Chamber, EDC decide not to join forces

No merger.

The Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. and the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce will not merge, ending months of talks between the senior leadership of the two organizations’ boards.

“We just decided that we were rushing into it a little bit too quickly,” said Vic Andrews, chairman of the chamber’s board of directors. “We’re going to work on working together on more things and just see how it develops over time.”

A merger would have reversed what was a fractious split between the two groups. The Economic Development Corp., then the Economic Development Council, used to be a division of the chamber, but it became a separate organization in the early 1990s.

The EDC’s key focus is attracting and retaining primary employers. The chamber serves as a voice for local business.

“Both boards believe strongly that each organization has important, yet unique objectives and in this current economic environment, the EDC and chamber must stay focused on their respective missions,” the groups said in a statement Thursday.

Crafting a merger was never necessarily the aim of the talks, said Pam Keller, chairwoman of the EDC’s board.

“I don’t think it was ever the goal as much as let’s talk about what we both do and how we can get more jobs for the community and work together,” she said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or comics@gazette.com