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Democracy on the Front Lines
City Administrator’s Blog
Walter Denton
February 17, 2010
You may have seen the recent news release announcing the merger of the O’Fallon and Shiloh Chambers of Commerce. As the release states, the merger will “expand the ability of the chamber to promote our region and encourage economic development that will be mutually beneficial for businesses in O’Fallon and Shiloh.”
Such a merger has been discussed for several years, but only recently received serious consideration. The fact of the matter is that businesses are not affected by municipal boundaries and most customers don’t know or care what city a business is located in.
The Shiloh-O’Fallon business corridor is a good example: Frank Scott Parkway, Central Park Drive, and Green Mount Road define a development area that straddles both O’Fallon and Shiloh. For example, during last year’s “It Pays to Buy O’Fallon” promotion, we had people insisting we give them credit for their Dierbergs and Target receipts. Those stores are in Shiloh; the other three corners of the Green Mount interchange are in O’Fallon.
Why not structure your chamber or commerce around the true business corridor rather than some arbitrary political border? Located within the Metro East region, O’Fallon is not an island and cannot succeed economically by itself. Economic development in Shiloh helps O’Fallon and vice versa. O’Fallon gets no benefit from a failing Shiloh (or Fairview Heights, for that matter). O’Fallon succeeds as the region succeeds.
This regional focus is manifesting itself in other areas as well. The Scott/Mid-America Leadership Council was formed three years ago as a regional coordinating body to support Scott Air Force Base and consists of the mayors of O’Fallon, Shiloh, Lebanon, and Mascoutah. The council has been crucial to developing strong relations with the base and organizing regional development around the base.
In addition, O’Fallon and Shiloh have been cooperating on combined services for years. The O’Fallon EMS has been serving parts of Shiloh for 25 years and the O’Fallon Fire Department combined with the Rural Fire District last year to provide fire services to Shiloh and
rural areas. The O’Fallon Parks & Recreation Department has been providing combined recreation leagues for three years under an intergovernmental agreement with the Village of Shiloh.
Combined activities are efficient, cost-effective, and good business. We hope to cultivate additional partnerships in the future.
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