This speech is being delivered at a paid for event that is jointly sponsored by the Town of Oro Valley and The Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Take a look at yesterday's Oro Valley press release titled: "OV State of the Town event sees record-breaking ticket sales; Mayor to focus on regional collaboration"
The top of the press release has the Oro Valley logo. The bottom has the logo of the Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce. This is clearly co-branding of this event. It is, therefore, an Oro Valley sponsored event.
This is not about the Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce. May they "love long and prosper." It is not about Mayor Hiremath being invited to speak at a Chamber function. The Mayor should "spread" the word about the virtues of Oro Valley.
It is about whether the Town or Oro Valley should use its equity in this manner.
We say: NO.
It is highly unusual for Oro Valley or any municipality to lend their name to a paid event that is being run by and whose financial benefit accrues to a third party. The $55 per seat fee goes to the Chamber of Commerce, who also pay for the costs of the event. The gain or the loss is all theirs. That's fine.
The Town of Oro Valley, however, has endorsed this program. The town has co-branded it. The town is a brand. The logo of the Town of Oro Valley is a brand. The use of the name and the logo, together with an official press released by the town related to the event is an endorsement by the town of the event and of the participating organizations. It is a use of town value, albeit mostly non monetary.
Doing all of this for a private membership organization is simply wrong.
What independent standard did the town use to determine that they should endorse this event? What was the decision-making process? Who made the decision? Certainly, this was not a council decision.
If the town does this for one organization, shouldn't it do it for all organizations?
Maybe, we think, the town should not be doing this at all.
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3 comments:
A few questions: why do OV residents have to pay to hear their Mayor speak about "his" plans for OUR town? Why isn't he giving this speech to those of us who pay his salary for free? Does he plan to give the same speech at a Town Hall event? Usually guest speakers take questions from the audience. Did he not want to respond to his constituents?
The State of the Town speech is now available for OV citizens on You Tube.
Fave....No one has to pay to hear the Mayor speak.
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