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Merger Committee Updates

What is the Merger Committee?

On November 26, 2024, the City of Brookings distributed a memo describing creation of a committee to define an effort to merge the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce, the Brookings Economic Development Corporation, Downtown Brookings, and Visit Brookings into one organization.

The primary mission of the committee is to develop an implementation plan to support the merging of the four organizations.

 

Timeline

The committee will meet twice a month (generally every other Friday morning). The plan is intended to be presented to Council in March for approval in April.

 

Communication

After each meeting, a "Key Takeaways" document will be distributed to share notes from the meeting. The Chamber will update this webpage with these documents after each meeting.

 

Please see below for documents and updates that have been shared publicly.

Updates

November 26, 2024: Memo from City - Merging Existing Economic Development Agencies

This document includes information on mission, committee makeup, timeline, and other considerations.

 

December 16, 2024: Key Takeaways from Merger Committee #1 

Topics covered in this document include the "why," meeting schedule, meeting topics, requested documents from agencies, agency interaction, committee expectations, and peer community analysis.

 

January 7, 2025: Letter on Merger from the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce

This letter was written by the Chamber Board and shared with the merger committees. The letter addresses eight areas of concern, including transparent communication, peer community input, independent governance, preservation of mission, financial impact considerations, future partnership commitment, regional representation, and evaluation of outcomes.

 

January 10, 2025: Key Takeaways from Merger Committee Meeting #2 

Notes from the second merger committee meeting include importance of regional representation, establishing subcommittees, discussion of the Chamber's letter, documents received from agencies, budget highlights explored, and staff engagement considerations.

 

January 27, 2025: Letter on Merger from Downtown Brookings

This letter was written by Kirsten Gjesdal on behalf of the Downtown Brookings Board of Directors. The letter addresses opportunities such as improved services, operational improvements, stronger collaboration, enhanced funding.  Concerns expressed include identity preservation, operational challenges, perception issues and autonomy risks.

 

January 30, 2025: Letter on Merger from the Brookings Economic Development Corporation

This letter was written by Justin Gray on behalf of the BEDC Board of Directors. It addresses area of concern including maintaining mission and focus, conflicts of interest, feasibility, and suggests critical points for consideration, such as defining the problem, flexibility and accountability, preserving BEDC expertise, and balancing priorities.

 

January 31, 2025: Key Takeaways from Merger Committee Meeting #3

Notes from the third merger committee meeting include updates on the three sub-committees: communication, finance/budget, and organizational/board structure. The committee also discussed refining expectations of the committee's work, as well as ways to engage the public in the future.

 

While Chamber staff are more than willing to field questions regarding the merger, the Merger Committee Co-Chairs are happy to discuss and answer any questions individuals may have. Contact information is below.

  • Nick Wendell, City of Brookings; Committee Co-Chair
    • wendellnick@gmail.com, 605-830-5446
  • Tom Fishback, First Bank & Trust; Committee Co-Chair
    • tom.fishback@bankeasy.com, 605-695-2585