Rossland city councillors have decided to provide $5,000 to the Trail and District Chamber of Commerce to help it operate for another year.
Councillor Janice Nightingale said benefits from the funding would go far beyond the City of Trail.
READ MORE: Trail district chamber celebrates 116 years
“This funding will help us support our goal of increasing regional cooperation,” said Nightingale at a city council meeting on April 6.
“The chamber of commerce looks after and advocates for business all the way from Rossland down through the valley to Fruitvale and Beaver Valley.”
Mayor Kathy Moore said she also supported providing the money to the chamber.
“Right now, I am seeing the chamber doing a lot to help local businesses. I think around 70 out of their 250 members are Rossland members, so they have a pretty big chunk of our local businesses,” said Moore.
“I’ve come back thinking ‘yeah, I’d probably support giving them some money now.'”
Moore said the chamber would need to consult with the City of Rossland further if they wanted more funding.
Councillor Stewart Spooner said providing the funding to the chamber didn’t sit well with him.
“When the chamber made a presentation at our last meeting, I don’t think they made the case that they were relevant to Rossland businesses. I also don’t think their funding formula made any sense,” said Spooner.
“I’d be reluctant to support the chamber until we do some outreach to our [Rossland] business community and ask them if if this was something that would be useful to them.”
Moore said the funding will come from the city’s council conference budget.
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