News from the Caribou Chamber

    Two years ago one of my members told me I was the institutional memory for our organization, or for what was the Caribou Development Corp, and the Chamber of Commerce. I started work a year and a half into the merger of those two organizations, at a point when one of the largest directives given to me was to create cohesion between what was two separate “territories.” Work together? Cross train? Get rid of the silos? Move everyone’s cheese into one pile? OK, so that’s what we began to do.     Do a newsletter. Chambers do newsletters, and so do economic development agencies. Doing one which related to the spirit of membership, but highlighted business opportunities and resources seemed simple enough. Before I ever came along the edict had been passed: we will not do recipes or have too many “folksy/feel good things.” I don’t cook, so that worked for me. I didn’t have any recipes I was dying to pass along or swap.
    There were many things which somehow worked out for me when I began. I didn’t have an affinity to either organization as a stand alone. I didn’t have any preconceived ideas on what economic development should be, nor what chambers “had to do.” Service your businesses. And then there were…. loans. Loans? Really? What were those big folders, and why did they keep sending us insurance notices? Before I had a clue about the insurance papers, a very gracious Key banker, Cheri Doak, and the CDC’s longtime attorney, Mr. Hugh Kirkpatrick were helping me. We closed seven loans the first six months I was employed. They were so nice in fact, I didn’t even realize how lost I was or all the things I didn’t know from Adam, until a rather long time later.
    Fear was a big factor the first two years. When the USDA loan officer came to visit in 2002, and told me we’d never get money from them again, and we should really think about keeping them “recapitalized,” I felt I had another imperative. Protect those monies for future clients: the USDA payback was 30 years, and by the goodness I needed to do everything I could to keep the money making money. When we went before the City Council to ask for tax money, I knew for myself I had another one. Spend tax money in a way you can “defend” to every last taxpayer in Caribou, in the open, on the street, in detail. Behave as if everyone may descend on your place any given day of the week, and be able to show them anything.
    No matter what has gone on from one year to the next, I continue to feel lucky to have been a part of the CCC&I every day since Oct. 12, 2001. I am proud of the money we’ve saved, the people we’ve gotten to know and the services we’ve provided. Caribou is who we are. There have been very few (less than four even) things I would tell you I felt badly we spent your tax money on, because if it were mine, I wouldn’t necessarily have bought them.
    As time has past I’ve even come to embrace being Queens of the Yard Sale, and proud Crafts Fair sponsors. I am very grateful for the many relationships we have with the business people, and the citizens of Caribou. I do not necessarily worry so much about collateral as I do about relationships. I do not worry about collecting every last interest cent, or late fee. I know the vast majority of our clients feel we are more like George Bailey than Mr. Potter: it’s all about relationships. How can we help you if we don’t know you? How can we help you if we are just the “administrators” of your loan? Just an administrator, pushing paperwork through a system? The phrase sounds bleak, impersonal, and definitely not service oriented to me.
    There are some components of loan compliance that are a bit dry, and not terribly exciting. But, the relationships you develop with those clients as a business plan is completed, a loan is made (and then paid back) are anything but dry and unexciting (for those of us not just pushing paper): when they have a good year, when they have a new product, when they have new family members, new employees they’re excited about, or things just as small as new signs, new ad’s on TV, new websites or new furniture: it’s exciting. Their successes are our successes, and their trials and tribulations are ours too.
    Back to the single merged organization. Years when we were short staffed, or not in need of some big fancy new piece of equipment, for electronics sake, we saved and put money away for our clients’ rainy days. We socked away over $120,000 from our general operating capital from 2002 to ‘08. During that same time, we recapitalized three loans (just over $92,000), so the money would be available to loan to future Caribou businesses, and we built our bad debt reserves up from $31,000 to just over $342,000. How? No pens, no bottled water, no color copies, no cell phones, some years no upgrade to computers, no folders, no clips, tape or fancy stationary. And yes, sometimes over the years, not many staff.
    The CDC and the Chamber merger took a year and a half. The process involved a countless people who felt the organization would be stronger, more economical, and more full service for the City. It involved the chamber membership, the CDC membership, the community at large, and anyone who had a vested interest in Caribou was invited to attend and participate. It was public, it was participatory, and it was not without critics. I am fairly certain we must welcome criticism, to have a hope of actually serving people. What good does it do to only have a few people telling you what you want to hear? How shall we improve, grow or be self reflective?
