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?