Update: Chamber of commerce contract to be reviewed -- again
Hilton Head Island Mayor David Bennett will ask Town Council members to review and possibly amend the town's recent contract with the local chamber of commerce this spring, he said Tuesday.
The mayor wants the town's Finance and Administrative Committee to return to the public comments and concerns raised by residents and local businessmen to town leaders in November, when the council narrowly approved a five-year contract with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.
Those concerns ran the gamut, from the contract's five-year length, to a requirement for the chamber to comply with state public records laws and affirming that the chamber was chosen through a lawful bidding process.
"I'm not convinced we're totally done talking about the chamber contract," Bennett said last month. "Many of those citizens expressed concerns and gave suggestions, a number of which echoed my own."
But town officials are short on what suggestions it might seriously consider or when that could be completed, they said Tuesday.
"I'll get with Mr. (committee chairman John) McCann to make sure we're on the same page and take a look at those things," Bennett said Tuesday.
The new contract approved in November gives the town leaders new parameters for closer oversight of the more than $1.5 million in tax funding the chamber receives each year as the town's designated marketing organization.
But some council members and the mayor, who pushed the creation of the contract all last year, argued the agreement didn't go far enough.
For now the council is pursuing a timeline for when it will receive the new performance measure and financial reports as laid out in the new contract, Councilman Bill Harkins said. The finance committee will discuss specific dates next month.
"Our key goal now is to implement the parameters of the existing contract," Harkins said. "We have not yet been asked to review any other particulars."
The contract
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Related content:
- Hilton Head Island Mayor David Bennett still adjusting as he finishes his first year in office, Dec. 19, 2015
- Town leaders narrowly approve contract with chamber of commerce Tuesday night, Nov. 17, 2015
- Chamber of commerce contract would give Hilton Head Island new oversight of public dollars, Nov. 6, 2015
This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 9:03 AM with the headline "Update: Chamber of commerce contract to be reviewed -- again."