Since Junction City’s new Chamber of Commerce CEO took over in August he has been focused on contacting members who are past due on their membership fees.

Dennis Beson updated the Chamber Board of Directors Wednesday morning and explained that he and the staff have been focused on contacting members with past due accounts.

“Just touch them to find out, are you still interested in being in the Chamber? If not, what is the problem? Why aren’t you being a member? And maybe, simply, they just didn’t realize,” said Beson. “And we’re finding that, very easily, we’ve brought that number down by 20 percent in just the last 45 days.”

Beson added that in most cases they have been able to renew most of the memberships.

“Only people we’re finding that really aren’t sticking with us are people who maybe the business has closed or it’s getting ready to move or close.”

Membership retention and recruitment has been important to Beson as he continues to strive for a goal of 500 members by the end of 2016.