Chamber Loses City Funding : Business: Infighting among directors, mass resignations cost Chamber of Commerce about $50,000 annually.

The Duarte Chamber of Commerce, paralyzed for months by conflicts among its board of directors, was dealt a hard blow last week when the City Council voted not to continue funding the group.

The city contributes about $50,000 a year to the chamber, which has an annual budget of $153,000.

Former chamber directors predict that Tuesday night’s 4-1 council decision was the beginning of the end. Chamber officers have conceded that they will be hard hit by the loss of funds, but they have vowed to continue providing services to the business community.

Chamber officials have met with the council several times to discuss what needs to be done to renew the contract, which expires Dec. 27.

The council voted Oct. 27 to send the chamber a two-month termination notice after a former chamber employee told the council that the group’s executive director, Gordon Dill, was blocking attempts by chamber officers to carry out the provisions of the agreement with the city to promote commerce.

Specifics regarding the issue have been hard to come by. But one of several directors who recently resigned from the chamber’s board has said that “on several occasions, Dill refused to go along with the (board) executive committee’s requests.”

Mayor John Van Doren explained the decision to cut off funding: “It’s not the city’s position to tell the chamber how to do its job, but if they are going to act in a manner that is contrary to the best interests of the business community, we are not going to support it.”

Van Doren added that he held the chamber’s staff and board of directors personally accountable for the “total disintegration of the chamber’s leadership and goals.”

In an interview last month, Dill defended his actions.

“I live my life by two rules, compromise and majority rules,” Dill said. “The officers who resigned were not able to compromise and tried repeatedly to put their agenda through. The majority of the board rejected them on every issue, so they left.”

“Ours is a very well-run, successful chamber of commerce,” Dill added in an interview Thursday. “The City Council members think we are too strong politically and so they are trying to close the chamber doors.

“Some council members see me as the head of the chamber. And they figure that if they cut off the head, the body will die. That’s not going to be the case.”

Conflicts within the chamber’s board resulted in the mass resignations of several officers and directors in October and the group has since been struggling to fill the vacancies and present a unified front to the city.

Former chamber director Jim Goodwin, who resigned last week, said those efforts would not be adequate and predicted the chamber is not likely to survive without city funds.

“We’ll survive,” said Phil Reyes, who became chamber president Nov. 16. “We have been and will continue to be the voice of the business community.”

Reyes said the group is developing several programs to increase revenue and examining how to reduce overhead costs.

Even if the chamber collapses, Duarte businesses will have somewhere to turn, Goodwin predicted. He said several former chamber directors and members are forming a “business information center” offering many of the same services the chamber provides at a fraction of the cost. The center will probably open in January, he said.

The chamber board met Wednesday to discuss financial options. Vice President Felipo Fanara said several possibilities were brought up, including asking Dill to resign.

Several former directors have blamed the chamber’s problems on Dill, saying he has pitted directors against one another in an effort to maintain control of the group.

Dill, who earns $36,000 a year for overseeing the daily operations, is one of two paid chamber employees. Dill’s wife is employed as the chamber’s office manager.

Because of a “golden parachute” clause, the chamber must pay Dill three months’ salary should his contract be terminated.