Chamber, city face difficult choices

If you read the front page of this week’s issue, you likely read the story about the City of Custer voting to change the ordinance through which is provides funding to the Custer Area Chamber of Commerce. In doing so, the chamber will see its funding from the city cut in half over the course of the next five years.
The purpose of this editorial isn’t to bash the City of Custer or the Custer City Council for the cuts. We are certain this wasn’t a decision made lightly. We have a very competent city council, and we have a mayor who has done a tremendous job for this city and clearly cares about the city. Mayor Bob works and works and works to get things done. We could not be more supportive of his efforts as mayor. If you want to see how dysfunctional town boards can be and the damage it can do to the town overall, you don’t have to look very far outside of Custer.
Having said all that, we also enthusiastically support the Custer Area Chamber of Commerce. Dawn and her staff do a wonderful job attracting people to the city and keeping them here. Look at the chamber’s annual lineup of activities and tell us that staff doesn’t earn its money. Boy, are they busy. There is an event every month of the year. That, of course, is also made possible by a small army of volunteers, as well as the chamber board that works very hard to keep the chamber operating at the high level at which it operates.
The City of Custer has a lot of projects on its horizon that it needs money to fund. I think everybody understands that. There is West Dam, there is the community center, there is the remaining work to be done on Harbach Park and the Custer County Sheriff’s Office seeks more funding from the city. The city just spent a small fortune on the wastewater treatment facility updates. This is a city council that is getting things done, but that takes money. There is only so much money to be had, so it has to cut corners where it can. Part of that is cutting back on funding for the chamber.
That doesn’t automatically mean the chamber should have to suffer or slow down. However, if the chamber is to continue operating all of the same events it has been operating, it will need to recoup the funding it is about to lose. What does that look like? I’m sure the board is working through that as we speak. Perhaps the solution is to raise the rates to be a chamber member. Sure, there are going to be people who grumble, but much like when we raised our rates recently, most people are going to get it and support it. We need the chamber to continue to promote Custer and get people to come here. It needs money to do that.
It is our hope the chamber does not have to cut any of the events it currently holds, but if it comes down to that, we have to support that and help the chamber make the remaining events the best they can be. We are fully behind our chamber of commerce here at the Chronicle and pledge to do whatever we can to show that support.
There are no bad guys here. There’s only business. Both the council and chamber are important parts of our city. Let’s do what we can to assist them.