Members of a city council subcommittee will ask their fellow members later this month to support an idea aimed at connecting city departments with area businesses — and to generate new operating revenue for those departments.
Tim Salters, chairman of the council’s Intergovernmental and Community Cooperation committee — a new one created by council president Duane Chattin early this year — met briefly with council member Scott Brown after the regular meeting Monday to discuss a few tweaks to an idea he presented months ago about placing advertisements on city-owned property.
Salters said several people have approached him with concerns over putting ads on city-owned vehicles, namely firefighters and police officers worried that business advertisements would somehow “degrade” their equipment.
And Salters, to an extent, agrees. He said the last thing he wants to see are city-owned rescue vehicles turned into “Nascar” spectacles.
So instead, he has focused his idea on sponsorships.
While the idea is still in its infancy, Salters said he envisions making up small signs that could be placed in the windows or on the walls of local businesses that make donations to the city department of their choice.
The signs, which would be designed and produced by the city, could also, Salters said, be used in participating business’ advertising campaigns.
“They could donate $1,000 to the fire department for a piece of equipment, to the police department, to the animal shelter or to the city parks department — whatever they want to support,” Salters said. “And the (sponsorship sign) gives them an opportunity to support the things they believe in, associate themselves with a particular need or department. I believe this is what towns like us were built on.”
Going this route, Salters said, offers a “similar feel” to his initial revenue-generating idea but “takes the pressure of putting ads on cars,” something no one seems excited about at this point.
Brown, who serves on the committee with Salters along with newest council member Ryan Clark, said he would like to see the initiative taken one step farther: for a larger donation — a donation scale hasn’t yet been discussed — he wants to see local businesses given the opportunity to place larger sponsorship signs at Gregg Park if they choose to purchase a piece of playground equipment.
“I think this is a good idea, and we’ve taken away some of the concerns people have,” he said.
Clark couldn’t be at the committee meeting as he is on vacation this week, but Salters said he briefly discussed his idea with him before he left and that it had his support.
Salters said he will have something ready to propose to the council at its next meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. July 28 at City Hall, 201 Vigo St.
“I want to see us start small with this,” he said, “and then build from there.”
Salters first proposed the idea this spring as a way to help Vincennes generate revenue. Other cities, he said, have implemented similar programs, even ones where police cars and firetrucks are outfitted with local business logos and advertisements.
Salters has been consistent in his refusal to raise taxes since being elected to the council, so he said he wanted to offer an alternative.
Mayor Joe Yochum has said he supports the proposed campaign.