BROOKINGS — The Brookings City Council should move forward with plans to merge four different economic development groups into one larger, likely more effective organization, city councilors will hear at their next meeting.

A 15-member committee, tasked by the council with considering the matter, will make the recommendation formally on May 13. After nearly seven months of study and 15 meetings, the group will tell the council to merge Downtown Brookings, Visit Brookings, the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce and the Brookings Economic Development Corp. into one larger group to focus on economic development in Brookings.

“There's just so much crossover already, one organization could offer all of this under a portfolio of services,” said Nick Wendell, one of the members of the committee.

“We started with a lot of questions,” Wendell said, “and in what's sure to be a volatile time, especially for development, a larger, more dynamic organization will be more help, and we hope be more enduring. The goal is to be bigger, to stay local, but be bigger and able to weather the storm somewhat.”

Started in November, the committee began by gathering information from the groups themselves through documents and interviews. Each of the groups submitted letters to the committee outlining opportunities and concerns, as well as individual interviews with all four groups’ staff and boards.

The group then studied six comparable cities — Laramie, Wyoming; Rapid City; Yankton; Ames, Iowa; Mankato, Minnesota; and Burlington, Iowa — who have all moved to a similar setup in recent years.

“We wanted input from across the community, so we did a lot of interviews and things like that, and then we started looking around at other communities that operate this way,” said Tom Fishback, another member of the committee. “The biggest thing early, and we started with a blank page on purpose, was to get the right people asking the right questions.”

“We were really happy to see, there are a lot of communities who have gone through this same process with good results. And there are best practices, and that it can work really well,” Wendell added.

The committee has drafted a plan for the new, as-yet unnamed group to have a board of directors and then have that board hire a president and CEO. The tentative plan is to have that person hired and able to hit the ground running in January.

“"And we're committed to the existing staff,” Fishback said. “Everyone has a position if they want one."

“These entities did great work, they have fantastic employees, and we hope they all continue, because they have the skill sets the new group will need,” Wendell said.

In fact, Wendell said, the new structure would likely represent an improvement for existing staff, “Because it's two-three people per group, now. A larger group would allow more room for training, more opportunities for growth, and we hope more retention of good talent in the organization,” Wendell said.

The basic take home for the average person is this, both Wendell and Fishback said: If you want to start a business, or improve an existing one or take advantage of a program — you would only need to make one phone call under this plan.

While the new entity has not been named — the committee wanted it to be in charge of its own branding and marketing — a URL at growtogetherbrookings.com has been set up for anyone wanting more granular information on the process.

Both Wendell and Fishback said the committee had plenty of feedback from the community — including a recent open house at McCrory Gardens — and welcomed any more as the process moves forward, including at the May 13 council meeting.

“The reception so far has been great. We really appreciate the community involvement,” Fishback said. “We got a ton of positive feedback, as well as some really good questions we're still working on.”

Wendell said stepping back from the nitty gritty, the prospective merger likely marks a milestone for the community as a whole.

“There’s a lot of detail, but I think this is a merger that should be celebratory. It’s really something to celebrated. This has the potential to be really great for our city and our region and allow us to take a step forward,” Wendell said.

Linehan is the Register’s managing editor and welcomes comments at jlinehan@brookingsregister.com.