Chambers from Las Vegas, North Las Vegas to explore merging

The governing boards of the Las Vegas and North Las Vegas Chambers of Commerce signed a letter of intent to explore a merger of their operations, officials from both organizations announced Wednesday.

Upon completion of due diligence, the chambers may consider a binding agreement and proposed timeline for completion of the merger.

If the plan is finalized, there would be a number of benefits resulting from integration of the organizations, Las Vegas Chamber spokeswoman Cara Roberts said. It would improve access to benefits, strengthen the business community's government affairs presence and provide greater opportunities to build member relationships, she said.

"Chambers are no different than the rest of the business community," Roberts said. "This has been trying times for everyone and all chambers are looking at ways to be more responsive to members' needs."

North Las Vegas Chamber members with up to 50 employees would be able to take advantage of the Las Vegas Chamber's health plan, which provides affordable health insurance for small businesses throughout the valley, Roberts said. They would also have access to benefits such as the Office Depot discount program, public policy committees and the chamber's annual Preview Las Vegas business expo.

The objective is to ultimately combine operations of both chambers, while maintaining a strong presence in North Las Vegas with office staff available to help members with their needs.

North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce has always been focused on small business members, and that won't change, said Rob McCoy, vice chair of the chamber.

"We're really pleased with the arrangement," McCoy said. "From a pure efficiency standpoint, this makes a lot of sense. Our niche has been small businesses that perhaps don't feel quite as comfortable in a larger chamber. That's important to us. Nellis Air Force Base generates billions of dollars in business and we were the only chamber to have an outreach to Nellis, so keeping the Military Affairs Council is very important."

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce has about 6,000 members, while the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce has 450 to 500 members.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.