UPDATED OPINION: "One Redmond Partnership". "Community of Excellence". "Redmond Economic Development Association (REDA)." "The Chamber." "Redmond Foundation." "Realize Redmond." "Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC)."
What does all this mean? To simplify, let's just call the jargon "cards in the deck." and name the game, "One Redmond" - our economic development partnership.
The game started in March of 2010 when council funded $200,000 to create a public-private "economic development partnership" to attract and sustain business. An additional $50,000 was funded to start Realize Redmond - a nonprofit designed to build private support for community projects -- to enhance and define our culture, build community, revitalize our businesses, and promote tourism. This community ("of excellence") includes in the mix: our schools (Dr. Kimball) and health & wellness organizations.
In the beginning REDA, the Chamber, Realize Redmond (RR) and the City weren't coordinated and playing "out of the same deck" during fundraising. This confused the donors, sponsors and community. So, the mayor hired a consultant ($40,000) to seek alignment and coordination of these organizations. According to Marchione, the study will be done in two weeks. Re-alignments could be announced at that time. It's possible the Chambers will close their doors, eventually.
If you saw the August 30 Redmond city council meeting, you'd have heard presentations from Bill Biggs of Group Heath, Tom Martin of Evergreen, and Dan Angellar of the Marriot-Redmond. They are "One Redmond Partnership" leaders of REDA, Chambers, and RR, respectively. The Mayor ran the meeting while council looked on.
Bill Biggs, Chair of REDA led the discussion saying, "This is going to take an interdependent effort to get it done." He said "we need to enhance our alignment, reduce waste, be a lean organization, with a cost effective overhead structure". He spoke of Redmond Chamber's role in keeping Redmond businesses vital and to be able to retain themselves and the RR value of community. Biggs summarized the consultant's work saying 60 people were interviewed, not counting the Boards of REDA, Chamber, and RR. "It created an awareness to a broad group of people." Biggs stated:
Biggs summarized the consultants findings as: 1) hearing from the community, the plan makes sense, 2) there is money out there for this kind of effort, and 3) with confidence the money will follow. Mayor Marchione expects the study and review to end by late October. Councilmember Pat Vache' concluded "the community" is the driving force to consolidate.
I've previously reported on Realize Redmond here. Their primary project is privately funding the Downtown Park and enhancing city events to promote tourism and culture. Their website is: http://www.realizeredmond.org/
**Tom Martin informed me today (9/14) Chamber membership is 450 not 350. Mr. Martin quoted 350 members in his August 30 Council presentation.
Opinion and report By Bob Yoder
Source: Video: Redmond City Council Study Session, 9/30
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| The humble beginnings (and end?) of the Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce |
What does all this mean? To simplify, let's just call the jargon "cards in the deck." and name the game, "One Redmond" - our economic development partnership.
The game started in March of 2010 when council funded $200,000 to create a public-private "economic development partnership" to attract and sustain business. An additional $50,000 was funded to start Realize Redmond - a nonprofit designed to build private support for community projects -- to enhance and define our culture, build community, revitalize our businesses, and promote tourism. This community ("of excellence") includes in the mix: our schools (Dr. Kimball) and health & wellness organizations.
In the beginning REDA, the Chamber, Realize Redmond (RR) and the City weren't coordinated and playing "out of the same deck" during fundraising. This confused the donors, sponsors and community. So, the mayor hired a consultant ($40,000) to seek alignment and coordination of these organizations. According to Marchione, the study will be done in two weeks. Re-alignments could be announced at that time. It's possible the Chambers will close their doors, eventually.
If you saw the August 30 Redmond city council meeting, you'd have heard presentations from Bill Biggs of Group Heath, Tom Martin of Evergreen, and Dan Angellar of the Marriot-Redmond. They are "One Redmond Partnership" leaders of REDA, Chambers, and RR, respectively. The Mayor ran the meeting while council looked on.
