By Tim Fleischer
Editor-in-Chief

After a relationship spanning 15 years with the Salado Civic Center, the Salado Chamber of Commerce will be moving this summer to a new location on Main Street.
The Salado Tourism Office will join the Chamber of Commerce at its new location at 881 N. Main St. in July.
The two will lease the front building on the Main Street property for $1,800 per month, utilities and maintenance costs not included.
Chamber directors voted unanimously for the move on the recommendation of Chamber Executive Director Suzi Epps during an April 17 meeting.
Later that evening, the Village of Salado Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to move the Tourism Office from the Salado Civic Center to the 881 N. Main St. location on the recommendation of Tourism Director Debbie Charbboneau.
The Chamber of Commerce currently pays the Salado Civic Center Foundation (SCCF) $693 per month, which includes rent, utilities, cleaning costs and keeping the public restrooms at the Salado Civic Center open on the weekends ($125 in the form of a grant to the SCCF). As part of the Chamber’s rent and grant to the SCCF, the Chamber has free use of the Civic Center for its monthly board meetings, for the monthly Ambassador meetings, for special meetings such as the Candidate Forum, for committee meetings and for use of the Civic Center grounds for the annual Wildflower Art Show and other activities.
According to Epps, the reason for moving the Chamber Office include “The Chamber Director spends a lot of her time helping with the day-to-day operations of the Civic Center.”
“The Chamber Director does not have adequate space to hire a part-time receptionist to work the Visitor Center, help our guests, greet groups and support the office,” she stated. “Adequate storage space is not available for the duties of the job.”
“The goal is to locate a facility suitable for both the Chamber of Commerce and the TOurism Department, allowing for a Visitor Center within the building, and a full-time receptionist (50 percent Salary paid by Tourism, 50 percent Salary paid by Chamber),” she stated. “By having a full-time receptionist, this would allow the Chamber Director to do her job with controlled interruptions.”
It is unclear whether the Chamber will use the Civic Center for any of these events after it vacates its lease there, or what the cost might be for the limited use of the Civic Center on these occasions.
Epps estimated the relocation expenses for moving the Chamber office at $2,000.
She estimated the monthly cost for the Chamber of Commerce for its new 881 N. Main St. location at $1,167.50, as follows $900 rent, $125 electricity, $12.50 for water and $130 for janitorial services.
The Tourism Office anticipates spending $6,000 to relocate to 881 N. Main St., including $5,000 for displays and storage for the visitor center.
The old red school hosue on Main Street that now houses the Salado Civic Center was renovated and opened in October 1993 following a two-year fund-raising and renovation campaign.
The move to renovate the old red schoolhouse was spearheaded by the Salado Chamber of Commerce, many of whose board of directors became the original board of directors of the Old Red Schoolhouse Foundation, the predecessor of the SCCF. Denver Mill was the first president of the Old Red Schoolhouse Foundation.
The Chamber of Commerce commited $50,000 in cash and guaranteed a $100,000 loan for the renovations of the building. The SCCF paid off the note four years early.

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