WILLMAR
— The Willmar City Council is formally asking the local Economic Development Commission to reconsider a rebranding that drops “Willmar” from the name.
The
Willmar City Council
in a split 4-2 vote on Monday approved a resolution recommending that the
Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission
reconsider the rebranding it approved last month under the name “Kandiyohi County Economic Development.”
The council also approved directing staff to draft a letter to the EDC regarding that recommendation.
City Councilors Vicki Davis and Julie Asmus were the no votes on the resolution. Both of them sit on the EDC Joint Powers Board, along with Mayor Doug Reese. All three voted for the
name change for rebranding purposes at a Joint Powers Board meeting in November.
Councilors Tom Butterfield and Mike O’Brien were absent from the council meeting on Monday.
The name change is solely for rebranding purposes and the legal name of the organization will not change, nor will the operations or makeup of the joint operations and joint powers boards. The EDC has been working on rebranding this year and expects to begin rolling out its efforts sometime in January.
Contributed / Vicki Davis
“First of all, the legal name is going to stay the same, this is just for branding, for marketing,” Davis said, noting the discussions that took place among the Joint Powers Board members.
“We have three (county) commissioners on that board, two of them live in Willmar and they voted for Kandiyohi (County Economic Development). We had a couple of meetings about it and all six of us voted that way. It’s a joint powers board, because we have three from the county and we have three from the city. I feel like maybe this is overstepping just a little bit to try to bring this recommendation.”
Contributed / City of Willmar
“At the end of the day, this is a partnership between the city of Willmar and Kandiyohi County,” said Councilor Justin Ask. “Other communities in the county have their own economic development agencies. We chose to share ours with the county in equal partnership. And I think what’s happening right now is that partnership is no longer being valued. … This doesn’t seem inclusive, this doesn’t seem like we’re valued as equal partners in this.”
Contributed / City of Willmar
He asked City Attorney Robert Scott what the city’s options were if the EDC did not take the recommendation of the council and include Willmar in the new name.
Scott informed the council that its only option would be to exercise its rights under the joint powers agreement and dissolve the agreement between the county and the city.
“I don’t know that anybody wants to see a dissolution of the agreement, I just feel that it’s too beneficial for everybody for that to happen,” said Councilor Carl Shuldes. “But I also very strongly believe and agree with the statement that people think of Willmar before they think of Kandiyohi County. That may sound very arrogant, but it’s not. … Willmar is the main player as far as economic development industry in the county. We benefit from things that are in the county and the county benefits from things that are in Willmar. And I just feel like to lose Willmar in that name does not help us.”
Both Davis and Reese shared that they have been torn about the decision.
Davis said that Aaron Backman, the EDC executive director, does a good job working with these matters every single day “and I feel like he would know. Wouldn’t he know if it would hurt not to have the name Willmar in there?”
She said Backman will continue to find businesses to come to the area, whether Willmar is in the name or not. “But then I understand why it is important to have it there,” she added.
“I really stressed over losing the Willmar designation in the name,” Reese said. “But I don’t know how much the loss of Willmar really does, what effect that has. I don’t think it’s going to affect how the EDC operates or is effective in recruiting.”
Contributed / City of Willmar
Noting that he appreciates and respects the work of the EDC and Backman, Ask concluded, “This comes down to — there are two equal partners of this team and they should be treated as equal and they should be presented as equal partners in this.”
