Rockbridge Partnership Director Dave Kleppinger, LDDA president-elect Faith Vosburgh, and Chamber Director Sammy Moore answer questions from Lexington City Council after Vosburgh presented LDDA's proposal to dissolve and to become an entity under the umbrella of the Chamber on Thursday, August 3rd. A downtown committee, made up of current LDDA Board members and others, would concentrate on the economic vitality of the historical downtown district. Lexington's $40,000 contribution would be used to hire a paid staff person and would be used for promotion and marketing of downtown. (Photo by Patte Wood)

LDDA Board Votes To Dissolve And Give Up Main Street Status Council Unanimously Votes To Support LDDA/Chamber Partnership By Patte Wood Staff Reporter   After several weeks of discussion and a presentation to Lexington City Council at their July 20th meeting from downtown merchants about their concerns regarding the value and health of LDDA as an organization and the downtown, LDDA President-Elect Faith Vosburgh, Chamber Director Sammy Moore, and Rockbridge Partnership Dave Kleppinger attended the Lexington City Council Meeting on Thursday, August 3rd with a proposed LDDA/Lexington Rockbridge Chamber of Commerce Partnership. Vosburgh reported to Council that the LDDA Board of Directors had unanimously voted to dissolve the organization as of August 31, 2006 and to give up its non-profit 501(c)3 status. "We would propose, with agreement from the Lexington Rockbridge Chamber of Commerce and the City of Lexington that the LDDA, in its new guise as yet unnamed, enter into a management agreement with the Lexington Rockbridge Chamber of Commerce," she said. As reported last week in The Rockbridge Weekly, the LDDA Board, the Chamber, members of City Council, City Manager Jon Ellestad, Rockbridge Partnership Director Dave Kleppinger, and downtown merchants have been in discussion about a partnership between the two organizations since the July 20th Council meeting. The fruits of that discussion resulted in the proposal that Vosburgh and Moore presented to Council. "The easiest thing to do," said Vosburgh, "would be to let LDDA limp along. However, it is not working and the idea of joining with the Chamber has been talked about for several years. Let's give it a chance." "Putting LDDA under the umbrella of the Chamber will be beneficial in many ways," said Moore. "More merchants are members of the Chamber than LDDA already and they will not have to choose between two organizations. This will legitimize an evolving trend and align downtown businesses with an organization with higher credibility and meaningful service without duplicating services." After presentation of the proposal and discussion, Council member Larry Broomall, who is also President of the Chamber, moved to support the proposal as presented by Vosburgh with the understanding that the $40,000 in funds earmarked for LDDA only be used to promote downtown and not be a part of the Chamber's budget. Council also asked for a periodic accounting and to re-examine the concept in a year. The motion passed unanimously. Council member Tim Golden advised Vosburgh and Moore, "I don't want to see this venture fail. If it is a matter of a few more funds to help make it work, please come back and talk to us." The agreement would allow for the current LDDA board to become a steering committee under the umbrella of the Chamber. Under the steering committee would be two working committees - Economic Development and Promotions/Retail Development. A full-time director would be hired for the downtown focused entity. Details of the proposed agreement and structure will be published in the Wednesday, August 9th edition of the Rockbridge Weekly. Mayor John Knapp explained that the City would not take a position on what or how the two groups should proceed. "Your solution must come from your constituency and be supported by them," he said. "We are here to help but you need to tell us how we can help." Council member Jim Gianniny remarked that Council is vitally concerned about the health of downtown businesses, "but you need to tell us what you need. I agree that for the past several years LDDA, as an organization, has not been working. I appreciate your attempting to try something different. But how do you get downtown businesses to participate and be involved," he asked. "That is the task before us," replied Vosburgh. "We have to make a concerted effort to give them something of value for their membership and with a partnership and the Chamber's resources, we think we can do that. Let's put the past behind and look to the future." "There are many that are not members of either LDDA or the Chamber," commented Jon Ellestad. "I have thought about this long and hard and feel that the Main Street program is the best approach. However, LDDA has not been working. I'm not against the partnership but I am concerned that we do it right and not create a system for failure," he said. Separate But Under One Umbrella Under the proposed partnership, the City would give up its Main Street status but would still be an affiliate of the program as a Main Street DHCD Commercial District affiliate. As an affiliate they would have access to training and technical assistance. "Through the years we have gained a great deal of knowledge and expertise from the Main Street program and the recent capacity building www.OCCB grant. We will not let that expertise go to waste," explained Vosburgh. "In point of fact, the work we have done with OCCB for the last two years has lead to a very detailed strategic plan which will be very useful in our proposed partnership with the Chamber." Consolidation with the Chamber would mean shared assets and facilities. There would be one office, one website, one phone system. Vosburgh reported that so far this year, LDDA's operating expenses, discounting salaries, have been close to $20,000. The insurance on the Wachovia LDDA office is close to $4,000 a year. According to the proposal, the partnership would work with the current LDDA Board of Directors becoming a steering committee under the umbrella of the Chamber. The new committee's sole purpose would be very similar to LDDA's current goal - to ensure the long-term viability of downtown Lexington. To accomplish this, a full-time director would be hired with $30,000 of the city's funding of the $40,000 earmarked for LDDA. As mentioned above, there would be two working committees - one for economic develop and one for promotions. The Economic Development Committee would work to strengthen downtown's economic assets and to fulfill market potential. A study would be done to create economic benchmarks to measure downtown's health from year to year. The proposal explains that promotions/retail development would go hand-in-hand with economic development and would concentrate on marketing. The remaining $10,000 of the city's money would go directly into marketing downtown. "We need to market downtown using all media including radio and TV to encourage new business and customers," said Vosburgh. "We'd like create a professional media package to market Lexington and reach out to communities within a two-hour radius to get people to spend their dollars downtown," she said. "The committee would continue to promote established downtown local events and we would also like to establish a big signature event to help create an excitement about visiting or locating a business in Lexington," explained Vosburgh. "There are lots and lots of ideas and a great deal of enthusiasm has been generated," said Vosburgh. "We feel it is in the city's best interests to support this enterprise and hope you will agree." In discussion, Jon Ellestad expressed his concern about the ability to hire an effective person on the low amount of salary that would be available. "With benefits, you are looking at about $25,000," he advised. Sammy Moore replied that Jean Clark has had at least 6 very qualified applicants for a $20,000 job with the Visitor's Center. "The position will also have all the resources of the Chamber behind it," he said. Ellestad also asked about who would do all the work considering that the LDDA board has had a hard time getting volunteers. It was suggested that the steering committee be opened up to more members. Vosburgh replied that the current LDDA board is practically a new board. She explained that the current assets of LDDA will be liquidated and would be used to begin putting in place signage and kiosks as well as helping to support a study. All agreed that for the enterprise to work, all of downtown must buy into the concept and the right people must come forward to get things going in the right direction. The realization is that it will take a couple of years to get ideas implemented. "Down the road I hope we will have a 'Friends of Downtown Lexington' to help out," commented Vosburgh. "This is going to have to involve the whole community to work," commented Moore. Broomall emphasized to Council that the Chamber is supportive of the idea and said that he hopes there will be more open dialogue and informal meetings about the future of downtown.

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