A recent discussion took place at a Jefferson City Council meeting about the possibility of merging Jefferson Matters: Main Street and the Jefferson Area Chamber together.

JMMS Board President Jamie Daubendiek says both organizations are unified about the merger. During the discussion it was mentioned that the groups would like to see two full time positions be city employees. Daubendiek says Main Street Iowa statistics show that a local Main Street program director on average sees a three-year turnover rate. He points out if they want to attract a quality long-term candidate, they want the positions to be city employees. 

On top of that Daubendiek says other benefits of the merger include elimination of duplicate services and committees, as well as better use of volunteers and resources.

“We have fantastic volunteers in each organization. Now we can kind of put all of those together on the same page and hopefully not have a lot of volunteer burnout, which is very easy to do in a small town that everyone is involved in everything.”      

Daubendiek believes the merger would be a great City investment.

“Really have that city buy-in that they can understand that this is investment in their city to help promote people that don’t live here to come move here to help build a house, to pay property taxes, and get more tourism to come here, just to shop here and spend their money. That it’s not just an expense of an employee.”   

Daubendiek hopes the merger happens soon, as their Program Director Peg Raney will be retiring later this year.