Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home City Council voted last week to provide $15,000 in funds to the Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce to operate the community’s Visitor Information Center.
The council considered a proposed contract with the chamber during its regular meeting on Sept. 12. Council members had been discussing whether to provide the funding, which was provided in the 2017-18 budget, voicing concerns about accountability and whether the funding would be used to benefit the community as a whole.
Under the agreement, the city was scheduled to pay the chamber in three installments of $5,000 Sept. 10, Nov. 1 and March 1.
In exchange, the chamber must staff and maintain the Visitor Information Center, located at 1575 Main St., with hours generally from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday throughout the year.
The chamber is responsible for maintaining the facility to present a pleasing visual setting for visitors and the community, maintain the interior in a clean, efficient manner. Information for events, maps and other relevant communications must be current and inviting, with the outside kiosk kept updated with current recreational maps and information.
Two weeks prior to each payment, beginning with the November payment, the chamber must provide a summary of its performance during the previous period.
The report will contain various metrics, including the number and types of visits, phone inquiries, web hits, Facebook activity, the number of information packets distributed, samples of the chamber’s advertising efforts and other measurable activity.
Also included in the report will be a brief recap of various achievements relative to the chamber’s business plan objectives along with projected activities.
“The part that I like is section five (the periodic reporting requirements),” said Councilor Dave Trask. “I think they’ll agree that the accountability is very important. I think that’s the biggest part we asked for, one of the biggest parts anyway. It’s quite a little list of things that has to be taken care of.”
Chamber President Bill Matthews promised plenty of details.
“We compiled that list, and we’re actively trying to comply the best we can, and then we’ll give you some metrics,” he said.
“Well that’s encouraging to me,” Trask replied.
“I’ve seen a good change in the chamber, personally,” said Mayor Greg Mahler. “I think I’m like Councilor Trask. My concern has been the accountability and the image of Main Street that we’ve talked about, from the mechanic shop to everything else, it was kind of cluttering. I’ve seen that improve and I think you guys have done a good job.”
Councilor Diane Gerson said one of Councilor James Goble’s concerns was about promoting businesses that are not part of the chamber, to ensure the funding is used to benefit the community, not just members.
Goble was absent from the meeting last week.
“Our members are certainly getting priority, but we’re not ignoring the rest of the businesses or the community in any way,” Matthews said. “In fact, we’re promoting things that we don’t have a lot to do with (like the recent triathlon).
“While members should get some priority in certain things, like in our Visitor’s Guide, businesses have the opportunity to participate in that whether they’re members or non-members, but it’s mostly members that are approached to do that. We are sensitive to Councilor Goble’s request that it’s a community-based thing, but we are a Chamber of Commerce that’s dedicated to businesses.
“We’re trying to get some balance that works.”
Councilor Susan Coleman noted that while the chamber may be able to promote businesses, the city doesn’t even know what businesses are active in Sweet Home.
“Because you have no business license,” Matthews responded. “You don’t know what businesses are coming or going or anything. That’s one thing that we would like to address in the future, if we’re going to do some economic measurement, we certainly need to know what businesses are active, what their format is. Most cities have even a token $5 or $10 business license tax so that the city and other entities can track businesses and find out more about them. That’s one of our deals that we want to accomplish at some point.”
Councilor Lisa Gourley said that Sweet Home has a rich history of volunteerism and community engagement that has been amazing.
“Some of the conversations I’ve had over the last couple of years haven’t necessarily been the positive,” Gourley said. “And I’m hoping that that is a high priority for the new chamber.”
“It’s one of the highest priorities we have – to engage our volunteers here for that purpose,” Matthews said. The chamber was in a meeting that day on almost the same subject, about building coalitions among the volunteer organizations, such as the chamber and the Sweet Home Economic Development Group, to bring together their volunteer bases in their common causes.
“Quite frankly the chamber’s not done well with that at all,” Matthews said. “It has a tendency to push volunteers away. The opposite is true. We’re welcoming volunteers. We need some volunteers. We need some additional board members, and we’re out recruiting them.”
Matthews said the chamber is open to suggestions. Gerson suggested that the chamber maintain a list in the Visitor Information Center showing who needs volunteer help and what kind of volunteer help is needed.
Matthews said that nearby communities have been finding some success using an app called “Just Serve,” and he said the chamber will see if it can structure something like a list in a more formal way and report back to the council.
Voting to approve the contract were Coleman, Gourley, Mahler, Trask and Gerson. Goble was absent because he had to work.