Encinitas chamber chief resigns
ENCINITAS —- Encinitas Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Keith Turner
resigned this week and a longtime Encinitas merchant and former chamber president
has replaced him.

ENCINITAS —- Encinitas Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Keith Turner resigned this week and a longtime Encinitas merchant and former chamber president has replaced him.

Gary Tucker, president of the chamber’s executive board in 2004 and 2005, said Thursday that he has signed a contract to serve as the chamber’s chief through Dec. 31.

“We had a situation where Keith is pursuing other opportunities in his life,” Tucker said.

He said Turner’s departure was amicable, but declined to offer more details, deferring questions to chamber president Michael Klein.

Klein did not return telephone messages seeking comment. Turner could not be reached for comment.

“I’m just surprised,” Encinitas mayor and chamber supporter James Bond said Friday.

Turner was one of 80 applicants who competed for the organization’s top job in 2003. During his tenure, membership increased from 525 to 760, which exceeded the 750-member target set for him at the time of his hire.

Before working at the chamber, Turner was executive director of the San Diego chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He was also a marketing director of the American Cancer Society.

Tucker said he got the job because the chamber’s board wanted an administrator who knew the chamber’s workings as well as those of Encinitas City Hall.

“They wanted to get someone who they felt was comfortable enough to not lose any ground with our relationship with the city,” Tucker said.

The chamber receives $91,500 a year from the city to operate a visitor’s center from its offices on Encinitas Boulevard.

Sometime between April and July, the chamber plans to move its offices to a new building at Second and H streets.

“(The chamber’s) plan is to request at least a one-time infusion to help with the move and new center, but they haven’t shared that with us yet officially,” Bond said. “They’re not aggressively going after the city for money but that’s always been sort of in the background.”

Last month, when the City Council met to set its goals for 2007, chamber officials said they hope to take over production of the Christmas parade, which the city has produced since its incorporation in 1986. The chamber produced the event for years before that.