The South Coast Development Council (SCDC) lost dues paying members when Coos County opted out a couple of years ago and more recently the Port of Coos Bay bailed on its $30K fees. According to the organizations 990 filing which you can find at ProPublica’s nifty new Nonprofit Explorer after paying Sandy Messerle’s $70,586 salary and benefits package and other expenses that do NOT appear to include rent for their presence at the Visitors Center, the organization operated in the red to the tune of $16,939.
Taken near the Coos Bay Visitor Information Center on May 10, 2013. Tourists viewing the Tall Ships are blocked by the Coos Bay Rail Link which was parked while other tourists look on from the other side of the tracks.
The Bay Area Chamber of Commerce filing is not current but in 2011 the chamber reported $268,678 in revenue and paid executive salaries of $51,500, presumably this is the sum paid to Timm Slater, and other salaries totaling $62,694. According to a letter from Slater to chamber members, “The Chamber has a contract with the City of Coos Bay to manage and operate the Coos Bay Visitor Information Center providing tourist information services to the public”. According to
The World the contract amount is $63,077 but the chamber’s policy of referring member businesses before non member businesses was a
point of contention before the city signed off on the contract. Coos Bay Councilman Mark Daily didn’t want the “chamber operating the facility, contending it competes with non-member businesses such as his own”. Some as yet unconfirmed recollections indicate that the chamber ultimately agreed to refer member and non member businesses equally to satisfy the council objections. It is not clear how this reconciles with the chamber website which lists as one of the benefits of a paid membership, “When people call us looking for a particular product or service, we refer Chamber members first and foremost! Another FREE, members only service!”.
Considering the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce is acting as an agent for the City of Coos Bay it may be that the city is liable for the damages alleged by Wim de Vriend for the negative comments made about the Blue Heron Bistro.
Awha! Wim is dipping his hand into the bushes next to the Mingus Park Homeless Camp for a hand full to sling against the wall & see what sticks… Rub your hands in Kraut & it should cover the smell when your done!
SCDC has spent more than $2 million of your money, plus private monies to date and they have created a whopping two jobs – the SCDC Director and her helper. A corporate entity with investors would have been closed down years ago. We investors don’t get a choice to close down that cruel joke.
One thing is clear, the members of the inner sanctum certainly take care of their own. Sandy Messerle and Timm Slater were given sweetheart, decent paying jobs for spreading the kool-aid. These guys do take care of their own