The Fort Dalles Fourth Committee is making organizational changes that it feels will “solidify a good foundation” for continued growth of July 4 activities in 2016 and beyond.
The new plan was developed through a partnership with The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce and presented to The Dalles City Council on Monday.
Because the Fourth is no longer under the umbrella of the Mid-Columbia Veterans Memorial Committee for nonprofit status, the $25,000 funding request for fireworks in 2016 was routed through the chamber.
Keef Morgan, who has assumed duties of president for the Fourth from Doug Kirchhofer, said the group intends to fundraise to expand the fireworks show by Western Display, a Canby-based company, and sponsor events at the Lewis and Clark Festival Park.
In return for taking over planning of the July 4 parade and marketing the event, the chamber is seeking an additional $5,000 in tax revenue collected by the city from hotel stays.
Farquharson said the distribution of funding was decided following an October meeting between the chamber’s executive committee, Fourth representatives and city officials.
Seated on the panel from the city was Mayor Steve Lawrence, Councilors Linda Miller and Tim McGlothlin and Julie Krueger, interim city manager.
“They all felt the funding, if approved, should be handled by an organization that was stable and one that could easily be held accountable,” said Farquharson.
On Monday, Morgan told the city council that the Fourth was in the process of filing a funding request with the IRS to become a charity.
Lawrence said that could be a lengthy process and asked if the Fourth could resume working with the MCVMC so that people who contributed could get a tax write-off.
“It became a bit of a burden on them to handle the account and take on that responsibility,” said Morgan.
He was unaware of any other charitable organizations that the Fourth could work through. The chamber is a 501(c)(6) organization so Farquharson said it could not provide people with tax deducations.
In September, MCVMC sent the Fourth a letter of notification that their working relationship needed to end.
“Now that you are well underway and have developed a substantial organization, it is time to let your organization stand on its own,” stated Vandee Mauser, who was then president of the veteran’s organization.
She wrote that MCVMC had a mission to support veterans and war memorials, which was different than the diverse direction taken by the Fourth.
“Continuing the growth we have seen over the last two years, would become an overlarge distraction from our core mission,” stated Mauser.”
She has since relinquished the presidency to Les Cochenour.
The bottom line, said Mauser in a telephone interview on Tuesday, is that “The Fort Dalles Fourth just grew too big for us.”
Morgan said the events planned by the Fourth would not have been possible without startup assistance from MCVMC.
Councilor Dan Spatz encouraged the Fourth to follow through on plans to become an official charity.
“It is a time consuming process but, ultimately, it’s where you need to be,” he said.
Morgan said festival operations would continue under the leadership of Nolan Hare, one of the event founders.
“The festival will continue to be supported by business sponsorship, vendor fees, ticket sales and a massive volunteer force,” he wrote in a press release submitted to the council.
Also seated on the Fourth committee is: Marty Hiser, vice-president; Cynthia Kortge, secretary and members Matt Herriges, Angie Herriges and Juston Huffman.
In addition to asking for 2016 funding, the Fourth and chamber are seeking $25,000 for 2017 also.
Morgan said, in the past two years, the funding came weeks after the deal had to be made with Western Display, which put a lot of pressure on the committee.
“We don’t want to be sitting in the same position we were sitting in the last two years,” he told the council.
Hare, who was present at Monday’s meeting, said requesting the funds as an emergency subsidy each year created a lot of uncertainty in the planning process.
“The way it’s set up now we have to commit to the show before we know about funding,” he said.
Lawrence told Farquharson, Morgan and Hare that the $30,000 request for each of the next two years would have to be given consideration during the regular budget cycle, which starts in February.
“I don’t think there’s any way around that,” he said.
However, Lawrence said the status of the request could probably be decided early in the process. He said that would allow the chamber and Fourth to plan with greater certainty.
“This will be fully discussed and vetted through the early budgeting process,” he said.
The chamber was tasked with helping the Fourth create a “sustainable business model” by Councilor Dan Spatz last August.
At that time the city had chipped in $5,000 to help the Fourth cover a deficit from the 2015 program.
Spatz said the city granted the Fourth’s first funding request of $20,000 in 2014 with the understanding that the group would become independently funded after two years, but that did not appear to be happening. A total of $25,000 was given to the Fourth this year.
On Monday, Spatz expressed enthusiasm about the results of the partnership after Morgan asked councilors if they were happy with the path the Fourth was going down.
“I’m delighted to see this level of collaboration,” he said.
“You’ve taken the confusion I’ve thrown out there and turned it into something that makes a lot of sense.”
Councilor Tim McGlothlin supported the funding request as submitted.
“It seems appropriate to use room taxes for promoting the event and this is a perfect way to do that, so I’m in favor of it,” he said.
The remainder of the council — Taner Elliott was not present — also seemed in agreement.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.