Members Approve Merger of St. Charles, St. Peters Chambers of Commerce

Members of the St. Charles and St. Peters Chambers of Commerce voted on Wednesday to merge the two organizations.

Although there are more than 900 members between the two groups, just 179 people cast votes on Wednesday. Eighty-three percent of the total vote was in favor of the merger.

Here's how it broke down:

St. Charles Chamber: 93 percent in favor of merger, 7 percent opposed. 

• For Merger: 104
• Against Merger: 8

: 67 percent in favor of merger, 33 percent opposed.

• For Merger: 45
• Against Merger: 22

St. Charles Chamber President Scott Tate said Wednesday he would start the process of merging the two organizations after Christmas. The next step would be to submit a plan of merger to the Secretary of State's office.

"Then we'll start looking at new logo designs and most importantly for the members, events and programming for 2012," he said. "That's been on hold so far."

St. Charles Chamber President Scott Tate said Wednesday he would start the process of merging the two organizations after Christmas. The next step would be to submit a plan of merger to the Secretary of State's office.

"Then we'll start looking at new logo designs and most importantly for the members, events and programming for 2012," he said. "That's been on hold so far."

Linda Techmeyer will be the chairman of the Greater St. Charles County Chamber of Commerce. Techmeyer is past chairman of the board of the St. Peters Chamber of Commerce, and past chairman elect of the St. Charles Chamber Board of Directors.

She said it'll be important to make sure that all of the board members have their say as the group decides what events and programs to keep in place.

"I think we've done a good thing by drafting people from both current boards to be in the new merged chamber," she said. "That way we'll have points of view from a variety of people living in the entire area of St. Charles and St. Peters."

Techmeyer said she's looking forward to attending the events the chamber will hold in hte next year. "We will probably have twice as many people participating," she said. "It'll be the largest chamber in the county and it will be very exciting to see that grow."

Read our earlier articles about the merger: