Marshall County Chamber seeks to partner with city

Representatives with the Marshall County Chamber of Commerce met for a second time with the Holly Springs Mayor and Board of Aldermen, August 4, seeking to partner with the city.

On the first trip the board of aldermen tabled the discussion.

Mayor Charles Terry said his constituents wanted to know more about the organization which was incorporated June 30, 2025 by the Secretary of State’s office.

Andrinetta Howard and Deborah Burrows made their pitch for the Chamber’s partnering with the City of Holly Springs.

Terry asked if they had a board of directors. Howard said they have a board and are adding new members and they are going to establish a focus group to make sure they are targeting the right area and the business owners.

Terry asked if they could help the city get funding from the United States Department of Agriculture/Rural Development.

Howard said wants to step in to help cities that do not have a community development department.

She said any chamber of commerce can come in and help stabilize the economy.

The organization wants to get somewhere to work and then the city would help them market and implement programs, Howard said.

“We are a company that could help you all,” Howard said.

They would ask for a place to work, would collaborate with the city to contribute to marketing.

“No payroll?” Terry asked. “No, we will come to an understanding in the near future,” Howard said. “We are a city that needs funding,” the mayor said. “We need to reach out for any help we can get.” Howard said her organization could partner with the city to get block grants and the partners could share in the funding.

“Yes, funding to come in and renovate businesses, even City Hall, even the Airport,” Howard said.

“You are a grant writer?” Terry asked.

Howard said she is not but writing grants is one of the “tools in the tool box.”

Howard said she had reached out to Jerry Fitch president of the Holly Springs Chamber of Commerce to see how the two chambers could collaborate.

“Fitch said they are going to dissolve it,” she said. “He said there should be fresh blood here. He said they were not a 501(c)3,” Howard said.

Terry said the city needs all the funds it can get and asked, if the city partnered with the Chamber, would the city need to get clear on how the financial statements would be handled.

Howard said she had asked for financial audits of the city and what strategic plan the city has.

Ward 4 alderman Patricia Merriweather asked to table the discussion saying “I’m not trying to get a job.”

“We are not going to go back and forth with this board,” Terry said.

Ward 3 alderman Jim Moore said he had looked for the Marshall County Chamber of Commerce on the Secretary of State’s website and could not find it.

“We just need to see that 501(c)3 certificate,” he said.

Howard said they had submitted for that.

City attorney John Keith Perry Jr. recommended the matter be discussed in executive session.

“I hate this to be a complicated situation,” Terry said.

Police chief Grant Glover said he is all for working with the group, if he can get funding for police cars.

Merriweather said she wants to see proof and work that has been done by this organization to prove the group can do what it says it can do.

“We are at a pivotal stage here in this city. We can’t do happenstance. We have to have proof of solid, who has done the work,” Merriweather said. “That’s why I asked you for proof of what you have done and you could produce none at that time,” she said.

Ward 3 alderman Jim Moore said he is on the board of the Holly Springs Chamber.

“We are still an active 501(c)3,” he said.

In a followup interview with Jerry Fitch, president of the board of the Holly Springs Chamber of Commerce and Martha Thomas who served as interim director, the following information was provided.

Thomas said the Holly Springs Chamber of Commerce still exists as a legal entity as a corporation but activities of the chamber have been suspended due to lack of funding, including the failure of the City to fund the Chamber again last year. In the past, the city had funded the Chamber $20,000 a year, she said.

“It costs money to run the Chamber of Commerce,” she said. “There just doesn’t seem to be an interest in supporting the Chamber of Commerce. “That’s sad. That’s sad.”

Regular office hours have been suspended, but she still answers the Chamber’s emails, Thomas said.

Fitch said the Chamber is not discontinuing the organization.

“Not at all,” he said. “We are on hold as far as keeping the office open. Everything is intact. It’s on hold, not dismantled.

“We are going to have to find a director and new members. We are not closing. We cannot operate until we get a director in place.”