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 The LCA Board chose to focus on the Economic Development portion
of the organizational promise. The Alliance came to the realization
late in 2015 that this was at the sacrifice of some components of
the Chamber. In February of this year, the LCA announced that it was
going to step back from economic development so as to focus on
Chamber membership, which had suffered a great deal in the first
year of the combined organizations.
Chamber membership this year was a teeter-totter of gaining new
members and losing old ones. The Chamber came up with an innovative
new membership structure that included tiers and levels of
membership including a free membership open to all businesses in
Logan County. The belief was that if a business could join for free,
why they would not want to join. However, many did not join.
 At the same time, many old members chose not to renew possibly
because they were skeptical of what impact the Alliance was going to
have on the Chamber. As Chamber Director Nicole Cox and the team of
Chamber Ambassadors worked to grow the membership, they heard time
and again current members, even long standing members say, “We’re
going to wait and see what happens.” Many expressed concern that the
Chamber would morph into something they didn’t want to be a part of
because it was now under the thumb of the Alliance.
On Friday, O’Donohue said the LCA knew all about this, they had been
given accounts from Cox and the ambassadors, and they had listened.
He said, “We recognize that we let the ball drop, and we’re starting
to pick it up and run with it.”
That was a big part of stepping back on the economic development
component; so as to focus on the Chamber membership. O’Donohue said
that the Alliance would address this in 2016 through a grassroots
movement that would include all of them working to bring the members
back who had left, and finding new members to bring into the group.
He said the task would not be left just to a membership director and
a group of ambassadors, but that the entire organization was going
to be a part of rebuilding the membership.
Basford explained that the Chamber's purpose is to serve the
business community in Logan County, and if the Chamber can do a good
job of that, then the membership will be there.
The group also talked briefly about the 'legislative affairs'
component of the Chamber. To clarify, that component was never
dissolved, it simply slipped through the cracks in a year of
organization and re-organization. The LCA realizes this and plans to
make changes in 2016 to bring legislative affairs back into the
foreground as a valuable component of the chamber.
Counting successes and failures
After admitting they had ‘dropped the ball” on membership in the
chamber, the question was asked, what does the LCA see as this
year’s successes.
O’Donohue spoke first, “I am proud of Tourism. Historically, except
in most recent years, Tourism was an entity that didn’t do anything
outside tourism. Today, Tourism is out there, it is getting stuff
done. I will always be proud of what Tourism has turned itself
into.”
Jachino also commented on the dedication of the Tourism Council.
“Something to remember is that we all have other jobs, we have
companies. This is a group of volunteers, a very dedicated group of
individuals that want the best for Lincoln. I think that tends to be
forgotten. I love the support and the respect we all have for each
other. We are all doing the best we can and will continue to do the
best we can because we have that passion.”
O’Donohue said, "That is one reason I personally am offended when
the Council members are called ‘underlings.’ He (another news
source) doesn’t know. He doesn’t know that the reason Greg and Sal
led the press conference with the city (instead of O’Donohue) was
because Greg was in charge of the economic development and Sal the
Tourism Bureau (both groups that receive dollars from the city), and
were the appropriate people to do it.”
Basford moved on saying that other successes of the Tourism Bureau
included their involvement in the state fair this year and the
measurable fact that heads in beds are still growing in Logan
County.
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Though it was not an act of the Alliance, Basford said the division of the
festivals was also a success for the Chamber and Tourism in 2015. He noted that
the gate for the balloon festival was the largest ever. Pigs and Swigs coupled
with Up in Smoke was a great success, and he said it needed to be noted that was
a first-year event for craft brew portion of the event that was led by the
Chamber’s Young Professionals Network.
Jachino supported that saying that the tax receipts from the hotel/motel tax are
a matter of public record and that the proof was there. “The numbers are up at
our motels, and I’m sure they were at Best Western and the others.”
The Art in the Park Festival was not a success, in fact, it was the only
festival this year that lost money. Basford said there were factors involved
there, the weather was terribly hot, and having to hold the wine portion of the
festival on the asphalt city streets was a terrible detriment, especially in
light of the heat.
He’s much more optimistic for the upcoming festival, due in no small part to the
Logan County Board approving the request for this year to serve wine in the
park.
Basford said that the County Board has “graciously agreed to wine in the park,
and we appreciate that very much.”
Snyder said that already, there are 13 artists and three wineries committed to
returning in 2015. He reflected that at this same point in time in 2015, they
had no one.
Snyder brought up the work done by the Alliance in the economic development
efforts in 2015. He counted a few things as great successes for the year, not
the least of which was the application for the new Enterprise Zone.
As the CEO of the Alliance, Andi Hake was also the lead person in the economic
development component. Snyder said that she worked hard to help with the
creation of the Enterprise Zone application. It was not a solo effort, as the
county and city were also committed to this effort, and the entities worked well
together to submit the best possible application to the state of Illinois.
Basford carried on the conversation saying that Hake in her role with economic
development played a big part in growing the relationship between Lincoln and
the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council. He noted that the GPEDC had
listed the Fifth Street Road project in Lincoln as one of the regional economic
development priorities.
What many people may not know about this effort was that it was Hake who
personally reached out to all the business owners on Fifth Street west of
Lincoln Parkway, and worked with them to make their voices heard in Peoria.
Those business owners and managers wrote letters at the prompting of Hake and
the LCA to help influence the GPEDC’s decision.
Basford said, “We’ve had nine months to try and execute this whole thing (the
LCA) and from day one people were kicking and burying us as if it was never
going to happen. Again, we are all business people or people who have other
forms of employment. This is volunteer work, but it gets a lot of our attention.
We have certainly put our best efforts into making this a successful
organization, a long term successful organization.”
[Nila Smith]
Logan County Alliance
speaks publicly to debunk myths and assumptions
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