Editorial: ‘Forced marriage’ comes with baggage

The city, which had already chipped in $20,000, agreed, but on the condition that Fort Dalles Fourth work with The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce to create a “sustainable business model.”

That turns out to be something of a forced marriage, and one with some baggage. Fort Dalles Fourth members haven’t been shy about expressing unhappiness with the chamber on social media.

City Councilor Dan Spatz, who proposed the partnership between the two groups, wants the two entities to “work it out” for the greater good of the community. “What makes The Dalles strong is for disparate groups to work together for a common cause,” he said. “If we lose that ability we lose a unique strength.”

When Fort Dalles Fourth first asked the city for money two years ago, the understanding was it would seek money only for two years, and then become independently funded.

The city’s directive, given at its July 27 meeting, is intended to encourage the event along that independent path.

Spatz sees the chamber as the city’s lead agency on tourism, and the Fourth of July is precisely the type of event it should help coordinate, he said.

This doesn’t mean the city is done giving money to Fort Dalles Fourth, Spatz says. He has the sense that the council is willing to entertain all ideas.

The two entities have been asked to bring a status report to the council in four months.

Let’s hope they are not being set up to fail.

Judging by its comments, the Fort Dalles Fourth is already looking forward to availing itself of chamber resources. One can’t help but imagine a resource war, as chamber funds are, naturally, already earmarked for a wide range of promotion activities.

One has to wonder if it is fair of the city to shove the responsibility of finding a remedy for the Fort Dalles Fourth’s funding needs onto the chamber.

The council could have made the simple decision to say no to Doug Kirchofer’s request for an additional $5,000, thereby, allowing Fort Dalles Fourth to work out their own solutions. Or the City Council could have coughed up the $5,000 to handle the deficit this year, giving strong notice that no bail out would take place in 2016.

The chamber and Fort Dalles Fourth both offered upbeat comments about the prospect of working together, so hopefully that will set the tone for when they actually do work together.