August 11, 2005

Michael Cannon is resigning as the Chamber of Commerce office manager, and Adrienne Chesire, the Street fair coordinator, will assume his responsibilities.

The Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce is doing more reshuffling after the organization’s interim office manager announced that he is leaving his position.

In an interview Monday, Michael Cannon, who was hired in May to serve as the Chamber’s part-time office manager, cited stress and financial concerns as his reasons for resigning. Cannon said on Friday, Aug. 5, that he notified the Chamber that he is stepping down effective Aug. 13.

According to Don Hollister, the acting president of the Chamber’s Executive Committee, Cannon’s position will be assumed by Adrienne Chesire, who is currently the Chamber’s part-time interim Street Fair coordinator. Chesire will continue organizing the Street Fair as well as hold the part-time office manager job for the next three months, Hollister said.

At the end of that time, the Chamber will decide whether to keep both of those positions part-time or to hire one full-time person to assume both roles. The Chamber Executive Committee also hopes to complete a strategic planning process in the next few months, Hollister said.

During his three-month tenure, Cannon upgraded the Chamber’s Web site, started a newsletter, helped with the Chamber’s analysis of its needs, and attracted new volunteers to replace longtime volunteers who resigned several months ago, Hollister said.

Cannon was hired after Betsy Newman, who had served for 11 years as the Chamber’s full-time executive director, resigned in March. Newman’s resignation came amid growing concerns among some Chamber members that Newman had not led the Chamber in an effective way to improve the Yellow Springs economy. Some critics suggested that Newman spent too much time organizing the biannual Street Fair and not enough time promoting the village.

At the time of Newman’s resignation, four longtime Chamber volunteers left as well, and Cannon succeeded in replacing three out of four of those slots, Hollister said.

However, Hollister said, he is disappointed that the Chamber has not moved forward more strongly in the past several months. While the organization’s meetings attracted a large numbers of members during the late spring controversy surrounding Newman’s performance and the subsequent decision to hire Cannon and Chesire, much of that energy seems to have dissipated, said Hollister, who also acknowledged that people’s summer vacations may be interfering with their Chamber involvement. He said he had hoped that the Chamber would have attracted more volunteers and greater participation among its members on its working committees by this time.

“We have the resources we had before, but we have the desire for the Chamber to do more,” he said. “I’m not satisfied that we can’t do these things, but we haven’t achieved them.”

Cannon said that he appreciated feeling supported by the community in his Chamber position. However, he said, the Chamber is challenged by a lack of support from more business people.

“I think that people are so caught up in the day-to-day struggle of their business that they don’t have the energy for the larger picture,” he said. “People need to believe in the Chamber and really get behind it, to be willing to come together and get things done.”

As office manager, Cannon took the lead in organizing volunteers to clean up the “pocket park” between The Emporium and the Yellow Springs Senior Center. He also said he feels that he contributed to the Chamber by “being receptive to people’s ideas.”

“Previously, some people felt they hadn’t been listened to. If anything, I tried to make the Chamber more open,” he said.

Cannon said he plans to remain in Yellow Springs, where he has a computer business, MPowerd. He said he will continue to contribute to the community in other ways.