Brookings merger committee outlines timeline for combining four economic-development organizations

Council member Andrew Rasmussen, who leads the committee, reported that a 15-member merger committee has been meeting to develop a draft implementation plan to combine four local economic-development organizations.

The committee aims to merge the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce, the Brookings Economic Development Corporation, Downtown Brookings and Visit Brookings into a single entity that would “capture the mission of those four existing organizations,” Rasmussen said. The committee includes three city council members — Rasmussen, Council member Tiltonburn and Council member Avery — and members drawn from the boards of the four organizations.

Rasmussen said the committee’s purpose is to address sustainability challenges the groups face, including staff recruitment and funding variability, and to create a centralized structure to “maximize our resources” rather than to reduce city spending or to create a city takeover of economic-development work. “This is not an effort by the city to save dollars,” he said. “This is not a city takeover.”

The committee has completed staff interviews, two-on-one interviews with committee members and organization staff, director interviews and a peer-city analysis of similar mergers in the Upper Midwest (examples named included Laramie, Wyo.; Yankton and Rapid City, S.D.; Mankato, Minn.; Burlington and Ames, Iowa). Rasmussen said those peer reviews helped identify templates and pitfalls for cities around 20,000 population that have merged similar services.

Next steps are to hold an all-staff forum in late March, then a board-and-stakeholder forum, and to bring a draft implementation plan to a city council study session in April. The plan would outline a proposed funding model, potential staffing structure and a mission for the merged organization; council members would be asked in May to formally affirm elements of that plan so they could be considered during the 2026 budget process.

Rasmussen noted the committee created a landing page, growtogetherbrookings.com, that hosts meeting takeaways, the committee roster and an updated timeline. He emphasized the landing page name is a neutral repository and “the name of the future organization is not Grow Together Brookings.”

Rasmussen said the committee intends a phased, public rollout and does not plan to present a final implementation plan and seek action in a single meeting. He said the committee’s goal is public engagement and to provide council the information it needs before the 2026 budget cycle.