Greetings, my name is Glen Bascom, and I will be serving as President of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce for 2009 and 2010. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for being a member of this organization and for your continued support of the Arlington Chamber. This is your Chamber and your membership is a key part of continuing economic success for Arlington.

This year will see some changes for the Chamber. Firstly, Don and Ruby Hannah have decided to retire from the Arlington Chamber Board. Don and Ruby have been the backbone of the Chamber since its beginnings. They will be sorely missed, but I know they will be there to help out when they can.

With Don and Ruby stepping down from the Board, this presented the Chamber an opportunity to move our operations to a new office. Therefore, as of January 1st, our new office is located at 6220 Greenlee St. The office will be opened by calling for an appointment. As Arlington grows and our membership grows, our goal is to have this office staffed with volunteers and/or Chamber employees.

Other changes you will notice this year will include relying more on our website (www.arlingtontnchamber.com) and e-mail for communicating information to our members. We will constantly be updating our website with news and events. In addition, we plan to utilize e-mail correspondence to send updates and information on activities, send out coupons or specials from our members, as well as sending e-mail reminders in order to stay in touch and let members be aware of what is going on in town and with our members.

A new Chamber event this year is our Monthly Membership Coffee. This will be held on the first Thursday of every month, with the first member coffee being held February 5 from 7:30am until 8:30am at First Citizens Bank on Airline Road. This will be an opportunity for networking that will hopefully lead to more business between members. If you would like to host a Chamber coffee event at your business, please let us know.

Our goal for this year will be to spotlight our members and businesses, increase awareness about your business and encourage members and those from the Arlington community to do business with our members. Therefore, as the Chamber grows, so will your business.

Our Arlington Chamber of Commerce Board members this year are as follows: Glen Bascom II, President; Brian Elder, Vice-President; Todd Mashburn, Treasurer; Hugh Lamar, Community Involvement; Paul Gillespie, Claudia Horton, Kevin Ledford, Randy Nicholson, Mike Quinn, Gary Smith and Brian Thompson.

We look forward to working with each and every one of you this year and to making it a successful and prosperous year for all of our members. Please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the board members if you have any questions or need assistance. Thanks!

Glen Bascom II
President
Arlington Chamber of Commerce
glen@bascomrealty.com