Staff reporter Devin Golden contributed to this story.

GULF SHORES, Ala. - Area businesses voted against consolidation with the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce Friday at a special called meeting.

The Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors required a 67 percent approval from a quorum of its membership. With 394 ballots cast, the votes fell a few percentage points short with 64.29 percent approving the merger.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” Board Chairman Joe Joe McCarron said. “I still believe (the merger) is the best thing to do, but our membership has spoken. We have to respect that.”

Both chambers held votes May 25. The South Baldwin Chamber approved the merger with 78.1 percent, 523 out of 669 members, of its membership voting “yes.” The Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber fell short, with 65.7 percent of its entire membership turning in affirmative votes.

After a member-led petition drive asking for a revote, the board of directors called a special meeting to reconsider the matter with new voting standards. State law requires a minimum of 20 percent of the membership to be present to constitute a quorum.

“The board was split, 10 in favor and 10 against, to set a new vote,” Past Chairman Greg Kennedy said. “It has splintered the chamber and the community. It was absolutely the wrong thing to do. It’s changing the rules to win.”

Several members spoke up about the consolidation plan, including Kennedy. The board of directors member led a phone campaign to bring in more member votes. Members weren’t properly informed of the consequences of consolidation during the first effort, he said.

“I talked to several members who said they were called five or six times, ‘give me a proxy, give me a proxy,’” Kennedy said. “None of them were told of these issues about the disparity in financial condition, the possibility of not being able to advocate for something that we want.”

According to Kaiser Realty President Leonard Kaiser, concerns surrounding the possibility of consolidation are nothing new.

“The issues we’re struggling with today are almost identical to what we dealt with when we about merging Orange Beach Chamber down with the Alabama Gulf Coast. A lot of the same issues, a lot of the same concerns,” Kaiser said. “Can we not look back and say that was the right thing to do?”

The idea to merge the chambers was born from the two areas’ cooperation in the wake of the BP oil spill on the Coastal Resiliency Coalition. After a joint board retreat in November, the chambers formed a task force to investigate the feasibility of a merger. The mutually adopted Plan of Consolidation cited increased regionalism and economic development as positive side effects of a unified chamber.

“We have always worked well together on issues that we agree on. And that’s the key, issues we agree on,” Kennedy said, citing efforts to bring a medical center to the island. Foley and the South Baldwin Regional Medical Center were the biggest opponents to medical care in Alabama’s coastal towns, he said.

“There are going to be issues that we will not be able to agree on,” Kennedy said. “The idea of merging to achieve regionalism — I don’t buy it.”

The South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce’s vote is valid until July 1. If the Alabama Gulf Coast Chamber had approved the consolidation, the merger would have been moved forward without further action from the Foley-based chamber.

“We are looking forward to continued ways to work together,” South Baldwin Board Chairman Britton Bonner said in a phone interview. “Even though it didn’t pass, we look forward to a continued strong relationship.

"We just had a very successful (Gulf Coast Hot Air) Balloon Festival…I wouldn't say we're disappointed. It takes two willing partners to do this," Bonner said, noting he thinks there was some "misinformation" released about the merger and Gulf Coast Area Chamber officials "put in a lot of time and effort" into the proposed merger.

Members of the Gulf Coast Chamber plan to petition then board to adopt a resolution barring talks of consolidation for at least five years.