By Cindy Hoffman, Staff Writer

(Dec. 8, 2023) The Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce has rebranded itself as the Worcester County Chamber of Commerce … and the results are mixed.

Kerrie Bunting, the executive director for the chamber, said on a recent podcast that this is just a name change and does not change the way the chamber does business. But the announcement has raised concerns with the Ocean Pines Board of Directors and others.

Bunting’s perspective is that Ocean Pines is the largest residential community in the county. And being an HOA, not a municipality, it is just from the north to the south gate. Her goal, she said, is to connect businesses across the county with this large residential population.

“In the past couple of years, we have stepped into that leadership position representing the community on the county level,” Bunting said.

Bunting said that it can be confusing for businesses outside of Ocean Pines as to why they would want to join the Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce.

“We are marrying the customers with the businesses. We’ve been operating on the countywide scope for the past five years so this name change really just goes with that,” Bunting said.

“Ocean Pines has a small business base.  In order for us to continue to attract businesses outside of Ocean Pines, it makes sense to provide the invitation in an obvious way with a name change,” Donna Frankowski, vice chair of the Worcester County Chamber and a local real estate agent in Ocean Pines.

The chamber initiated discussions of a name change in May, according to Bunting, who said her group invited every county commissioner, representatives of Worcester County Economic Development and Tourism and every chamber of commerce to a meeting in Pocomoke to discuss the name change.

“Some chose not to be a part of that conversation,” Bunting said.

Bunting said she also reached out to the Maryland Chamber of Commerce for guidance and consulted with lawyers. In addition, she reached out to other chambers across the state that are county-named to get their guidance in how they interact with other chambers.

“We did due diligence,” she said. “We did focus groups with our most active chamber partners.”

She asked them to play “devil’s advocate” and provide her with their concerns and questions and she took those back to her board of directors.

She said the biggest concerns were how other chambers would perceive this and how Ocean Pines residents and businesses would feel.

“Will they feel abandoned?” she asked.

Bunting said she had spoken with members of the Ocean Pines board of directors and prominent residents, and they were all for it.

But this week, some of those people provided a different story.

“The board has gotten a lot of calls and residents and businesses are incensed that this was done without any input or feedback from the business community or local county representatives. The [Ocean Pines] Board of Directors does not support this move,” said Ocean Pines board President Rick Farr. “Ocean Pines should have its own chamber due to the size of our community.”

Bunting said she sent an email to OPA General Manager John Viola and Farr and neither responded. She scheduled a meeting with representatives of Ocean Pines this week to address concerns.

“That [OPA]board has not expressed one concern to me and that is disturbing. And frustrating,” Bunting said.

Amy Thompson, the executive director of the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce and a former board member for the Ocean Pines chamber also expressed reservations.

Thompson highlighted the confusion within the community about the role of the renaming of the Ocean Pines chamber and how that is different from what the Worcester County Economic Development and Tourism already does with economic development countywide. She said the Ocean City chamber is also concerned with how the regional chambers would then operate with this proposed entity because this is not a merger.

“I have been asking these questions since this idea first surfaced in the spring,” Thompson said.

“The role of the Ocean Pines Chamber has always been a unique one, without a municipality to partner with. But with such a large number of residents in that community, it made sense to have a chamber to serve as liaison between businesses and consumers.”

At a commission meeting on Tuesday, Worcester County Commission President Chip Bertino spoke about the name change.

“When it comes to advocating at the regional, state and federal [level] there is only one entity sanctioned to speak for and act on behalf of this government: Worcester County Economic Development and Tourism.”

He went on to say, “county government should not support, encourage, promote or engage in any activity or effort by the newly named Worcester County Chamber of Commerce that undercuts or diminishes the roles of the other chambers within their individual communities or interferes with the objectives of Worcester County Economic Development and Tourism or attempts to co-opt the relationships county government has with local, regional, state and federal partners and businesses.”

 Bunting said the county commissioners did not voice one concern until the announcement was made.

She said she wants to alleviate any confusion between the new name and any involvement in the Worcester county government or Worcester County Office of Economic Development and Tourism.

“We are completely separate from any government entity. We are a 501C6, membership based nonprofit.

“No matter what our name is, our support is the same, our dedication is the same. We are here to support our community,” Bunting said.

When asked what happens to the other chambers, Bunting replied, “Nothing. They keep on going and representing their individual towns and communities.”

“We are far from the only county-named chamber. We did not reinvent the wheel. This is nothing innovative or controversial. It’s just never been done here.”

She encouraged businesses to join their local chambers in OC, Berlin, Pocomoke and Snow Hill and the newly named Worcester County Chamber can get businesses countywide exposure.

“We will work in concert together.”

“We are just changing our name, not how we do business or what we care about. We are here for every community whether they are in OP or not.”

‘It’s disheartening that so much misinformation is being put out there. I wholeheartedly encourage those with questions or concerns contact the chamber directly.”

The chamber will remain in Ocean Pines and continue to run the Ocean Pines Visitors Center.