Somerton chamber says no to city contribution offered with strings
SOMERTON — Thanks, but no thanks.
That’s how the Somerton Chamber of Commerce responded after the city council agreed to its request for funds to stage an event — a request granted with strings attached.
The chamber had asked the Somerton City Council for $2,500 in city funds to help pay for this month’s Business Expo, an event organized by the chamber to help business people in Somerton and the area network. The seventh annual event is slated for Sept. 22 at the Cocopah Casino & Resort.
The council voted unanimously to give the money, on the conditions that the chamber match the contribution and provide invoices documenting how it used the city’s money.
That led the chamber to pass on funding.
“We just told them thanks,” said Angela Gallardo, the chamber president. “We are not going to need their help. Those funds would have been used for advertising to promote the event, but fortunately we have the options of trades to do it.”
The city contributed nearly $18,000 to the expo in the event’s first year and has continued to do so in the succeeding years, although in progressively lower amounts.
In May, the chamber sent a letter to city officials asking for an unspecified contribution for this year’s expo, which is expected to cost a total of $8,850.
Hector Tapia, Somerton’s economic development director, proposed at a recent council meeting that the city give $2,500, half of last year’s contribution, owing to constraints on the city budget.
Councilman Carlos Gonzalez was not happy that chamber representatives were not present to request the funding, in effect leaving it to Tapia to make the request.
“I hate to see that you have to come here in representation of the chamber of commerce,” Gonzalez said. “They should have been here asking for that help.”
Gonzalez also questioned the benefit of the expo to Somerton businesses, given that only one had a display booth at last year’s expo.
For his part, Vice Mayor Gerardo Anaya said the event should be moved back to its original location, Somerton Middle School, a venue he maintained is more accessible to the public.
Gallardo said the expo moved to the casino in 2017 because that location is better suited to the event’s goal of bringing business people together.
“The Business Expo continues to be aimed at the same business people, so they get to know one another and make connections between them,” Gallardo said. “It’s an event that is open to the public, but that is not the primary objective. Regarding local businesses that participate, there are local businesses (at the expo), but directly or indirectly, all have some contact with Somerton.”
The condition that the chamber match the city’s contribution was sought by Councilman Miguel Villalpando. The council approved the funding request with that condition, along with a condition suggested by Gonzalez, that the chamber provide invoices to document how it spend the city’s money.
Gallardo said that the chamber operates transparently, and that the city has overseen and monitored the use of its contributions in each of the last two expos.
Gallardo said the chamber considers the city an ally in efforts to strength Somerton’s business sector, and that it does not want to become embroiled in controversy over a financial contribution. Still, she said, the date of this year’s expo is fast approaching and chamber leaders decided to forego city money.