The Jefferson City Council held a discussion about two non-profit organizations looking to merge.

Representatives with the Jefferson Area Chamber and Jefferson Matters: Main Street want to combine forces into one unified organization. They believe both groups are strong separately but by merging together, they could provide better value to the City and increase efficiencies by reducing duplicate services. As part of the initial proposal, there would be two full time positions: a director and a tourism/office coordinator. 

Jefferson City Administrator Mike Palmer says both positions would be city employees. He describes why the positions need to be fulfilled by the City.

“What the research has shown is that to get a good director and somebody long term, it takes being able to provide benefits. Currently these organizations are not able to provide benefits, meaning health insurance primarily, but the City can also offer a pension program, and those are pretty powerful tools in the box.”

Palmer says there would be a board that would make decisions with the director and tourism/office coordinator, while the City Council would handle the positions as city employees. 

The only paid position with JMMS is a part time director, and current director Peg Raney announced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting that she is going to retire. The Chamber currently doesn’t have a director. The cost estimate for both positions and benefits is $140,000. Palmer notes some of the funding sources could include hotel/motel tax, the JMMS investment drive and other fundraising efforts, and possibly using the City’s general fund. 

Council members Matt Wetrich and Harry Ahrenholtz were in favor of the merger, while Darren Jackson and Dave Sloan wanted to review more information before completely supporting it.