After months of discussion and community input, West Fargo’s chamber of commerce will officially join the Fargo-Moorhead chamber on Sept. 1.

Both chambers offered their members a chance to vote recently on whether the merger should take place.

The results showed 98 percent of ballots cast in Fargo-Moorhead were in favor of the merger, as were 72 percent of ballots cast in West Fargo, Fargo-Moorhead Chamber President and CEO Craig Whitney said Wednesday.

The chambers would only release the vote percentages, not the specific vote results, Whitney said.

The combined chamber will have about 2,000 members, since 176 businesses currently are members of both the West Fargo and Fargo-Moorhead chambers.

A unified chamber – under the temporary name of the “Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo Chamber of Commerce” – means stronger regional representation for area businesses, but it also means West Fargo’s chamber businesses face some changes under the new arrangement.

West Fargo has historically maintained an independent spirit, with a strong emphasis on having its own identity within the Red River Valley region – and that’s a point that played heavily in community discussions about the merger.

“The independent theme of West Fargo rang very true in some of the comments from some of our membership, but everybody still understands that this is the Red River Valley,” said Bernie Dardis, board treasurer of the West Fargo chamber and a Fargo business owner. “It’s about what’s best for the people – what’s best for our communities, what’s best for our memberships.”

Although some staple events of the West Fargo chamber – such as West Fest – will no longer be sponsored by the combined chamber after 2010, officials said West Fargo’s identity won’t be lost.

“They’ll still have their own identity to a point, but we’re going to be a unified region,” The West Fargo chamber’s board chairwoman Kathy Lewin said, adding that after 2010, West Fest likely will be sponsored by another organization within the city.

Meanwhile, annual dues also will change once the chambers merge – and at least for members of only the West Fargo chamber, that will mean higher costs.

“Their dues structure was slightly lower than ours in some cases, and they will over a couple of years be phased in to our dues level,” Whitney said, adding that the chamber will also talk in early 2011 about updating the Fargo-Moorhead chamber’s existing dues structure for its members.

The chambers wouldn’t release specific numbers on how much they charge for dues.

Meanwhile, the Fargo-Moorhead chamber’s board of directors will be expanded from 12 to 16 members after Sept. 1 to include representation of four West Fargo chamber members.

When Whitney was asked how the chamber would address the 28 percent of West Fargo chamber members that opposed the merger, he replied: “Well, I think 72 percent is very overwhelming.”

“It’s very clear that the members and the members of the business community here thought that this was the right thing to do,” he said. “And, moving forward, it really is what is best for the region.”

 By: Kristen Daum, INFORUM