An agenda item on last week’s canceled BOC meeting indicates the commissioners will consider whether to continue paying dues to SCDC (South Coast Development Council), a figure reported to be $5,000 annually.
M. Request Discussion re: Payment of Dues to South Coast Development Council- BOC
The timber payments the County has relied upon for several years have been steadily declining to about $2M are scheduled to end in 2011. Once the new Board of Commissioners is seated in January, public discussions will begin immediately to ‘plan for the worst and hope for the best’.
Surely, if there was ever a good time to argue against continued donations to SCDC, now is the time.
According to the SCDC website –
SCDC works closely with groups, both state and local organizations that offer business assistance. The assistance includes workforce training, financial support, loans, grants and business seminars. …
Our mission statement is: “To Improve the Region’s Economy”. We work to recruit new businesses to our region, but we also work to make your business expansion plans become reality. We can help you find the right building or property, match your business to a ready and willing workforce, create an effective workforce training program, help you secure financing, and align your business with available incentive programs.
The website lists communities involved with SCDC and links to utilities and staffing and provides the names of the board members but it doesn’t list any ‘accomplishments’ or ‘success stories’. The general consensus in Coos County is the organization has not achieved anything to warrant the public money that flows to the organization or the expense of the two salaried positions.
My personal objection to SCDC is the organization uses public funds to lobby on behalf of private companies. Often this lobbying is in direct conflict of the best interests of the very public that funds the organization. The SCDC operating budget is not available at the website and even though they receive public money they don’t appear to have the same guidelines regarding notice of meetings, staffing, board members, board decisions and use of the funds. SCDC rents office space at the new Coos Bay visitors center, paying rent with public funds to a public agency… go figure.
Wondering. Can urban renewal funds be used for funding something like SCDC?
Hey fred, I have heard $10,000 also but this agenda item may only be a semi annual payment. Have you read the SDAT report? It alternately scolds and then recommends SCDC, in a very artful way, take a leadership position in some of the suggestions.
Someone told me that SCDC gets funding via the Coos County Urban Renewal District but I haven’t confirmed that. If anyone knows, please let me know. One of the issues I have with them is the lack of transparency, much of which was subtly pointed out in the SDAT.
You are not the only poster using your real name! and I much appreciate you giving MGx your time.
Am I your only reader dumb enough to use my given name? I start the day with Drudge and balance it with MGX. I understood the fee is $10,000. One local mayor recently told me that they are having a difficult time understanding just what is going on at SCDC. What a waste! During the past eight years, SCDC has created two jobs – the SCDC director and the assistant. Doing so has required spending about $2 million of private and public monies (their numbers). Before spending YOUR, not the commissioners, money, ask the SCDC leader how many jobs she has created – as the word is defined by Webster. According to Mayor Moore and others in Elkhart, none. She was well liked and was good at what she did. But, apparently her job was a facade program and similar efforts – the kind of thing that Ms. Jensen of Coos Bay is already being paid about $100,000 annually in salary and benefits to accomplish. There is a better use for whatever the fee to the county is.