City slashes Chamber funding by 80 percent

     The FC Chamber of Commerce has received $15,000 annually from the City since 2012 to help with its budget, but that well has run dry, according to Mayor Jerry Oliver and the City Council, which last week voted to take its funding back down to near the pre-2012 levels, pledging $3,000 for 2016.
    Branch said the move came as a surprise to him, but that his office could work around the shortfall, noting that Sauces & Cycles, which lost about $3,000 last summer and also had a $5,000 sponsor subsequently opt out for ‘16, has been nixed and that move alone will help the budget process this coming year. That said, the Chamber Director also reported that about $6,600 in new Christmas decorations for the entrances to Falls City, Harlan Street and the downtown area have been ordered and monetary donations are desperately needed to get that bill paid.
    Large signs, measuring 40 feet in width and brightened by LED lights, were ordered to welcome visitors to Falls City at four entrance locations during the holiday season, as were 27 six-foot tall snowflakes to adorn the light poles along Harlan and 30 wreaths for the business district.
    The new decor will replace the dilapidated furnishings used for decades. It more than showed its age this past Christmas season.