An era of change is being ushered in at the Kimball-Banner Chamber of Commerce as long-time director Kim Baliman steps down and new director Rod Horton steps in. Baliman will officially resign on July 11. She has accepted a position with the Kimball Public School District. Her leaving has emptied a large pair of shoes for Horton to fill. Baliman has served the chamber for more than eight years and has doubled its membership. “I hope to build on the success that Kim (Baliman) has done,” said Horton, “I want to build on the established programs and come up with new ideas.”Horton and his wife moved to Kimball in 2007. He had accepted a position with Cabelas and was in need of a place to live. After looking in Sidney, the Hortons turned their sites westward. Here they found what they were looking for. Kimball was an attractive place for us to move, he said.Add to it that it was 40 miles closer to Denver where his wife still works for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Things were going smoothly for the Hortons until the economy took its plunge and the person he was supposed to replace at Cabelas decided not to retire. Horton soon found himself out of a job. One morning after getting coffee downtown, he decided to stop into the Chamber and ask if he could volunteer. “Kim asked me if I could start the next day!” he said. That venture into volunteering soon turned into a new job. So now Horton spends his day trying to learn as much as he can from Baliman.“If we both had USB ports in our heads we could just plug in,” he said with a laugh. Although inundated with training, Horton has still had sometime to think about what he would like to accomplish. He said with the current state of the economy it is a difficult time for anyone to be in business. Horton said we need to weather the storm and support our local businesses. “Sure it may be more expensive here, but you are helping your neighbor,” he said, “When the economy turns around, and it always does, we will be stronger for it.”You need to grow or die, he said. People, business owners, need to be proactive and do the little things that you can do along the way, he said. One of his goals is to get the community involved in the Chamber and the Chamber involved with the community.“I am going to do things different (than Baliman) because I am different,” he said. But the chamber needs to continue to be a resource that businesses and the community should use. With the City of Kimball searching for a new economic developer, Horton shed some of his thoughts on that. “We (the Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Developer, have to work together. We are both doing the same thing, building Kimball,” he said, “Not working together is counterproductive.”Horton is currently learning as much as he can at the Chamber office from Baliman. Take a moment to stop in and say hello. While there, make sure to thank Baliman for the hard work she has put in.