BROOKINGS The implementation plan for the proposed merger of four economic groups received the Brookings City Councils blessing on a 7-0 vote at Tuesday nights meeting.
Councilor Nick Wendell, who is co-chairing the 15-member merger panel with Tom Fishback of First Bank & Trust, explained the necessity of the citys involvement prior to the vote.
One of the chief reasons that we want the City Council to consider approval of the implementation plan is to affirm that the council and the city of Brookings is comfortable funding this new merged entity in fiscal year 2026, he said. That budget cycle is starting soon, and so I think the signal needs to be sent clearly that the council, if you adopt the implementation plan, intends to fund the new organization in 2026, and the organization is built with that in mind.
The proposed merger would bring the now-separate groups Brookings Economic Development Corp., Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Brookings and Visit Brookings into a single, pillared organization. The effort, set in motion by the City Council, began in November and is currently going through a checklist of milestones that need to be achieved prior to the new organizations launch this coming January.
The vote by the City Council also gets the ball rolling on up to $250,000 in transition funding from the city this year for the ongoing merger effort.
Theres certain activities that the newly merged organization will have to complete in 2025, but of course the assets of the four existing organizations are dedicated to their existing missions, Wendell said. The work of conducting a search process and hiring a president and CEO and building a new brand and identity for a newly merged organization will take additional resources, so weve identified that in the implementation plan.
The goals of the merged organization, according to city documents, are to:
- Preserve the missions of the existing, separate groups.
- Maximize available resources.
- Better position Brookings and the surrounding region to take advantage of opportunities and meet challenges now and into the future.
Audience, councilor feedback
That said, concern was raised by audience member and Brookings resident Doug Austreim prior to the City Councils vote. He said there might be meshing concerns regarding the four current separate groups.
Austreim pointed out that in his past experience in public and private service including time as a mayor, being part of an economic development panel, and as the national president of a trade group on the surface it might make sense to merge because of similarities, but once you delve into the nitty gritty of membership makeup, goals, due structures and so on, many times its found there are reasons why the organizations are separate.
He also said the impetus for the merger should have come from the economic groups themselves, rather than from the city, and wondered at what point they would decide on taking part in the merger.
I think you need to take another look at this, he concluded, adding that he wasnt representing any other family members, or any of the four economic groups.
Councilors also had questions, including Bonny Specker. She asked for clarification from Wendell on what role the existing groups had in coming up with the implementation plan and their involvement in the overall process.
Wendell said he and Fishback met with the staff of each of the four groups when the merger process began in November. Following that, the merger panel dove headfirst into its work, including receiving documents from each of the groups by early January such as budgets, organizational structures, job descriptions and policies and bylaws.
After that, two members of the merger committee met with each staff member, along with each organizations director.
Rather than asking staff to come meet with a 15-member committee to share their perspective, we had two members of the merger committee go meet with individual staff members, Wendell said, to talk about concerns that they might have and what made them nervous about the merge, where they recognize potential opportunities, better understand their current portfolio and their job description, other duties as assigned those types of things you cant really put in a document but they sort of evolve within an organization.
Furthermore, Wendell said an all-staff forum took place in March with the merger committee. The draft organizational structure was shared with the staffers, who then broke into smaller groups to discuss different elements of that structure. He noted that feedback was gathered and used from the forum, and then a follow-up electronic survey was also conducted.
So there were members from each of these organizations advisory boards on this merger committee? Specker asked.
Wendell said every member of the merger committee is either currently serving, or has served, on the boards of one of the existing organizations.
Councilor Brianna Doran spoke next. Could you please speak to the affirmation of the entities if we voted in affirmation of (Tuesday nights action)?
Wendell said he and Fishback have met or will be meeting this month with each of the boards of the existing organizations, but wont be asking them to take action on a decision to participate in the merger. That ask will come in June, when the merger panel will seek an affirmation decision from each board, with a deadline of no later than June 30.
Doran then followed up with a question about the merger panels support for staff and leadership of the affected economic groups during the transition.
Wendell said multiple factors are being considered, including:
- How staffers will feel engaging with the new board of directors.
- How advisory councils that the staffers work with will be populated.
- How existing job responsibilities and missions will be reflected in the new positions.
I think one essential phase of that will be the hiring of the president and CEO, and how you build that relationship between a new president and CEO and an existing staff, Wendell said. In some cases it will be transitioning into new positions, maybe broader portfolios or narrower portfolios, depending on the position they move into. Weve really thought about how do we engage staff in a way that is productive but also gives them an opportunity to share their concerns and their excitement about a potential transition.
The projected timeline shows a selection committee appointing a board of directors on June 16, with a subsequent search process for a president/CEO taking place in July and August. That position will be filled in the fall, with the new merged organization taking flight in January.
Fishback spoke up as well, noting that, We have a great staff in place right now within all four of those entities, and we really want them to stay and feel embraced by this new entity because theres a lot of good work left in front of us that we need to get done. Thats going to be really important. This entity will provide a home for the existing staff and, again, we just hope that they all choose to come with.
In closing, Councilor Holly Tilton Byrne, who is also a member of the merger panel, wanted to make it clear that Tuesday nights vote doesnt coerce current economic groups into anything.
This decision does not force or require any of the organizations to participate in this merge, she emphasized. This is not saying that all of these organizations must do this; that will be their independent election to be able to do that.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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