City seeks shorter contract, more reporting from Chamber

Pre-meeting coverage | John McDougal

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Friday, September 23, 2022

• City wants shorter contract, more accountability, for renewal of Chamber of Commerce contract.

• Better late than never! A city financial audit for your review.

• Old California politics with Gov. John McDougal.

City business

WHAT: City Council meeting

WHEN: Wednesday at 6 PM

WHERE: Via Microsoft Teams or 1 323-676-6169 Code: 797 377 686#

Council to examine Chamber of Commerce funding

The chamber wanted a business-as-usual extension to 2032, the city recommended a 2-year-deal with bi-monthly meetings.

In a letter to the city, the chamber stated it has put city money into community events and two businesses. 

Lisa Kvasnicka, Chamber President: Funding from the TOT, has been reinvested into the community, such as the Noyo Theater, Willits Weekly, Willits Frontier Days, The WFD Ranch Rodeo, Claws for a Cause, Shop Small Saturday, Brews and Blues, Willits Annual Car and Bike Show, Willits High School Sober Grad and the reopening of Station 54 Fire Department. 

Money paid to the chamber is 11.11 percent of  transient occupancy taxes collected by the city–in other words it is a tax paid by Willits motels. 

For the past fiscal year, the city paid $44,142 to the chamber. 

How should the chamber spend City of Willits money?

The old contract tells what was expected of the chamber when the 2011 deal was signed.

City of Willits: The said agreement had a term of ten-years and listed the allocation as 11.11-percent to supplement the Chamber’s finances to advertise, market and otherwise making known to the public, the resource of the City for the express purpose of inducing and increasing business, trade and tourism within the City.

City Hall asks for better reporting from the chamber and a 10 percent membership increase. 

City Manager Brian Bender recommended council members approve a 2-year bargain with some additional effort from both partners. 

City Manager Brian Bender:  1. Reduce the term length to two-years. The term reduction allows the Chamber to proceed with the necessary steps of restructuring their organization with the appointment of an Executive Director and support staff to implement the programming listed in Section #3. 

2. Add the following provision into the Agreement: The appropriate designee of the Chamber will hold bimonthly meetings with the City Manager to provide a written summary describing their progress on activities listed in Section #3. 

3. Add the following benchmarks to the Agreement to measure the success of the Chamber towards achieving its stated goals at the end of two-years: (1) Increase membership by 10-percent; (2) Develop a reporting system to track promotional and marketing efforts; and (3) A report compiling comments from all members noting what strategy is working and the ones that are not.