Young Pleasant Hope chamber seeks members

“It has been talked about for quite awhile, and this year, with the announcement of the business park going in, and all the new developments going on around town, we just decided it was time to get started on it,” Mullings said. “We want to help promote the businesses that are already there (in Pleasant Hope), and obviously help attract new businesses that might be interested in the area.”

Springfield Business Journal reported in May that businessman Gary English is working to build a Pleasant Hope business park on 67 acres south of Highway 215 and west of Highway H. Preliminary estimates for the project are $5 million to $10 million. The land has been annexed by the city, and English has said that groundbreaking could occur this summer.

English, owner of Southern Copyroll Inc. in Fair Grove, plans for the development to house about 12 mixed-use businesses that he would own.

Pleasant Hope is showing several signs of steady growth, Mullings said.

“I believe we’ve got three new subdivisions going in this year,” she said. “We recently added football to our school sports program, and we’re working on building a football stadium.”

The players

Scott Bednara, loan officer with Community Bank of Pleasant Hope and a chamber board member, said that a chamber of commerce is a good springboard for the growth that he and others are seeing.

“I’m fairly new to the area,” Bednara said. “I see a lot of the growth around here, and … I want to be a part of (the growth), help the direction that it’s going, help kind of lead the way.”

Another board member, Jerry Stevens, owner of the Pleasant Hope retail shop Polk County Discount, decided to get involved with the group so that he could share the wisdom of his past experiences. Stevens spent 30 years as a self-employed builder and remodeler and has operated Polk County Discount for about six years. In December he moved to a larger store with warehouse space at 504 S. Main St.

“I’ve got surplus groceries … just a little bit of everything. Tools, groceries, gifts, whatever,” Stevens said. “I felt like I could add something, give a little guidance, a few reasons why small businesses make it, and why they don’t.”

Jan Richner, loan officer and banking manager for Empire Bank’s Pleasant Hope branch, is serving as vice president of the Pleasant Hope Area Chamber of Commerce so that she can give back to the community.

“I thought it would be a good learning experience … and hopefully we can promote our current businesses and attract some new businesses,” said Richner, who grew up in Pleasant Hope and has worked there for 25 years.

Getting started

The chamber does not yet have a storefront location, Mullings said, and it is still working to gain nonprofit status.

“We don’t really have enough money at this point to rent space … but that is absolutely a goal of ours,” she said.

The group also is working to put together a Web presence.

Gaining members is the bulk of the chamber’s efforts right now; Mullings said there’s a $50 base membership for individuals, civic clubs and nonprofits. Fees for businesses are based on the number of employees. Companies that have between one and 10 employees pay $125; companies with 11 to 30 pay $150 and companies that have 31 or more employees pay $200.

Plans include ribbon-cuttings for new businesses and working to help bring grants to the city that the municipality itself is not able to pursue.

Doors to funding

“Some of the state and federal programs that can assist (communities) on various needs often go through a nonprofit, and obviously, having a nonprofit status in addition to the local government would possibly open some doors for some funding,” said Allen Kunkel, manager of regional development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

Kunkel, whose duties include working with the Ozarks Regional Economic Partnership, has met with Pleasant Hope chamber organizers to offer guidance. Kunkel said the Pleasant Hope chamber is the third that he and the Springfield chamber have helped to organize indirectly; guidance also was offered for the chambers in Galena and Battlefield.

He said the new chambers aren’t considered competition, even though the Springfield chamber offers some services in those areas.

“We see it as another asset, having another local chamber that is doing some things to bring some more identity back to the community (and) helping out the local businesses,” Kunkel said.