Business & Tech

Merger Set for Powder Springs, South Cobb Business Associations

The decision is the result of several board members departing and static membership in the Powder Springs organization.

The Powder Springs Business Association, formed in the mid-‘70s, will meet for the last time as an independent organization in December.

The roughly 35 paid members will then merge with the South Cobb Business Association, which has a little more than 200 members.

“The economy has done a real number on Powder Springs, and so we’ve had basically the same level of membership for quite some time now,” PSBA President Tom Hatch said. “And with all the associations out there—the clubs, the rotaries, you name it—it was difficult to keep it going.”

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Also, Hatch said, several members on the board of directors are set to depart with no replacements, leaving only two.

The pair would then have a “monumental” set of tasks before them in running the organization, he added.

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“For us, it represents an opportunity to merge the talent we’ve got in both associations, and the more members you have, the more people you’re going to meet,” Hatch said. “And it gives South Cobb a shot in the arm.”

SCBA President Wayne Dodd said if any major adjustments are made—like a name or location change—they’ll come in 2012 after the new board takes over. The group currently meets in the South Cobb Community Center but is looking at more central locations, including some along the East-West Connector.

“There are a lot of unanswered aspects of how this is going to work,” he said.

“We’re not looking to take anybody over, and they’re certainly not coming in to take us over. We just want to become stronger, and of course with numbers, there’s strength.”

Hatch said that after the merger, members will have more people to network with, and overall, the organization will be “much, much better.”

“It’s just a win-win deal all the way around,” he said, adding that Powder Springs members hope to periodically return to their current meeting place, the .

There, on Dec. 13 at 11:30 a.m., the Powder Springs Business Association will hold its last meeting, a Christmas program featuring ’s chorus, final announcements, and possibly a few words from Mayor Pat Vaughn.

Guests are welcome to the event, which includes lunch. The fee for them is $15, while members pay $10.

“Sometime down the road when the economy gets back,” Hatch said, “maybe somebody will start another Powder Springs Business Association.”

The merger will take the number of Cobb business associations from 11 to 10, not including the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and the Mableton Business Exchange.

The South Cobb Business Association remains independent from the Austell Business Association.


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