Chamber officially ratifies name change

BY JOHN MATHER

The Fort Saskatchewan and Lamont Regional Chamber of Commerce officially made its proper name change at its Jan. 12 meeting in Fort Saskatchewan.

The Chamber held a special meeting following its regular meeting to formally make the name changes and outline the boundaries of the organization.

“The purpose of the special meeting is to adopt a new name and adapt our new boundaries,” said Chamber president DeAnna Voshell.

She explained that while a meeting had been held previously where the name and boundary changes were adapted, it wasn’t done in accordance with the regulations as required by the Canadian Corporations Act.

When the resolution to vote on the name change was moved there were discussions about the new name.

Fort Saskatchewan Mayor Gale Katchur asked why one community was being added to the name, along with Fort Saskatchewan, when there were a number of specific communities included in the chamber’s area.

“Although I voted for this the last time, I walked away from it not feeling right,” she said.

“Why is it not just Fort Saskatchewan and District. We do have other communities in the chamber.”

“I think there were some concerns from other members about this change. It’s nothing against Lamont County, but there are other communities and they are just included as a district.”

A member of the previous year’s executive said they had done a lot of research and came up with the recommended name based on their research.

Former Lamont chamber member and now director for the new chamber, Jason Kowal, said the new name came about because of the expanded boundaries for the Chamber.

“It added such a larger geographical area for the Chamber,” he said.

“Through the amalgamation, it brought in Andrew, Bruderheim, Chipman, Lamont and Mundare. I think the name change was an opportunity to better reflect the area the chamber serves with its advo- cacy work.”

Former president John Jacobs said when the two Chambers came together, it was decided to add Lamont to the official name because it was the biggest part of the expanded chamber in the area.

“In the end it was decided because Lamont was the biggest part of the new expansion, it should be included in the name.”

Jacobs said other names such as Heartland Regional Chamber had been looked at but rejected by the former board because some of the other communities in the existing Fort Saskatchewan Chamber’s service area such as Gibbons and portions of Sturgeon County were already linked by the Fort