VP Rotary Club hears update from Chamber president

By: HEATHER
BOGARD
Lifestyles Editor

February 2, Meeting
Members of the Ville Platte Rotary Club heard an update from Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce President Renee Brown during the February 2, meeting of the Ville Platte Rotary Club. She stated the new chamber board is very interested in visiting with the various businesses in various professions to learn what they would like to see out of the chamber and are open to any new ideas. To that end, Brown has been visiting with the area business leaders and will continue to do so, this way, the chamber can be informed of what is going on and pass it on to the community. She said the board is working on new ideas to put in place and added that the board’s by-laws have not been used properly and need to be updated. She said the board will be reviewing and updating their by-laws as soon as possible.
Brown noted she is putting together a retreat that will be held sometime in the next 30 days so that community business leaders can get away and focus on issues that need discussing.
Brown’s hope is to bring together the city and chamber, as well as make the chamber a parish chamber to include the other municipalities in the parish and get their input. She said she has met with the various mayors to get their input on what their needs may be. She stated that by including the entire parish, more can be accomplished by working together.
As part of that process, Brown said several new committees are in the process of being formed, including a government affairs committee, which will help keep everyone informed.
Brown hopes to keep the chamber on task and work toward a better town/parish by providing the needed resources. She plans to host more business after hours events, as well as breakfast before hours events, so that the community leaders can discuss issues in a casual atmosphere to help facilitate positive changes.
Another goal of Brown’s is to reestablish a women’s leadership organization for the women leaders of the community to help encourage one another and provide for networking possibilities.
In closing, Brown said she is very excited about the annual banquet, which will be about more than celebrating the man, woman and business of the year. This year’s banquet, she said, will be restructured to recognize area businesses in addition to the man, woman and business of the year winners. She added that a firm date has not yet been set, but she will let everyone know once the date is confirmed.