Should Business and Government be separate?

Going over the minutes of the EDA for 2005 thru 2008 found many interesting events. One of them was the attempt to combine the EDA/BSAG/Chamber.

In August of 2007 there was a joint EDA/Chamber meeting:


A few months later on October 30th there was a County Wide Economic Development Effort.



What is interesting on the second page is where it states that the Chamber used to be business oriented but now is events oriented.



Is that what the Chamber is supposed to be? Event oriented? The Chamber and the EDA are supposed to serve two different and distinct purposes. The EDA is government and is supposed to spur economic development by bringing in new businesses to the community. The Chamber is private business supporting one another to promote local businesses.

Over the next months there are mentions of progress in the combining of the agencies but then it fades out. In March of 2007 the minutes stated:

County wide EDA:
Cunningham updated the board on the current progress of this project stating a contract has been signed with DSI (Vince Robinson) out of Ivanhoe. BSAG is working on a contract with the county auditor's office for staffing support. The By-Laws should be approved at the next BSAG meeting 3/08/07. The County has transferred $50,000 to a separate account for the BSAG county Wide EDA project. The commissioners have not set out a detailed plan for these monies.


The EDA did move to the chamber in March of 2007. Then on Feb 6, 2008 when David Lang came on board as EDA director it was moved again. It would be more convenient for the EDA office to be close to the city office so the EDA office was moved to the present location across the street from the city office. David Lang in an email made the statement that either the City, the EDA, or the Chamber would make a $500 dollar donation to the Meander. How is it that David Lang felt comfortable making a decision for the Chamber? He sent copies to Vicki Oakes and Donnette Herberg. It is always best to keep your staff informed.



While it appears there never was an official combining of the EDA and Chamber one can't help but notice that there was a movement of members in the EDA and Chamber. While Artie Arndt left the EDA he was a member of the Chamber board. Donnette Herberg, the chamber director, was welcomed to the EDA board three months later. Could one wonder that the combining of the EDA/Chamber was in the form of people instead of on paper?

One has to wonder at how the Chamber operates in connection with the EDA. Consider the upcoming Winterfest. The concept of the Winterfest was started to draw people into the downtown business during the slow winter months. The medallion hunt was to draw people into the stores by having them pick up the clues there. Now the chamber has people coming into the Chamber office. How does that help the businesses bring people into their stores? The only business it helps is KDIO radio because people will listen to get the clues. So why does KDIO get special treatment?

There is also a fundraiser for the Chamber. They will deliver box lunches and a rose. Again this is a fundraiser for the Chamber and is not promoting local businesses or bringing in customers to the stores. The snow sculpture is for people to make in their own yards and the chamber will come and take photos and pick a winner. Another promotion of the Chamber with no benefit to the businesses?

Then there is sledding on Wednesday and afterwards you can have hot chocolate at the EDA. The EDA? Is Vicki Oakes the hostess for the Chamber? One can't help but notice how many times you turn around and find a connection with Vicki and the Chamber. Vicki and Donnette Herberg worked together at the EDA and with the Chamber.

Is the Chamber supporting the EDA or local businesses? Why didn't they offer hot chocolate at the downtown businesses so they could get customers into the store? Why is the Chamber promoting the EDA?

Looking at the actions in the first post and the efforts to get the Chamber and the EDA together one may wonder if you can get the EDA and Chamber any closer without actually signing papers. They seem to operate as one. Why are businesses paying the chamber to promote local business and all the efforts of the Chamber are to promote the Chamber itself and the EDA?

I talked with a Chamber board member and was told that the finance committee makes all the plans for the activities. They are the ones that plan the Winterfest, Sport and Leisure Show, and Cornfest. I was also informed that this committee is very informal and any business member can come and that they don't always take minutes. It seems to me that any organization that takes money from businesses owes them an obligation to show how their money is being spent and who is making the decisions on how it is spent.

This concept that the chamber is being operated by an unknown group of people and has no accountability is alarming. Chamber members should be allowed to know what group of people got together and planned a week long event at the expense of the Chamber promoting the EDA.

If you read the threads on this site you will see that we accept criticism and allow within reason constructive criticism.

The Chamber used to be an organization promoting business. However there has been little turn over on the Board of Directors and they continue to self appoint to the Board. In other words, the present Board makes little effort to have more than one hand picked candidate for each opening. The result is the same board hear's or has precious little new ideas.

By the way, the same thing is going on in the EDA. It is the same people on the EDA year after year after year and you only get the nomination if you get along with the present EDA members. In essence, creating a clique club. Mr. Nypen has been on this board for years. One of the early meetings of the city council the EDA recommended and sought the nomination of Blair Johnson and despite the election result certain members supported this nomination.

These members continue to support each other and resent any type of change. They feel comfortable discussing issues with people that think like they do.

The result is what we have is a very weakened Winter Fest. The merchants get little or nothing out of any of the events except for the newspapers and the radio having an excuse to sell advertisements.

The entire promotion this year in the flyer on our site is EDA and the Chamber. They are competing with local restuarants and there is little incentive for people to shop Ortonville.

Perhaps the committe should talk to the individuals who were the founders of Winter Fest to see how they promoted the downtown.

Is Winter Fest just another fund raiser for the EDA and Chamber or are we promoting business? Why are we advertising government? This just does not make sense.

I hope the members of the Chamber see this as constructive criticism. That is what it is meant to be.