Council, Chamber, EDC discuss state of ongoing partnership

Gonzales City Council members and members of the Gonzales Economic Development Corporation and Gonzales Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture’s boards of directors met Tuesday, Aug. 13, to discuss the new, ongoing partnership between the city and Chamber.

City Manager Tim Crow said the meeting was set up to give an update to all parties 60 days after GEDC executive director Susan Sankey assumed the duties of interim Chamber executive director on June 13 to help better align the goals of the city and Chamber when it comes to tourism and economic development.

Sankey said the first two months of her stint have seen her working to hire a pair of candidates to fill the tourism role, which is being split into one person concentrating primarily on the upcoming Gonzales bicentennial in 2025 as well as a heritage tourism and the second individual focusing on event and agricultural tourism.

“We felt like these two positions for tourism really help us promote Gonzales in a more comprehensive way, and it was just last week that we have both those people now on board and getting them on board and getting them focused, and getting a plan together is something that I very much want to do to make sure they have the resources they need to be successful,” Sankey said. “Tourism has been somewhat of a stop and start challenge for the community. I think we all realize what the potential is for Gonzales and we want to seek those opportunities and what we can do to promote tourism and all that Gonzales has to offer.”

Sankey said she has met with Come and Take It Committee chairman Daisy Scheske Freeman, who also is a former Chamber executive director, “just to better understand the responsibilities that I would have as an interim director, trying to work with staff, being supportive of staff, and everything that needs to happen for successful Come and Take It.”

“Right now, we're not a whole lot of days out from Come and Take It, so it's kind of an ‘all hands on deck’ for making sure that's a successful, safe and prosperous event for our community,” Sankey added. “Come and Take It is not something that we take lightly and I think the Chamber’s had a significant role in that.”

Sankey said she has been meeting with the Chamber executive committee to help develop a functioning committee structure for the Chamber, which will include re-establishing a building committee as well as an Ag committee because “the economics of agriculture for Gonzales is not something that should be overlooked.”

She said she has also been working to make sure the Chamber’s merchandise it sells is up to date and  the inventory is adequately stocked and managed.

Sankey spoke about the Chamber’s strategic plan, developed in March 2023, which has seven primary goals and objectives: membership services and development, tourism development, workforce development and education, website and social media, physical building renovation, financial organization and sustainability and organizational structure.

“Our key mission is to promote community prosperity by providing services and advocacy for our members,” Sankey said. “We have a lot of work to do to best represent our members. How can we work collaboratively to bring prosperity to our community and engage residents in a positive way for Gonzales?”

EDC board member Rafe Jackson said he believes someone from the Chamber needs to spend more time meeting face to face with local business owners.

“We have a lot of business people in in town that just seem to be a little disgruntled about the Chamber at the moment,” Jackson said. “We need representatives of the Chamber out on the streets, talking to our business owners and trying to get face to face with them and tell them how they important they are to our city, especially as we come on this 200th birthday celebration, which should just be fantastic for our city next year in many different aspects. I hope we can get someone in place that's out on the street, several days a week, talking to our business people.”

One citizen, Don Page, brought up concerns to the City Council as well as the Chamber board that while the city recently passed a policy prohibiting sex offenders from serving on city boards and commissions, the Chamber had no such policy and currently has a board member who was convicted less than 10 years ago of online solicitation of a minor and is required to register with the county.

“This decision has led several current and potential Chamber members to announce that they will not renew their membership while this individual remains in place,” Page said. “Although the Chamber operates independently, it receives substantial funding from the city. This raises the question of whether the city should reconsider its financial support and demand that the Chamber align with city policies, including the prohibition of felons on its boards.

“Public trust is essential for the legitimacy of this Chamber, as well as our city. The Chamber's credibility and public confidence right now are at stake. This type of individual should not and cannot represent our town and be on a board in this manner.”

Councilmember Mariah Jordan asked if the Chamber had any policies matching the city which forbid felons, especially those convicted of sex crimes or offenses against children, from being on the Chamber board.

“Since we are trying to have a partnership and all the good things, we just approved a policy,” Jordan said. “What is your take on that? Is there going to be a solution that we can all come to? We’re all in a hot seat now.”

Jordan was told the bylaws do not have anything which prohibits that and any bylaw changes would have to be approved by the board and then presented to the membership for approval, which could be a lengthy process.

“If we're going to put something in the bylaws to do that, our current bylaws would have to be revised, sent to the membership to review, then membership has to vote on it,” Chamber board secretary Crissy Filla said. “There's some timelines in there how it has to happen, but we would have to get that done. And if the membership says, ‘Yes, we'll do that,’ then that's what we'll do. But we would have to draft those.”

Chamber vice president Lawren Kridler said the board has not had a full board meeting “since these concerns have been made public, so that is something we'll need to probably address and then see what goes on and then continue to update on the progress of that.” The Chamber board is scheduled to meet next on Aug. 22, according to Sankey.

Councilmember Ronda Miller told Chamber officials she, like Jordan, “would like to see something sooner rather than later for you to come in line with the city’s policies” regarding prohibiting felons and sex offenders from being on a board or committee.

“The city’s reputation is on the line here, too,” Miller said. “We have a policy and we are partnering with you. I cannot understand how anyone could be on the philosophical opposite of the spectrum on a major issue like this, so I’d like to see you come on board with our policy if you can work in that direction.”

Miller said the important thing everyone should remember is it is not about the person in question, but the policy that must be in place to protect the citizens, the city and the Chamber.

“We're looking at more of a policy, because if we open that door, then we could have other persons who have not had that ‘come to Jesus’ moment, and then we've got an element that I don't think anybody wants to have on their board and be associated with. It's not the look that we would want for our community.

“I would like to see Chamber come in line with the city's policy and do whatever you have to do to make that happen, because the Chamber asked the city for quite a few things, and from my knowledge, the city has not really asked for much in return. If we're going to be a partnership, then there should be some give and take.”

Mayor Steve Sucher praised the partnership between the city and Chamber and said he looked forward to the impact it will have.

“This is one of the more important things I think that's happened in the city in a while, and we have so many really great opportunities, not only through tourism, but just development of our town over the next 10 to 15 years,” Sucher said.

EDC President Ryan Lee said he believes the partnership between the Chamber and city offers a chance “to do a lot of really good things if we allow it to happen.”

“We've got to have welcoming policies and procedures, rather than things that turn people away,” Lee said. “We're an hour from San Antonio, an hour from Austin.

“When you look at the Metroplex and towns that are an hour from downtown Dallas, they have not necessarily turned into huge cities, but they … have grown their tax base, which then in turn, makes all of our taxes less. It improves the school district. It improves the hospital district. It really improves everything. You just have more funds to be able to put back into your community and I really do think we have an opportunity in the next 5, 10, 15 years to do that.”

“This is quite a unique thing we have going on here, because I think this is probably the first time in Gonzales that I can think of, that this group of people have come together in one meeting,” Crow said. “What that should indicate is exactly what we were after when the discussion started about getting out of our silos and start working unified. Great things will happen for this community, with this community, as we continue to move forward in what we're doing.

“It's not going to be without hiccups and bumps. It's going to take work, and it's going to take all of us collaborating with each other as a community, with a community-minded mindset of delivering tourism services, delivering economic growth, delivering city services, whatever those services may be.”

Crow suggested the group meet again after Come and Take It Celebration weekend, which is Oct. 4-6.