Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Board of Supervisors Funds Regional Chamber of Commerce - $50,000

Today was one of the best board of supervisors meetings which I have attended. Most of the Board of Supervisors listened to the concerns of the constituents in connection with the long-term vision for tourism in Nevada County, and they (along with Alison Lehman who was wonderful too) really appeared to make decisions based on the collaboration with the remonstrators.

The meeting proved that Ed Scofield, the chairman of the board who ran the meeting, is a stand up guys who listens to the constituents and allows as much constituent participation as possible. I think that the way Ed ran the meeting is important, because this meeting could have gone sideways rather quickly.

While I would not have awarded the contract for the website to anyone without a long-term strategic plan for Nevada County tourism (except the Chamber), the supervisors assured the constituents that adequate controls regarding content and collaboration requirements will be put on Sierra Wine Food Art ("SWFA").  In the end and in addition to collaboration requirements on SWFA, the BOS funded the Chambers the amount of $50,000 and will be coordinating a tourism committee as suggested by Switchback PR.  Such tourism committee will be formulating a long-term tourism strategy for the County.  The end result was great for our community.

Today was a great day for democracy in Nevada County.

My intended comments are in italics below (ran out of time)...

For over 100 years, the Nevada County Chamber has actively promoted the economic development of businesses and our community. The Chamber of Commerce has historically provided local businesses with an added measure of security by hosting opportunities for sharing business advice, political representation, and customer introductions. Chamber Mission Statement is “to represent and provide the business community with leadership and resources in order to enhance the quality of and the economic health of our community.” In other words, the mission of the Chamber of Commerce is to create jobs, something that Nevada County needs and should be encouraging in tough economic times.

According to the Strategic Tourism Plan from Switchback for which the County paid $90,000, the mission for the County is to “market the county effectively by positioning the Area as a year-round destination (emphasizing local history, small town experience, recreation, arts & culture and special events) for the economic benefit of the community.”

That being said, Sierra Vintners’ mission is to promote a single element of tourism - wine.

The Arts Collaborative’s mission is to promote a single element of tourism - the arts.

SWFA’s mission, as a for profit company, is to promote its magazine.

The chamber of commerce is uniquely positioned to promote (without bias) all of the areas of tourism within Nevada County and thereby create jobs in Nevada County.

Switchback also told us that with limited resources we need to work together - supervisors, staff, and interested persons. Wayne Schell of CALED spoke in the county last week and told us that we need to work with the chambers to implement a long-term plan geared towards economic development.

Instead today, we are sending money down a “cul de sac” with no clear long term plan and no vision.
With no long-term plan formulated by the interested parties, there is no collaborative plan or vision for creating jobs in Nevada County.

As for these bids for the web maintenance for gonevadacounty.com, when evaluating bids, it is the responsibility of the supervisors to satisfy two elements as guardians of our tax dollars.

Select the lowest responsible bid. Having evaluated the bid of SFWA and the Chambers, they are virtually identical with the exception of two areas.

First, the Price of Bids...
Regional Chamber of Commerce bid was $17,400
SFWA bid was over $20,000

Second, Responsibility...Both Bids Call for Collaboration with a print Visitors Guide
The regional chamber seeks to collaborate with Nevada County Gold ("NCG") magazine. NCG is a free magazine that is in its 26th year of publication and distributes 80,000 copies to more than 500 locations – 47% of which are in the Bay Area. NCG contributes a share of its advertising revenue to the joint Chambers of Commerce in Nevada County furthering sustainability of the Chambers. In 26 years of publication, Nevada County Gold has raised more than $180,000 for the five Nevada County Chambers of Commerce. The Chambers of Commerce of Grass Valley, Nevada City, Penn Valley & Truckee, along with the Nevada County Fair, The Grass Valley Downtown Assn. and the Nevada City Classic Bicycle Race, among others, have designated Nevada County Gold Online their official area guide on the net. Nevada County Gold is a true collaborative print medium.

SWFA is a nice magazine and it is tastefully done; however, it really is a niche magazine. SWFA seeks to collaborate only with its own magazine with no mention of The Union or Nevada County Gold both far more established publications with far wider distribution. SWFA distributes only 12,000 copies to more than 300 locations each quarter in Placer County, Nevada County, Sacramento County, Yuba County, Butte County, and Washoe County – and according to both its bid and its website SWFA does not distribute in the Bay Area.

So today by contracting with SWFA, the board of supervisors will in essence be paying more for less.

Switchback and CALED stresses and demands a long-term plan formulated by collaborating with all of the interested parties (like the chambers) – yet there no long-term plan involving the chambers of commerce - an organization who has stood the test of time for over 100 years.

We need jobs in Nevada County.
We need a vision for creating the jobs, and
We need to support the chambers' mission to create these jobs.
We need efficient use of tax dollars.

My desire for today is that the BOS table this contract and formulate and implement a long-term strategy through the Chambers or in the alternative award the contract to the chamber as the lowest responsible bidder.

Thank you.

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