Faced with a lack of willing leadership, the Vincennes Central Business District is looking to roll itself into the non-profit group INVin.
Members of the VCBD — also commonly referred to as the downtown merchants group — have often talked over the last year about joining forces with INVin, and on Wednesday morning, when no one stepped forward willing to lead the organization next year, they agreed it was time to give the potential move a closer look.
“We can still run it the same way we run it now,” Ellen Harper, INVin's executive director, told the group, which constituted the VCBD's largest attendance in months. “We can build upon what you already do.
“We'll just regroup and reorganize a little bit.”
INVin was established in 2014 by Steve Miller, Pioneer Oil Co.'s chief financial officer, in an effort to bring more business to Main Street. Primarily, its efforts have been focused on saving and finding an adaptive reuse for downtown's historic theaters — the Pantheon Theatre and the New Moon Theater.
But the organization also has promotional and design committees on which some VCBD members already serve.
VCBD member Doug Halter, The Halter Group, said he believes the mission of INVin's promotional arm fits well with that of the downtown organization. Both work primarily to host events downtown in an effort to bring awareness to all it has to offer, the VCBD with events like the Christmas Stroll, the Gimbel Corner community Christmas tree and downtown trick-or-treating, and INVin with its Autumn and Spring on Main events.
So why not combine efforts, he asked?
“We can't go through next year without a structure of officers,” Halter said after no one stepped forward to lead. “And we struggle now to find volunteers and people to work.
“We have to have a Plan B, and I think it's a matter of going to a bigger group to get (the help we need).”
Kathy Burch, The Original Company, and Jessy Fessel, owner of the Vincennes Beauty College, have, for the last two years, acted at the VCBD's helm, but neither wants to remain in charge.
Burch said she was in favor of the merger as long as the VCBD mission and its events remain the same.
“We would still have a merchant group,” she said, encouraging her fellow members. “We would just incorporate and be a part of INVin.”
But there are still a lot of loose ends to be tied up.
The organization collects, in dues, about $7,000 per year from its members, money that goes to host downtown events, for marketing efforts and flowers planted up and down Main Street each spring.
There was some confusion as to how the VCBD would go about collecting dues from its members should it move forward and join with INVin. Would local merchants be paying the VCBD? Would they pay INVin? And would the money be kept separate?
There will then be another meeting at 8 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2018 at the Knox County Chamber of Commerce, 316 Main St., to finalize that plan, get feedback from members and cast a vote.
But members, at least initially, seemed intrigued at the thought.
“I need somebody to shove me along,” Halter said. “That's why I'm looking forward to being part of a bigger group.
“Sometimes it's difficult to explain to people what the VCBD even is.”
Cheryl Hacker, assistant to Mayor Joe Yochum, agreed as long as more thought is given to the process.
“It sounds like we just need to do a little research first,” she said, “before all this is decided.”