City to vote on financial support for Logan County Alliance

[January 15, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Tuesday evening the Lincoln City Council met for the first committee of the whole workshop session of 2015. There were six council members present; Michelle Bauer, Scott Cooper, Jeff Hoinacki, Kathy Horn, Todd Mourning and Marty Neitzel. The seat vacated by Melody Anderson has not yet been filled, and Jonie Tibbs was absent for the evening.

The Council addressed several topics, including a discussion on financial support for the newly formed Logan County Alliance. The LCA is in place to begin February 1st as the oversight agency for the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce and the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County. In addition, LCA will incorporate new components that will address economic development.

In December the council was asked by LCA Executive Director Andi Hake to consider offering monthly financial support to the Alliance. The proposed funding agreement indicates the city will be asked to pay LCA $5,042 per month for the next four months. This contract would then end and be up for renewal at the beginning of the city’s fiscal year on May 1st.

In addition, Hake offered the city an opportunity to have a marketing firm conduct studies in the city and create a branding program for Lincoln. The cost of this study would be a one-time only fee of approximately $30,000. Hake at that time suggested LCA would hire DCC Marketing from Decatur to do the study. She noted this was the same firm that had done the marketing program for the tourism bureau. As such, the firm already has insight into Lincoln, and would be able to adapt some of the information they gathered for tourism into what they would develop for the city.

Mayor Keith Snyder introduced the topic again on Tuesday evening and opened the floor for questions. Marty Neitzel was the primary person who posed questions about the new organization.

Her first question regarded the use of funds. She wanted to know who the checks from the city would be made out to, and would the money be used to pay wages for LCA employees.

Snyder said he assumed the checks would be made out to LCA, and the monthly support money would be used at the discretion of the LCA, which he assumed would include paying wages. Neitzel then wondered who the LCA employees would be, did it include the staff that was employed by the chamber? Snyder said he believed that all staff would be employed by LCA including the current chamber staff and tourism staff.

In a meeting of the Chamber Ambassadors last week, Nicole Cox with the chamber had shared a diagram that indicated Hake was moving from Executive Director of the Chamber to Executive Director of the LCA. The chamber would then be one branch of LCA with Cox as its manager. Tourism would be a second branch, with Sarah Wallick as its manager. There is also an office manager and an office assistant who will answer directly to Hake, and a proposed new position for an Events Coordinator that will work for all entities; LCA, Chamber, and Tourism.

Neitzel moved on to the proposed $30,000 for branding. She wanted to understand the difference between this project and the work that is currently being done by Retail Strategies, a firm hired by the city last year to help bring new retail business into the city of Lincoln.

Snyder said that part two was exclusively to provide a branding for the city of Lincoln. At the meeting in December, Hake had explained that the city needs a specific identity, something that says “who we are.” She suggested this would include a city logo and tag line that would be specific to Lincoln. She also said the LCA would in the future offer the same one-time opportunity to other communities in Logan County.

In essence, the branding project should augment the work of Retail Strategies and give that firm more marketing tools when it represents the city of Lincoln at trade shows and other venues.

Michelle Bauer commented, likening it to the work that was done when the city was searching for a city administrator. She explained that a brochure had been developed that gave candidates a quick overview of the city. She said she felt that had been a great tool and instrumental in attracting Clay Johnson to apply for the position. She said she felt that the branding program would do the same thing for the city on the whole in attracting all kinds of business.

Speaking about the role of the LCA, Bauer also commented that she envisioned the LCA as being the ones who would offer support to the city in its future economic development work. She sees the LCA as being the ones with the expertise to represent the city and work beside Johnson and firms like Retail Strategies to promote growth in Lincoln.

Snyder also commented that the role of Retail Strategies was strictly to bring in new retail businesses, whereas the LCA would also be working to bring in both business and industry.

As the discussion continued, Neitzel said that she felt it was very important that the city be able to tell its constituents what it is spending and why. Todd Mourning also asked about accountability from the LCA. He mentioned that the funding agreement specifies annual reports to the city, but thought they should be more frequent. Jeff Hoinacki agreed, saying reports to the city should be at least quarterly. Snyder said that could be arranged, and he believed that the LCA would be available on call at any time the city wanted to hear from them. LCA Chairman Tom O’Donohue and Executive Director Andi Hake were in the gallery and indicated they would be willing to come before the council at any time.

Bauer also mentioned that she would like to see specifically how the money is being spent. She said a review of the budget as it pertains to the city, at least once a year would be a good idea.

Snyder said these were items that could be tweaked in the funding agreement. He also commented on the actual agreement, that in the past the city has not had this document, but it is a good thing to have. He said the funding agreement will spell out the expectations of the city, and offer a tool by which the city can measure performance.

Hoinacki commented that the city had made the decision to not participate in the Logan County Economic Development Partnership and support LCA instead. He noted that if LCA doesn’t perform as expected, the city can always make another change.

In the end, it was decided that the item will be placed on the January 20th voting agenda.

[Nila Smith]