    While everything changes, and nothing remains exactly the same, I believe the focus of the organizations have not changed. The focus to provide service and growth opportunities has not changed. The focus to have and maintain a vital chamber has been strengthened by this merger.
    There are so many things we do other chambers are not able to do. Putting out a quarterly newsletter to the entire business community, quarterly is just one little example. We have the resources to have regular office hours, answer the phones, and provide customer service, promptly, regardless of “which side of the house” we are supposed to be working for. We have saved the City over $564,000 since 2003 in reduced appropriations, as a combined organization: it is a real number. Our loan portfolios have grown. Our bad debt reserves have grown.
    We have come up with a wide variety of programs to become more self supporting: UPS services, newsletter inserts, wide varieties of low cost advertising open to all businesses, regardless of membership, new events and programs, and items to rent. The largest of these self supporting growth items is loan portfolio growth which pays in the largest part for my salary. We have grown our loan portfolio, and lent just over six million dollars in Caribou, from the first FAME grant in 1997 which was $71,000. We leveraged just over $10 million during this same period.
    Lately some have said our portfolio has grown to such a size that it should be administered by a regional entity with more staff: we’re too small to administer our large overall porfolio anymore. The regional development agency does have FAME money and USDA money, and it does administer loan funds for many of the smaller communities around us, who have small amounts of their own revolving loan funds, but do not have FAME or USDA money. Historically, as recently even as June 12th, I have been told our portfolio compliance is the best in the state by both FAME and the USDA. We do not have six people administering loans.
    I understand economies of scale full well, and I do believe we can always cut expenses. We are always on the lookout for ways to save money, and increase services. I would tell you every day of the week, biased as I am: we are cheaper for your tax dimes, and our customer service is second to none. Our loan clients pay more in taxes to the city of Caribou than we receive in appropriations, and they have for the last five years.
    We solicit input and participation year after year. We receive it too, sometimes in great numbers. They don’t come to board meetings, and they don’t always show up in packs, but they come in. Those members who are around more frequently, or use UPS are always surprised by the large variety of people who are walking in either door every day, or calling and emailing. The volume is large, it is definitely welcome, and we enjoy ourselves a great deal. Some folks come in and tell us what they’re not happy with, and most of those come in more frequently afterward they’ve said their piece. I believe it is because we’re welcoming, we try to be problem solvers, and not blame distributors. This may not be a measurable service, but I believe it is an atmosphere and presence not to be discounted lightly.
    Many folks come through our office who aren’t sure who is who, who does what, or who doesn’t do what. We all answer the phones and we all wait on customers. One of my ladies who’s been here several years, does many things related to small business resources, and commercial properties that I do. The last year I have had several people comment we are all the same, and there is no one “chamber person.” I don’t argue this, but there are some people which are “keepers” of certain things. Jenny and Jeannie are Keepers of the Crafts Fair(s), and Wendy talks to people about money. I have always had that as part of the plan, and I believe it to be a virtue: to be customer service oriented, for all the basic things, and cross trained to be helpful to anyone who may come in the office, anytime.
    No, the ladies may not speak to all the economic development programs available, or the criteria necessary for the CLIP lots, or even the finer details of collateral related to our difference from the primary lending institutions, but beyond that, everyone needs to be of service. Yes, if you come in, and want to talk to me about the Yard Sale, or why you need Jeannie to know which spot you don’t want at the Fall Crafts Fair, you can tell me. I might just be the only one here once in awhile, and I won’t make you come back, or make you speak to Jeannie when she’s available if I can take a message and satisfy your needs.
    One of the things I always heard about Bob Tardiff was his philosophy that the customer came first. If you walked in the CDC door, everyone was going to drop what they were doing and talk to you. You were first. The idea struck me as important, and I believe our record, and our relationships, the last nine years reflects these statements as philosophies we live by every day, and not just propaganda, or a mission statement which no one reads or knows even where it is.
    In economic development there are no easy fast wins, and sometimes there isn’t much to celebrate. I would tell you the community is best served by an organization responsive to all the businesses, citizens and members. An organization with one single focus: Caribou – together as a chamber, and as an economic development agency, and with a loan portfolio administered by it’s own business people, it’s own bankers, and it’s own staff, who are accountable to it’s members.