the time is right for a chamber of commerce," said Frank Margarella, the founding president of the New Tampa Community Council who serves on the transition committee.

"If we don't do it, somebody else will. It should be an off-shoot of the New Tampa Community Council."

The nonprofit council has promoted businesses and addressed quality of life issues in New Tampa since its inception in 1992.

Establishing a local chamber would give the New Tampa business community greater influence and a stronger voice to address important economic issues, Margarella said.

When the chamber group becomes official, the council will be dissolved, council president Jerry Miller said.

"There will not be two organizations, because over 70 percent of our constituents are from the business sector," Miller said. "It makes sense at this time to change over to a chamber of commerce."

The chamber has no official start date yet, said Miller, who lives in West Meadows. He suggested the April 19 target date may be delayed if all of the paperwork hasn't been completed.

Margarella and other business leaders have talked for years about forming a chamber to help promote New Tampa's growing business community and increase its influence on important community issues. The council had been reluctant to make the move out of concern some residential members might feel alienated.

Community council officials said they plan to roll out a membership enrollment schedule designed to accommodate the needs of individual and business members.

The organizers are proposing five membership categories to serve the interests of individual and professional members, small businesses, medium and large businesses and nonprofit organizations. There also will be a special classification for founding charter members.

"We are not forgetting all the people who have been with us for over 15 years," Miller said. "No members will be left out when the change occurs."

The new plan will allow some longtime members to be grandfathered in, he said. All members will be allowed to upgrade their membership status.

"That's where our thoughts are," Miller said last week. "We are still trying to define the benefits for each individual level, and how much it is going to cost."

There is wide appeal for a new chamber group in New Tampa.

Steve Rothfarb, owner of Frame by Frame Gallery in City Plaza at Tampa Palms and a council charter member, said the chamber should focus on more pro-business growth. He is looking forward to the business-networking events.

The chamber also will be responsible for expanding the overall growth and prosperity of the area, said Scott Estes, vice president of the council. He is a financial adviser.

Sheri Goldberg, executive director of the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, said a chamber group in neighboring New Tampa will be an influential voice for the community.

"As a chamber, we are the voice for the community," Goldberg said, "so I'm thinking that's the same way they are headed."

The chamber group in New Tampa plans to staff two paid positions - an executive director and an executive assistant - and lease office space at the Palm Lake at Tampa Palms building, 15310 Amberly Drive.

The community council has etched its place in New Tampa history.

In September 1992, Margarella and other movers and shakers in the emerging community chartered the Northeast Tampa Community Council, with Margarella as founding president.

The volunteer service organization grew along with the area. It is frequently at the forefront of transportation, growth, environmental, park and school issues important to businesses and residents who live along the Bruce B. Downs Boulevard corridor north of Fletcher Avenue and south of State Road 54.

The community council has between 200 and 300 members, Miller said.

The group's major annual fundraisers - Taste of New Tampa, New Tampa Arts Festival and the Business Expo - provide thousands of dollars for college scholarships, parent-teacher-student groups and the Friends of the New Tampa Regional Library.

The council launched other service organizations such as the New North Transportation Alliance, which Margarella chairs, and New Tampa Votes.

Margarella said the council has served New Tampa well, but a chamber will give New Tampa more power to speak out on public policy issues, make political endorsements, lobby for more community resources and increase fundraising efforts.

"My focus is to make sure this work," Magarella said.

Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 865-4842.

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