NANAIMO – Acting on information contained in the City’s Core Services Review, combined with a report prepared by consutling firm CBRE, Nanaimo City Council during their October 17 meeting released an October 3 In Camera motion announcing their decision to focus the mandate of the City-owned Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation (NEDC) exclusively on the advancement and growth of economic development.
Tourism and destination marketing, each previously administered by the NEDC, will now be combined with conference marketing services and delivered through one or more alternative service providers. As a next step, staff will undertake stakeholder engagement sessions to arrive at recommendations for an alternative approach to tourism and destination marketing delivery by November 30, 2016.
In addition, Council’s motion also directs staff to work with the NEDC, the Vancouver Island Conference Centre (VICC) and the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association (DNBIA) to implement an Accountability Strategy that:
- Leads to the adoption of a new Partnership Agreement with the NEDC (City has drafted and submitted a proposal);
- Creates options for achieving administrative efficiencies among the NEDC, VICC and DNBIA (City has identified options);
- Invites the NEDC, VICC and DNBIA to present annual operating budgets to Council by November 30, 2016, and;
- Directs staff to propose new funding levels to the NEDC, VICC and DNBIA by November 30, 2016.
Finally, in a subsequent motion passed by Council during the same meeting, Council requested that the Board of the NEDC provide the City with a response to the new Partnering Agreement for the delivery of economic development, along with the proposed efficiencies, following the NEDC Board meeting on October 20, with report to Council by October 21.
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