Dateline: May 21, 2009

Stanley closure impacts community negatively

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise  

Workers at Stanley Automotive Enterprises in Clarendon found themselves unexpectedly out of work last Thursday when the General Motors dealership suddenly closed its doors.

Former employees said corporate officials with the Dallas-based firm called a staff meeting for 9 a.m. and told them as of that moment they were shut down.

Stanley’s Chief Operating Officer Becky Endebrock told the Enterprise that morning that the decision was made due to “tough economic conditions” and indicated the decision was Stanley’s and not that of General Motors.

“It was a tough decision and not easy to make because it would affect a lot of lives,” Endebrock said, noting that former Stanley employees “can apply for jobs at any other dealership.”

Endebrock also said she was unaware of any plans to close any of Stanley’s other dealerships, but the Enterprise learned Monday that the company had closed its Ford dealership in Childress but was expected to re-open that location as a used car dealer.

In Clarendon, reaction has been strong to the closing of the dealership that for decades was known as Chamberlain Motor Company and had long been one of the city’s biggest private employers. Most people disagreed with a statement by Mayor Chris Ford in a television interview in which he lamented the loss of jobs and tax revenue but said the closure would not hurt the community much.

The mayor later told the Enterprise he was trying to be optimistic in the face of the bad news.

“We’re resilient, and we’ve still got pioneer spirit,” Ford said. “I hate that we’ve lost those jobs, but we’ll bounce back.”

County takes tax hit

Donley County Tax Assessor/Collector Linda Crump criticized the mayor’s televised comment.

“I think it’s going to hurt us a lot more than the mayor seems to think,” Crump said. “Consider all the vehicles they did the title on, and the county got taxes from. For every new car sold out of county, Donley County got the first year’s registration on usually.”

Crump said in 2008, Stanley’s sold vehicles to 202 buyers outside of Donley County and registered them locally, generating $10,306.46.

“That’s one [county] commissioner’s salary,” Crump said, noting that she could not easily determine how many registrations were made on new cars sold to residents of Donley County since those are spread across hundreds of individual files.

The county also received $8,476.71 from sales taxes on car sales in 2008, most of which came from Stanley’s, Crump said.

Stanley also paid more than $31,343 in property and vehicle inventory taxes in 2008, according Paula Lowrie, Chief Appraiser of the Donley Appraisal District.

The dealership paid $17,465 in property taxes on real estate and personal property valued at $687,366, Lowrie said. It also paid $13,878 in vehicle inventory taxes on an inventory valued at $509,360.

Lowrie said the property taxes would continue to be collected but noted that the value of the property will begin to decline if it sits vacant very long.

Beyond the tax rolls, the loss to the community is immeasurable, and the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce is trying to figure out how to deal with it.

Community impact

“It just makes me sick,” said Chamber Executive Director Judy Burlin. “After all these years, the dealership was like an icon for Clarendon. We had not been noticeably impacted by the recession until this.”

Burlin said the loss of jobs was terrible but that the loss also extended to income at other businesses when people from out of town would eat here, buy gas here, and shop here while looking for a new vehicle. Employees also spent some of their Christmas bonuses here.

The dealership’s slogan also promoted Clarendon, she said.

“That ‘Downhill all the way’ has been the slogan for not just Chamberlain’s and Stanley’s; it has been the slogan for the whole town,” Burlin said. “When you tell people you’re from Clarendon, they recite the slogan. It’s very recognizable.”

Burlin said the Chamber will meet Thursday night to discuss how to react to the closure and also where to get vehicles for the July Fourth parade that were previously provided by the dealership.

Tessie Robinson was one of the employees who lost their jobs last Thursday also said the impact to the community will be greater than just the taxes and the payroll that Stanley’s paid.

“We spent $3,000 to $4,000 per month with Bivens Oil for gas,” Robinson said. “We bought parts from Floyd’s and Kidd’s. All our salesmen ate in local restaurants six days a week. We were members of the Chamber and the Lions Club. We ran ads in the newspaper and on radio.”

Robinson said Stanley’s not only provided cars for Clarendon’s July Fourth parade but also for the Clarendon rodeo; homecoming activities in Clarendon, Hedley, Memphis, and even Shamrock; and the Hedley Cotton Festival.

“People just have no idea how big this is,” said Robinson, who started with Chamberlain’s in 1996. “I saw the mayor on TV, and it is going to hurt.”

For her part, Robinson said she has filed for unemployment. She said the employees at Stanley’s had been told last month that the business would be giving up its GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Buick, and Pontiac franchises and become strictly a Chevrolet dealer. Then Thursday they were told to “get your stuff and get out.”

The local dealership was established by Fred E. Chamberlain, Jr., in 1956. The Chamberlain family sold the business in 2002, and it came under the Stanley name in 2006.