OTHELLO - The Othello Chamber of Commerce president asked the city to partner with it to fund an event coordinator position.

Shawn Logan presented the suggestion during the recent budget workshop meeting, asking the city to give the chamber $50,000 to fund the position.

The goal of the position is to increase tourism and promote business development in the city through creating sporting tournaments in the city, he said.

"Our request came out of a realization that the way sports is played nowadays has changed quite a bit from what it was when I was younger," Logan said. "We used to just play in leagues and you'd have one all-star team and that all-star team would play an all-star tournament and that one team of the best players would all represent the community."

Youth sports are now set up as clubs with one team of about 10 to 12 players, which travel to other cities to play games, he said. He pointed out the Othello teams seem to go to other cities rather than stay within the city.

"Why don't we have a tournament here in Othello?" he said. "Then some of the realization, I went to the local Othello youth baseball, and they have their hands full with their own league ... They have enough to do that they said they don't want to do any additional work."

Logan pointed out the city put a considerable amount of work into the city park by installing lights and other field improvements. He suggested the city needed to move from wanting more tournaments to having them.

"I think you all on the city council would like to see tournaments here, would like to see money come from out of town and be spent here," he said.

He proposed the city contract with the chamber to hire an event coordinator, who would organize the tournaments. Some of the suggested sports were youth baseball, soccer and softball.

"What we're trying to do is create compelling reasons to come to Othello, and the very beginning of that is, where we felt was the easiest place to start, was hosting tournaments," Logan said.

If the city agreed to contract with the chamber, the organization would meet with representatives from all of the sports along with businesses, he said. If they agreed, the clubs would plan to host a single tournament or event in the city during 2012.

"The chamber staff would coordinate each group, help them identify a date for their event, be in charge of securing the community facility for the event," he said.

The chamber would also coordinate volunteers, and collect information about the events so it could improve future events, Logan said.

"We can't do this without staff. This is going to take people. It's going to take time and we just don't have it," he said.

The plan calls for splitting the profits from the tournaments, with the clubs receiving one-third and the chamber receiving two-thirds, Logan said. The chamber plans to hand out fliers with information about businesses in the city at the tournaments as well.

The city's insurance agency, one of the city's unions and the city attorney expressed concerns about the plan.

Tanya Crites, a Washington Cities Insurance Authority senior risk management representative, pointed out the authority can't insure the chamber.

"If the chamber is in control of the proposed tournaments, events, etc., it will need to provide at least $5 million (to) $10 million in liability limits and the coverage needs to name the city as an additional insured," she wrote.

Debbie Hendrick, from the local International Union of Operating Engineers, pointed out the present agreement is not open for the chamber to work on the parks.

"There are so many factors to consider. Any changes would have to be bargained," she wrote. "It is the opinion of this union that this change would not be cost effective and it would additionally cause a variety of long-term other problems."

City Attorney Katherine Kenison pointed out several issues with the proposal, starting with a notice on the chamber's website stating the chamber was considering closing because people weren't volunteering.

"The relationship the chamber is proposing is typically handled between two public entities in an interlocal cooperation agreement," she wrote. "In this situation, I suspect the chamber does not have anyone on staff trained specifically to provide the proposed services."

Kenison noted the chamber's proposal doesn't outline how decisions about the use of city parks and facilities would be handled.

"Cities are required to make their public facilities available to the public without preference, discrimination or favoritism," she wrote. "Many of these governmental decision making functions would be transferred to the chamber and taken out of the city's control."

She recommended the city create a parks and recreation director position.

Logan acknowledged the plan had some obstacles, but suggested the chamber could spend the money better, and creating the position would cost the city more money for less work.

"We don't believe the city will be able to hold the line on these costs as job requirements, benefits and supplies will be an increasing expenditure for years to come," he said.

Councilmember Charles Garcia supported the idea, suggesting if the chamber was going to move forward, it should start small.

"The other problem you're going to run into is we're like a one-legged man. We have one park," he said. "It's a beautiful park. We've done amazing things with it, but sharing time."

Councilmember Marc Spohr said he might agree the position is needed, but disagreed with the chamber running it.

"If we decide this position is needed, it should be within the city, as per the recommendation of the lawyer," he said. "I do agree 100 percent with what the lawyer said as far as lack of confidence and credibility. At least with me, it's not there yet."

If the city decided to hire a director, Spohr wanted to see a return on the investment, he said.

Garcia responded it could take years to see a return on the investment, since, in either case, the person is going to need to build the program.

"This is a long-term process," he said. "It's like anything. If you want to make money, you're going to have to put some money out. You're not just going to say, 'Hey I'm going to go win the lottery, but I'm not going to buy a ticket.' It doesn't work that way. You've got to spend money to make money."

The city could make money with what it can provide, though, Garcia said.

Councilmember Ken Caylor said the event coordinator idea is good, but it would probably need to be created as a city position.

"A couple of reasons, it's through the city and we are funding it. Two, is liability-wise. There is no reason why we can't work with the chamber to make these things happen that you want to happen," he said.

Caylor agreed with Garcia it would take time to see a profit.