Bill Biggs, Chair of REDA led the discussion saying, "This is going to take an interdependent effort to get it done." He said "we need to enhance our alignment, reduce waste, be a lean organization, with a cost effective overhead structure". He spoke of Redmond Chamber's role in keeping Redmond businesses vital and to be able to retain themselves and the RR value of community. Biggs summarized the consultant's work saying 60 people were interviewed, not counting the Boards of REDA, Chamber, and RR. "It created an awareness to a broad group of people." Biggs stated:
"Historically, the way we have been organized is probably not what we will be, eventually. We may or may not be the kind of independent Chamber or the kind of independent RR....we may look at structuring ourselves differently on the basis of the study...because people who invest expect to see no waste and enhanced alignment"Tom Martin, President of the Redmond Chamber made an unexpected "fold em" announcement, as follows: Read More >>
"Members declined to **350 from 520-530 about four years ago; so one of our presenting problems is declining membership. The decline is both the function of the economic times and function of the relevance of the chamber...the mission we historically have had. The question we continue to ask ourselves is how do we retain and create relevance for our membership.
Our mission is around vitality for the business of the City of Redmond and focused on: 1) advocacy with the city, county, and state level and 2) creation of networking events. Last January we sat down to talk to John [mayor] about how to coordinate fundraising activities and participate in the Community of Excellence. With a bit of stress from the Executive Director vacancy and declining membership and the request to hold off on fundraising... we look for consolidation and coordinating fundraising activities. We support the common vision.
Short term term demands on respective organizations will compete directly with the long term visions and goals and we'll have to manage that tension...consultant study found 'a perceived lack of engagement by the private sector from a leadership perspective'. I expect partnership and continuous improvement from council and business."Martin mentioned a local model where Everett-South Snohomish Chamber and Snohomish County Economic development alliance merged into an economic development alliance. Incumbent Councilmember David Carson stated, "250 chambers have....closed their doors in the last three years." Councilmember Hank Myers commented effectiveness should be #1 goal versus cost savings. In response to a question from Carson, Biggs said REDA and the Chamber may not need two executives to drive forward.
Biggs summarized the consultants findings as: 1) hearing from the community, the plan makes sense, 2) there is money out there for this kind of effort, and 3) with confidence the money will follow. Mayor Marchione expects the study and review to end by late October. Councilmember Pat Vache' concluded "the community" is the driving force to consolidate.
I've previously reported on Realize Redmond here. Their primary project is privately funding the Downtown Park and enhancing city events to promote tourism and culture. Their website is: http://www.realizeredmond.org/
**Tom Martin informed me today (9/14) Chamber membership is 450 not 350. Mr. Martin quoted 350 members in his August 30 Council presentation.
Opinion and report By Bob Yoder
Source: Video: Redmond City Council Study Session, 9/30
We should commend the Mayor and Councilmember Pat Vache on their efforts to create a "One REdmond" kind of structure. As a former Redmond Chamber president, however, I'm not comfortable that the City is taking such an active role in structuring a "voice" for the business community, let alone putting out significant money to do so. While joint economic development efforts, and public private partnerships on specific projects are welcome and smart policies, I firmly believe the business advocacy side of politics ought to be totally independent. If the Chamber is ineffective, then perhaps it ought to look to its leadership and programming--not to the City.
ReplyDeleteWith hindsight, I admit to misinterpreting the “One Redmond” study session with city council on August 30. My error was assuming that the Chamber’s "consolidation" meant merger -- not strengthening or positioning. What's important is we ALL support the vision of One Redmond...and not let misunderstandings block us.
ReplyDelete“Consolidation,” a loose term with broad meaning, was used unsparingly throughout the One Redmond discussion. Statements by Martin, Carson, and Marchione and Vache' led me to believe a Merger between REDA and the Chamber was at hand. I’ll admit, it was a leap.
Mr. Martin agreed to “consolidation” and coordinated fund raising at the council meeting. Carson blurted, “250 Chambers went under in the last four years.” Martin responded with a reference to a successful CHAMBER-EDA merger in Snohomish. Then, there was the mayor’s urgency for October action. Councilmember Pat Vache’ ended the meeting,saying "it’s the Community that’s asking for consolidation.” Vache’ is a Director for the Chamber and REDA, and Council Vice President.
Their comments strengthened my opinion a merger or consolidation was in the offing --possibly after October - perhaps by year-end.
Yes, this was a Leap. But, it was my opinion. Mr. Martin contacted me; and I updated my blog on my own volition.
Mr. Martin explained his intentions for the chamber, writing: “Creation of new services to augment what we already do under a revised organization is the likely scenario.”
My hand goes out to Mr. Martin and his leadership.