Brookings merger committee unveils draft plan to combine Chamber, BEDC, Visit Brookings and downtown organization

Brookings — A citizen-led committee presented a draft implementation plan Tuesday to merge four local nonprofit economic-development entities — the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce, Brookings Economic Development Corporation (BEDC), Visit Brookings and Downtown Brookings — into a single organization with a central board and a president and CEO.

The proposal is designed to preserve the existing missions of the four organizations while combining shared services, creating three program pillars (business development, community development and destination development) and centralizing operations such as finance, human resources and marketing. "This is probably the deepest dive we've taken, in these meetings thus far," committee co-chair Nick Wendell told the council.

The committee said the merged entity would seek efficiencies across roughly $1.1 million in current salary and benefit costs for 13 positions, roughly $138,000 in annual office-related costs and about $135,000 in marketing, while coordinating roughly $858,000 in FY25 city funding currently directed at the four organizations. The committee noted about $250,000 of that city…