Mayor does not renew chamber pact

Christie
Christie

BELLA VISTA -- The city of Bella Vista will no longer provide taxpayer funds to the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce, said Mayor Peter Christie. The annual $40,000 contract between the city and the chamber finishes at the end of the year.

The mayor's decision not to renew the city's contract is mainly the result of a January 2015 lawsuit in Little Rock, in which Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce held that payments from the city of Little Rock to the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce violated a state constitutional prohibition against cities appropriating funds to private corporations.

The Chamber will continue to operate, but it will go without money from either Bella Vista or Bentonville.

"There's a good chance this lawsuit could end up in the Supreme Court," Christie said.

The mayor will continue to serve on the Chamber of Commerce board of directors, though in a nonvoting capacity. Although the lawsuit is the impetus behind the mayor's decision not to renew the contract, he says that it was not the only consideration.

"The Chamber of Commerce is designed to help existing businesses, and they do a great job at that," Christie said. "But it is not set up to go out and find new businesses. It does not encourage new businesses to come to the city."

Christie says that he wants to focus on more than just keeping current businesses operational.

"I want to expand Bella Vista's economic base," he said.

In order to do that, Christie says that the city will need to hire another city employee.

"There is currently a search under way to find an economic development manager for the city ... I tried to fulfill that task myself [in 2015] to save some money, but it isn't like running a business. You can't just call up a business. Many of them have brokers now. So we need to bring in someone new."

"This is all part of us trying to weave together different components," Christie said. "It's all linked. We need a larger business base in order to attract more people who can call Bella Vista home. That's the end goal."

The manager will follow the guidelines set in place by an economic development study that was just approved by the City Council on Monday, Dec. 21. The city has hired Grant Leisure, whom Christie has already worked with while the company was working for Wonderland Cave, to do the financial assessments.

"We went to a few companies for the economic development study," Christie said. "The price to the city ranged from $43,000-$100,000. Then we got in touch with Grant Leisure, who caught our attention because of the quality of work they've done with Wonderland Cave. They also know a lot about Bella Vista because of that project. It will only cost us $19,500."

This development study will act as the "Bible" for the new economic manager, Christie said. It will fill in some of the gaps that would otherwise be filled by the Chamber of Commerce. The city hopes to find an experienced candidate for the economic manager position early in 2016.

Dana Davis, the Chamber's CEO and President, was not available for comment.

NW News on 01/02/2016

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