Isn't that just the coolest sign? It used to be the sign on the Depot, and now it's hanging in the museum.
So awesome!
I'ts been a long while since posting to my blog, but I figured now is good a time as any to start it up again.
So I thought that I'd start out with a bang and publish my speech that I gave during the Tuesday March 19th's
Riverton City Council public commentperiod regarding the Riverton Chamber
A quick side note...today as I was taking photos in the museum, I saw this posted in the ACME theater display:
"Do right by your community, and your community will do right by you."
Do wrong, and...?
____________________________
I am here to speak on the subject of the WyRiverton Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center. At this point, I want to make it clear that I am not speaking on behalf of any business, group or organization, or anyone but my own self, as a citizen.
I stood up here almost 2 years ago, and told you all that the Chamber was making decisions (and I quote myself) “in backrooms, behind closed doors and I was cut from the team. I asked questions, and I got no response or was ignored. When I questioned processes happening without oversight. I got ambiguous responses or was ignored.”
I quit the Chamber and the Chamber Ambassadors (which has since been dissolved) because of that very thing: No oversight. They revised and created their own bylaws behind closed doors with no oversight or even a vote from their membership, so those bylaws should have been null and void this entire time. So this all goes back to two years ago when I saw that something wasn’t right, that you can’t just pass something as significant as bylaws without a vote, and you can’t just solicit and take peoples’ money and do whatever you want with it.
The city council liaisons for the Chamber sit up here in a roundtable and talk up all of the great things the Chamber does for Riverton, but no one wants to talk about the questionable things.
The Chamber recently boasted on (one of three) Facebook pages about some businesses that seem to have bailed them out, one of which was Mike Bailey…who sits on the city council and is the Chamber’s liaison! Is this or is this not a conflict of interest, given the recent audit?
Regardless of this, what values or incentives is the Chamber even able to provide for any member that joins now, if they have no money to even pay their staff, or rent an office, or even have a copy machine?
I have spoken to many business owners and past Chamber members who tell me they received no value or incentives for being a member. $5000 is the Chamber’s top-tier membership. What does $5000 get you? Gone are the days when folks really even care if you’re a high-tier member of a business organization for the prestige, a sticker, your logo on a banner, and a certificate in a cheap frame. With the emergence of social media and now AI, many of the successful businesses and organizations' posts that I share on GoRiverton have their own marketing pretty much down. It’s awareness and promotion of their products and services that they need. So what is the Chamber doing there, especially for $5000?
Additionally, there are two chamber websites: rivertonchamber.org and WyRiverton.com. When I was with the Chamber Ambassadors, that new website cost $40,000. I recently found out that their website is now costing them $1500 a month, and is basically a static site for tourism. $1500, which is $18,000/year. I charge starting at $300 per year for a static website..that works out to $25/month…plus my clients get promo on GoRiverton!
Also confusing are the Facebook pages…there are the RivertonWYChamber, WyRiverton, and Riverton Chamber of Commerce. Which one of these pages does the Chamber post and promote on daily? Weekly? Monthly?
5 executive directors in 5 years. It seems to me that the directors are to be nothing but puppets to do the Executive Board’s bidding. But when one stands up for what’s right and calls them out on their discrepancies or bad business practices, what happens?
As far as best business practices, the Chamber’s current Vice-President (and now Interim Director) should know better, as she has a background in banking and also sits on the Wind River Visitors Council itself. To claim ignorance and that everything is now copacetic is simply the narrative that has been created for the press in an attempt to put it all in a good light. Additionally, this same person has been going around to businesses, bribing them to join the Chamber. This act of desperation is pitiful because, again…besides the bribe, where’s the value? Why should I join?
This person is also on other boards including your newly-formed community development committee. She is also going around the county with Kevin Kershisnik about the ½ cent sales tax for Forward Fremont County. Even though I agree with and support the ½ cent, I will not vote for it, for exactly the reasons I’ve already stated: No effective oversight and no confidence in the people on the committees that decide how that funding is awarded and dispersed. After all, if this is how TAD funds are treated, how can I have full faith and confidence in how EDGE funds are and will be managed?
The definition of embezzlement is “theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one’s trust or belonging to one’s employer.”
The Chamber cannot just claim that the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing. Someone knew and she came forward! Embezzlement, whether it’s across state lines, or from one account to another, is a federal offense. And because someone came forward to question it and was fired for it…that is called a cover-up and wrongful termination! What if she hadn’t come forward?
I personally think the Chamber should be dissolved, and every board member who voted with their Executive Board for the past 2 years should resign or be investigated. But realistically, I know that will never happen, because that's not the way things work here in Riverton. Investigations that include certain individuals or have the “right” last name end up like parents defending their bully child before the principal. The most they’ll get is a slap on the wrist and a warning…and not because the jails are full or because they have the wrong last name. It’s because the gaslighting includes what “all the Chamber does for the city and the community.” Pay no attention to who is behind the curtain!
And where is the Chamber? At the Heritage Center? On Main Street? The Chamber doesn’t even have a locale or center for tourists and visitors, which is its primary purpose! You’d think they’d be able to find a place and stay put. When do they meet? What do they do? Besides the TAD money, where is the membership money really going?
How has the Chamber been serving the businesses of Riverton? They haven’t. It needs to be dissolved. And it’s sad! Over two years ago, I had some element of hope for the Chamber…until I found out how they practiced. I spoke out about their lack of transparency and accountability and was ignored. So this time around, I hope I won’t be. I hope that Chamber members, past and present, and Riverton business owners will step up and do and say something, not nothing. If you haven’t received value for your membership, or were bribed into joining, or believed in the promises of ambiguous economic development plans that didn’t include or don’t benefit you, demand your money back.
Change will never happen if you do nothing.
Thank you.
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