The Winkler and District Chamber of Commerce is on the hunt for a new office space. Currently, the chamber office is located within the Winkler City Hall.
A side effect of Winkler's continued growth, the city's administrative team is in need of additional space, requiring the chamber to find a new location.
Chamber Executive Director, Tanya Chateauneuf says they would ideally love a location along Main Street in order to be in the hub of the community. However, Chateauneuf says they're open to finding any good location anywhere within the city to continue serving members within the same capacity.
Chateauneuf says being located in City Hall has been a perfect fit for the Chamber. "A lot of what we do for business goes hand in hand with what the city does as well," said Chateauneuf. "I feel it's just a great partnership and collaboration, so we'll have to put in extra effort to make sure we're staying connected to all the city staff and doing all we can there."
The city hasn't given the Chamber a definite date of when they need to leave their current space, however, Chateauneuf says their goal is to find something new for the beginning of December.
"We have such a busy fall with many different initiatives planned, and our gala takes place mid-November, so that would give us time to wrap up all of the fall activities," added Chateauneuf. "December is typically a bit of a slower month for us, so it would give us the opportunity to kind of close our doors, pack everything up, move to a new location, and then start fresh in the new year with our new office space."
Chateauneuf noted the city has been very supportive of the chamber, and they know that support will continue throughout their move and beyond.
"We're disappointed that the Chamber and the Winkler Community Foundation are going to have to find a new home," said Mayor Siemens. "They've been here for many years, I think almost right from day one there was a thought that someday the City of Winkler is going to need that space."
Siemens also echoed what Chateauneuf shared, noting it's been really good to have both the Chamber and the Foundation close by.
"But, as the City of Winkler itself has basically doubled in the last 20 years, we do also need to make sure that we have room for the staff that are needed to take care of all that growth and to service our community, and we're finding a number of our departments now have people almost sitting on top of each other. We're very crowded. So we have let both of them know that they do need to find another spot."
The city has not given the two organizations a date of when they need to be out of the Civic Centre, but Siemens said the City will work with both organizations until they find something.
Once the Chamber and Foundation have a new location, Siemens says council will plan a rework of the Civic Centre to ensure city staff has the space they need.
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