It's time to make the transition.
That's the message put forth by many city and organization leaders caught chest deep in the effort to reorganize marketing of the northern Wood River Valley.
What was planned to be a quick pull of the Band-Aid—taking marketing powers and funding away from the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau and giving both to a new marketing effort—has become a hesitant tear.
Meanwhile, the 2010-11 ski season—and all the business that goes with it—is only six weeks away.
The fiscal year started Oct. 1, and instead of funding the marketing board to the budgeted total of $800,000, Ketchum and Sun Valley have yet to give a dime. And that's not because the chamber got the money. It hasn't received a dollar either, leaving both the marketing board and chamber, which have merged to create the Sun Valley Marketing Alliance, with a $201,000 state grant for marketing and about $101,000 in business membership fees, allowing the visitors bureau to hang by its fingernails for an indefinite time.
Toni Bogue, alliance vice president and chamber board member, said the chamber has gone from 8.5 full-time-equivalent staff members to 3.5, losing key players but being able to continually keep one person working the Ketchum visitor center desk and phone.
Alliance President and marketing board member Jake Peters said any possible marketing initiatives are on hold as the board waits for the politics to work out and funding to be distributed.
Sun Valley has pulled its hand back due to Councilmen Bob Youngman's and Nils Ribi's displeasure with the merger that created the alliance. Peters tried to speak at a Sun Valley City Council meeting on Sept. 22, but Mayor Wayne Willich denied his request.
Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall wants to get things rolling and has provided the alliance its first chance to present a status report, set the record straight and answer questions at a joint meeting between Ketchum's and Sun Valley's city leaders on Oct. 18 at Ketchum City Hall.
"We should have done this already," Peters said, "but haven't because of the politics."
It's unknown whether the joint meeting will take place, as Hall's invitation to Willich was sent Monday, and Willich said he hadn't yet seen it when the Idaho Mountain Express talked with him Tuesday afternoon. However, he said he doesn't see why the City Council would turn down the invitation.
Hall emphasized in the invitation that action wouldn't be taken at the meeting to hand over funding to the alliance.
"As mayor, I believe it vital to issue a status report to the community," he stated in the invitation.
Bogue will be at the meeting and said the chamber's current situation is that it's looking for two visitor center workers and a chamber manager. She said the original plan was to hire a manager imminently, but the board has decided to not rush it.
"The worst possible thing would be to hire someone who bit off more than they could chew," she said.
For that reason, Bogue said, she and Financial Manager Linda Horn would be sharing the duties of chamber manager for six months. Horn will manage the office while Bogue handles the majority of services for business members. Bogue's duties revolve around community events, such as the Christmas Tree Lighting and Nightmare on Main Street, a Halloween party.
"Everything is business as usual," Bogue said, later adding, "Realistically speaking, of course, there are going to be some gaps."
Mary Austin Crofts, organizer of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival, said the chamber's losses have also been the festival's. She said she used to send a news release and photos to the chamber, which would then at the click of the button send news of the event to numerous magazines, websites and other publications to get the word out.
"It was huge," she said, adding that the chamber has also pitched the festival to writers from Smithsonian, Good Housekeeping and Sunset magazines.
Crofts said that when the chamber went through major cutbacks a month before last weekend's event, she was left with the task of advertising the festival. She said the chamber gave her a list of its contacts—on hundreds of pages—to sort through for anyone who might fit the festival's demographic.
"Basically, the last month, I slept eight hours and worked the rest, slept eight hours and worked the rest," Crofts said, adding that a void in services has been created during the marketing transition. "It was a good plan, but hasn't been implemented that well."
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
Bald Mountain rises over Ketchum. The marketing transition for the valley’s resort area hasn’t gone as smoothly as planned, leaving both the chamber and marketing board with no city funding, as of yet, even though the fiscal year started two weeks ago. Photo by Mountain Express
