Ark Valley News - City’s funding of chamber has issues

City’s funding of chamber has issues
Last Updated: January 03, 2019

Be careful. That's good advice for the Valley Center Chamber of Commerce as it becomes increasingly entangled with the City of Valley Center.

The city council last month agreed to give the chamber a $20,000 grant with no apparent strings attached. The money, chamber officials said, would be used to "grow Valley Center," while city leaders see it as an investment in attracting and retaining businesses.

Further, the city and the chamber will begin this year exploring the possibility of hiring — likely as a contracted position — the chamber's director to assist in some of the business recruitment duties that city officials don't have time to perform.

There are pros and cons to these arrangements, thus the word of caution.

On one hand, it makes sense for groups in the community not to have overlapping functions, and we support entities working together toward common goals.

In this case, both the city and the chamber want to improve retail and service opportunities and enlarge the commercial footprint. If one can help the other achieve that goal, then they should work together.

However, one of the chamber's primary functions is business advocacy. Toward that end, we can imagine times when the city and the chamber may be at odds with one another. It doesn't take a deep look into Valley Center's history to remember when the chamber of commerce spoke against a proposed city sales tax. Or what about regulations that affect businesses, such as the 2010 proposed ban on cellphone use while driving in Valley Center?

The chamber of commerce must maintain a measure of independence in such cases. The more financially linked it is to the city, the harder that becomes.

We want the chamber to be able to achieve its goals. It makes sense to staff a full-time office and maintain consistent hours for potential and existing members. That takes money.

It concerns us that a large amount of those funds will be coming from a single source, which could, by its very nature, make decisions that negatively affect the chamber's members.

— The Ark Valley News