So, one of the first things I did upon returning to Silver City was look for a copy of the Silver City Daily Press. I found two – Friday’s edition and the paper that appeared this morning. I was, of course, looking for an update on the Chamber of Commerce situation (which I’ve written about previously). Mary Alice Murphy has been all over this story, scooping the appointment of an interim executive director in the Weekend edition.

To me, however, the most important paragraph I’ve read since this whole debacle began was when Chamber board member Arlene Schadel said this:

“We need loyalty to the chamber board,’ Schadel said. “That was a problem with Nicole (Robbins) and with April (Weitlauf) before her.”

That’s the situation in nutshell – the board of directors for the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce want a pliant figurehead. Regardless of the director’s performance, or whether the membership of the Chamber are trying to remove the board from power, the most important criteria probably is loyalty to the directors.

I still don’t know exactly what’s been happening; I’ve been gone too long and I’m too out of touch to know the entire situation. But after reading that one paragraph, it seems like it’s time for new leadership at the Chamber. The board members, as I said before, are all dedicated residents who have sacrificed time and again for the community. It appears, however, that the circle has become too tight (witness their efforts to eject two board members), and that the same people have been doing the same jobs for too long.

The Chamber needs a shakeup.