Looking to strike a careful political balance, Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs are exploring the option of creating their own chapter of the Lehi Area Chamber of Commerce.

The move is a balancing act. For years, both cities have been part of the Lehi chamber, which Lehi pays tens of thousands of dollars a year to support. The money pays the salary of a part-time chamber president and covers cell phones, legal fees, licenses and insurance, meeting space and office space.

Earlier this year, Lehi asked Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs to each chip in roughly $10,000 to the chamber's budget. Both cities apparently said they would consider this if Lehi would change the name of the chamber to reflect the wider area, which Lehi refused to do.

Creating a Lake Mountain chapter of the Lehi Area Chamber would allow the two cities to focus more on their own businesses while still maintaining ties with the more established and powerful Lehi Chamber.

During the joint meeting with Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs Mayor Tim Parker walked a careful line.

"Our relationship with the existing chamber is good," he said. "It is a very good thing, and I hope that whatever we do leverages off of that group as a bud off of them rather than trying to start up our own."

Ultimately, a chamber of commerce is a political force that helps sway government policy to benefit area businesses, he said, citing the Salt Lake and Provo chambers as examples of politically powerful chambers.

"I hope whatever happens up here, we don't get so fragmented that we don't have that capacity," he said. "I hope it becomes another force to recruit government funding and influence policy."

The two cities ended their meeting agreeing to work together to explore the idea.

Heather Miller, president of the Lehi Area Chamber, said starting a Lake Mountain chapter would allow Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs to have their own meetings in their area to focus on the particular needs of their business community.

"I can see it as a definite plus," she said. "It would only add to and improve, strengthen and fortify" the Lehi chamber.

It would also save members in those cities gas, as they would not have to travel so far for meetings, she said.

Lehi was reluctant to change the name of its chamber because "it has been branded for 52 years," she said, noting the refusal to change the name doesn't mean that the group does not want to work closely with businesses in Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs.

If a Lake Mountain chapter is started under the umbrella of the Lehi chamber, Lehi would be "a mentor," she said, and would continue to hold ribbon-cuttings and related services for new businesses in the area.

Eagle Mountain city spokeswoman Linda Peterson said the city had not budgeted any money toward its chamber or chapter expenses in the fiscal year budget, which began in July. She said talk of starting a chapter was "very preliminary" and it was too soon to discuss details. She confirmed that Eagle Mountain "was not comfortable" contributing money to the Lehi chamber unless the name was changed.

Diane Bradshaw, an administrator at Eagle Mountain-based Direct Communications, is a board member of the Lehi chamber.

"Our long-term goal is to have a separate chamber," she said, noting right now the majority of the work of the Lehi chamber is focused on Lehi simply because it is funded by Lehi.

"If we had a chamber here and hired someone, they could meet with businesses one on one and have Eagle Mountain activities," she said, noting even a chapter would advocate and encourage local business.