The economic development and tourism portfolios are being reclaimed by Estevan’s City Hall.
These two files have been in the custody of the Estevan Chamber of Commerce for the past several years.
“The City didn’t want to handle them back then, and we thought the C of C was a pretty natural home for economic development anyway,” said Dennis Bode, a former chamber president. “They told us they really didn’t have any room for these two and wanted us to take them on and we agreed,” he added.
It’s premature to consider the direct impact the move will have on existing staff at the C of C offices with the transfer of duties and supporting budget, said city manager, Amber Smale.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said the issue has been a “back and forth discussion with the chamber for the past two years.”
Current C of C president Ken Rowan said the decision to move the two departments back into the City’s hands was not one the C of C did willingly.
Smale added the corporate reorganization the City has undergone will allow it to reclaim these two sectors.
“We’ll get a better understanding of where we’re going after a little more consultation,” said Ludwig.
One of those consultations happened just after Ludwig spoke to about 40 C of C members at their monthly business luncheon held in the Fireside Room at Days Inn on Jan. 14. Ludwig, Smale and City Treasurer Jeff Ward met with current Chamber president Ken Rowan and incoming president Nathan Wilhelm. Before that meeting, Smale and Ludwig suggested that it might take a couple more weeks of negotiating before the shift takes place.
One of the items to be discussed will be the civic funding support for the C of C once it has to give up these two files. The City currently provides the chamber with $250,000 for that purpose and according to Bode, “that just covered the operation of the tourist information centre, Souris Valley Museum and its programs plus permanent and seasonal employees.
“We felt economic development was a good fit for the Chamber because that’s what our mandate includes and what the City provided just covered the cost of doing that job and the tourism job and salaries. Business projects were financed by members. The Chamber ran economic development on a contract with the City, not as part of their city services,” said Bode.
“But it’s not our decision to make. We thought we were doing a good job, but the City now wants to do it in house, and that’s their right. They will probably handle event planning and future business surveys and planning,” Rowan said, adding he agreed it was too soon to speculate as to how the move will affect future chamber budgets and staffing.
In the meantime, the C of C is still on the lookout for a new executive director to replace Michelle Cyrenne who departed in the spring to assume new duties in Swift Current.
“We will be re-posting the position,” Rowan said. “We have a hiring committee in place so we’ll work with Roy and Amber to make sure the transition happens smoothly.”
Rowan said the City had already handed over the first quarter payment that included the maintenance of tourism and economic development, so if any move was made prior to the end of March, financial adjustments would have to be made to accommodate the new situation. He said he hoped the transition could happen relatively soon in fairness to the employees who will be affected by the move.
Wilhelm will be taking over the chamber presidency in mid-March at the annual general meeting, and it is expected that by then there will be a clear path and mandate for the Estevan Chamber of Commerce and the City of Estevan’s economic development and tourism departments.
In the meantime, Ludwig and Smale told the Mercury the decision to reclaim the two departments was made by City Council and that if it took a couple of months to complete, that was what would happen since “we’re not going to rush it,” they said.
In speaking to the membership, Ludwig focused his attention on reviewing the civic projects that were undertaken in 2014 and provided them with a look ahead for 2015 in terms of completing infrastructure projects and continued debt reduction plus the civic fees, levies and property tax increases that will be put in place to pay for them.
