When assessing whether an organization is doing well or going backwards, one barometer is the quality of decisions the group is making.

Another is the tally of who is jumping ship.

Currently, the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce is struggling on both fronts.

The list of board members and employees who have left the local business organization in the last 18 months is certainly cause for concern.

Especially when the Chamber, which receives public money, is reluctant to explain why.

The Chamber has lost a quarter of its board membership in the last few months, and has recently hired its fifth Executive Director since April of last year.

Not all of those departures are necessarily bad.

While the loss of Mayor Susan Holecheck from the board is a stain, and the loss of her enthusiasm and skills since her resignation earlier this year have certainly been a detriment, the gesture is actually a positive for a business organization that has long been accused of being too cozy with City Hall.

However, the gesture is blunted by the fact that Mesquite City Manager Tim Hacker remains as an appointed and powerful force on the Chamber board.

Last week’s loss of Mark Meersman as the Chamber’s president-elect is also an embarrassment, but may serve as a positive in the longer term.

While Meersman is certainly a smart and capable business man, the fact that he is not a resident of Nevada, much less Mesquite, has been a distraction for the Mesquite-based organization.

The fact that he also does not have an operating business in the city (at least until his Desert Falls project opens to the public), and his status as an appointed board member instead of being elected by the membership, have also been challenged for an organization that is supposed to represent local businesses.

There have been some other resignations that show the Chamber is trying to change for the better.

However, when the remaining board rejects an opportunity to consider former Mesquite mayor Bill Nicholes for the Executive Director’s position, you can’t help but question the organization’s decision-making abilities.

Especially when that decision comes without even bothering to interview several quality candidates, including Nicholes and local pastor and newspaper writer Dennis Lee.

Nicholes certainly comes with political baggage.

During his term as mayor, his support of medians on Mesquite Blvd. put him at odds with many local business owners.

But his well-documented ability to lure businesses to Mesquite, including Sun City and Do It Best’s distribution center, as well as his experience on the board of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and as the Executive Director of the Mesquite Contractors and Builders Association, are the kind of qualifications that should be hard to ignore.

Then you have the one intangible that would make him the ideal candidate for the job of Mesquite’s number-one cheerleader: the fact that nobody loves Mesquite more than Bill Nicholes, even after being rejected by voters in the 2007 election following trumped up allegations in an FBI investigation that was eventually dropped.

Add in the fact that he was willing to do the job for a fraction of the budgeted salary, and you have to wonder why such a generous offer was rejected by an organization that is struggling along with most businesses in the middle of a recession.

While the Chamber board dropped the ball in not at least interviewing Nicholes and Lee for the job, Mesquite can take heart in the fact that the Chamber has a chance to turn things around with the executive director they chose.

Local business woman Anne Miranda appears to be competent and capable of righting a badly-listing ship.

The question is whether a Chamber board with a recent history of questionable calls will be willing to give her the latitude necessary to repair a reputation badly damaged by secrecy and confidentiality, and put out the welcome mat for a business constituency that has been alienated by what some see as the organization’s cliquish behavior.