The Truth about the City and the Chamber Closure

Allegations have been made that the Mayor and the city plotted to take over or force our local Chamber of Commerce to close. These allegations are false and not supported by the facts. Let’s take a look:

• Mayor Skipworth sponsored new businesses to join our chamber out of his own pocket and routinely purchased ad space in chamber publications. He was also a dues paying member of the chamber as a non-business member.
• Chamber officers were invited to participate in city initiatives, most notably the city’s comprehensive planning process. 
• In August of 2021, the Chamber asked the city to purchase the building they rented for roughly $200k and deed it over to them by using Hotel Motel Tax funds. Former Councilman, and recall organizer, Scott Shrader was the principle advocate. They were informed that this was not a lawful use of these funds.
• Some chamber officers, including the chamber president, became hostile following the city not purchasing this building. The city continued to try to preserve a constructive relationship with the chamber by supporting chamber luncheons and events.
• The Mayor attempted to further the relationship with the chamber by working with a chamber officer to provide financial support to the chamber to allow them to grow and better support and attract local business. (LINK)
• The rest of the chamber officers refused to sit down to speak with the city about this arrangement and did not inform the member businesses of the proposal. Despite being rejected sight unseen, the chamber president and others claimed this was an attempted take over of the chamber. (LINK)
• In the fall of 2023 the chamber president announced they were closing and blamed a weak local economy. It was claimed that sales taxes had declined by 40%. This is false. (LINK)
• The fact is that the city did not contribute to the closure of the Dickinson chamber and it attempted to aid the organization with significant financial support.