Dallas Chamber outlines growth, visitor-center work and answers county dues questions

Sam Duffner, past president of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, told the Polk County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 26 that the chamber’s membership and community activity have grown over the past year and outlined plans for the Dallas Area Visitor Center and other visitor- and business-focused initiatives.

Duffner said the chamber now lists 71 members — about 15 new members in the last year — and hosted 44 events in the past year. “We just got an email this morning about the newest two members, one of which being a brewery here in Dallas,” he said. He said the chamber restarted a farmers market with 12 dates last year, manages social accounts with “15,000-plus engagements” and more than 9,000 followers, and will house the visitor center and a community nonprofit center on Jefferson Street once ADA work is complete.

Sarah McMaster, the chamber’s treasurer and chair of its membership committee, described membership benefit tiers and said Polk County was listed at the business level. McMaster said membership benefits for government members are tailored toward education and public forums rather than the advertising packages businesses use. She noted the chamber receives a separate contract from the city to operate the visitor center and said that contract provides about $60,000 annually from transient lodging tax revenues to run the visitor center.

Commissioners asked why the county invoice appeared to increase from the level the county historically paid. Duffner and McMaster said the chamber recently migrated to a new membership-management system (MMB/MIMBY), which they said is more email- and account-driven and can cause confusion for organizations that historically received paper invoices. McMaster said the system offers options to upgrade a membership and that some confusion likely came from that change. She later confirmed the county’s most recent invoice at the business level had been paid.

Duffner and McMaster described additional county-facing services the chamber provides: quarterly postings to chamber communications, hosting open forums such as a state-of-the-county or state-of-the-city events, facilitating candidate forums, and providing ribbon-cutting and networking services. McMaster suggested Polk County could appoint an ex officio member to the chamber board if the county wished closer ongoing engagement; she said the chamber already offers ex officio representation to other local governments and organizations.

The chamber described collaboration efforts with nearby chambers and organizations, including the Monmouth–Independence Chamber and regional tourism groups, and previewed events and destination-development efforts. Duffner said the chamber will run a Bigfoot Barbecue and Brew Festival at Dallas City Park this year and is working on recreation and destination items such as Gooseneck and Black Rock.

Commissioners and chamber representatives discussed regional coordination, how county-level outreach differs from city responsibilities, and whether a countywide chamber or combined chamber events might be appropriate. No formal action or vote occurred on the presentation; the board received the information and moved on to other agenda items.