How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Two countywide business nonprofits on Thursday announced a new collaboration to cut costs and improve efficiency — by sharing one executive director, following the Board of Supervisors’ approval last week of $60,000 in financial support.
Starting 2026, Nicole Flora — executive director of the Lake County Economic Development Corp., or Lake EDC — will also lead the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, the two agencies said in a joint press release Thursday.
The groups will co-locate their offices, and share staff and align programs, while remaining legally separate.
The partnership is intended to streamline operations and reduce duplication, with both organizations citing financial pressures as a factor and expecting that shared leadership and resources will strengthen services for businesses across Lake County.
The Board of Supervisors last Tuesday also approved a one-time $60,000 allocation — $26,000 for the EDC and $34,000 for the chamber. The EDC is facing delays in federal funding, while the chamber is seeking support to keep the Vista Point Visitor Center open.
“We will be continuing to provide services countywide, and being able to streamline,” Flora told Lake County News on Friday. “We’ll have a larger menu for reduced overhead costs.”
Flora said the collaboration builds on previous joint efforts and addresses funding challenges.
“As funding and the economy has sort of shifted, the amount of money to go around has sort of decreased,” she said, noting that both agencies have funding cycles that “aren’t always predictable."
“So it makes sense for us to reduce expenses, particularly in some staffing and some other areas — overhead in general — in order to make both agencies a little bit stronger and offer better services to the community,” Flora added.
The collaboration followed Chamber CEO Amanda Martin’s resignation announcement on Sept. 2; she officially stepped down Friday, nine months after her hire in December 2024.
While acknowledging the funding challenges, Flora insisted that the decision to share an executive director was strategic, not a reflection of financial instability.
“They have a strong board and a solvent budget,” she said of the chamber. “We’re trying to attract and retain multiple executives at a high level, but none of us as individual businesses can afford an executive salary. So let’s put our heads together and figure out how we can share one executive, and potentially free up more funding for direct services to businesses.”
According to their most recent available filings, the EDC reported $274,000 in revenue and $196,000 in expenses in 2023, while the chamber reported $247,000 revenue and $220,000 in expenses, reflecting a tighter margin.
Despite the integration of daily operations, Flora said the boards of the two organizations will remain separate with no plan to merge.
“They are two legally separate and different entities,” she said.
This partnership is set for a year at the moment. “But both boards see this as a path forward to grow into actually a much bigger and stronger agency,” Flora added.
Board leaders from both organizations expressed optimism.
“We’re building a unified front that brings together the Chamber’s legacy of business advocacy and tourism promotion with the EDC’s strategic focus on economic growth,” said Chamber President Don Smith according to the press release.
EDC President Kevin Reynolds said the new partnership will create a platform that can “adapt to the needs of our business community, attract investment, and elevate Lake County’s profile as a place to live, work and visit.”
County aid
Both organizations requested county funds to help with operations.
At the Board of Supervisors meeting, Martin said the request sought to reestablish funding support for operating the Vista Point Visitor Center, which is “a county designated facility and function” over 22 years.
For the past six years, however, the chamber has “received zero funding support,” Martin said.
Martin said the chamber originally planned to request $60,000 but, with the decision to share an executive director with the EDC, its board agreed to also share the funding.
The financial challenge in running the visitor center came up during the June budget hearing, where Supervisor Brad Rasmussen — whose fourth district includes Lakeport — said the chamber “can’t sustain running that visitor center” since transient occupancy tax funds were shifted to the Tourism Improvement District, putting it at risk of closure.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier was skeptical at that time: “A group to support businesses that can't run their own business and needs us to support them financially to run their business, seems a little bit on the awkward side.”
The chamber’s $34,000 share will go directly toward operating the visitor center.
The EDC has received an annual $109,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Business Development program since 2019. However, the allocation for 2025-26 has not yet come through.
Its $26,000 share from the county will serve as “sort of some bridge money to get us to a place of solvency to be able to retain services for the businesses,” Flora told Lake County News.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the one-time funding request for the two groups, with the finalized agreement set to return at a future meeting.
During last Tuesday’s discussion, Sabatier pointed to other visitor centers in the county.
“The Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce — they also run a visitor center; they have not requested money,” he said, also noting the closure of the county’s Lucerne Visitor Center in October 2014, a move supported by the then-chamber executive director.
“I think that was a loss when that shut down,” he added, saying he would not want to see other centers follow the same path.
A search at the California Attorney General’s Office charity registry shows that the “Lake County Chamber of Commerce” was dissolved in 1990 and no longer exists. In 2011, the Internal Revenue Service revoked the Lake County Chamber of Commerce’s federal tax-exempt status.
The organization commonly identified as the Lake County Chamber of Commerce is now legally registered as the “Greater Lakeport Chamber of Commerce” with both the California Secretary of State and the Internal Revenue Service.
State records also show that its registration was updated on Sept. 25 by Martin — one day before her final day in the position.
Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at
