It wasn’t a large mob, but it was one with cash and a purpose.
Some 20 people arrived at Salmon Arm Stationery early yesterday morning to buy items in support of buying local in general and businessman Ian Wickett in particular.
The shop-local campaign is the brainchild of a group of designers who were angered by a City of Salmon Arm decision to award a $25,000 website redesign project to a Kansas firm.
Kari Wilkinson says a group of designers emailed their “little rant” to several businesses when they heard that the website contract had gone south.
“Are you freakin kidding me?” was Wilkinson’s initial response to the news last week. “I said this is absolutely ridiculous. It had nothing to do with me, I wouldn’t have quoted on it.”
But other local designers might have, so Wilkinson conferred with a core group – Bernie Hucul, Louise Wallace, Warren Welter, Bob Beeson and Otto Pfannschmidt.
“We want to see their (city’s) list of under and over $25,000 expenditures,” continues Wilkinson, noting Mayor Nancy Cooper told her she would get the information for her. “If they’re (the figures) saying we’re wrong and they are spending lots locally, that’s OK, but we want to see where – a little more transparency.”
The event at Salmon Arm Stationery is the first in a series of “cash mobs” designed to remind residents, businesses and local governments of the importance of spending their dollars at home.
At yesterday’s cash mob, Wilkinson loaded up on art supplies she needs to create a mixed media piece for an upcoming Rotary auction.
Across the aisle and clutching a bag of till tapes, Hucul said research he had undertaken a couple of years ago revealed how much talent is available in town.
As well, Hucul says when he wins a bid, he provides excellent, hands-on after care and when he loses a bid to some other company, checks to see why and by how much.
“If you lose a bid to Vancouver for $100, what good is that?” he asks.
Pfannschmidt said doing business at home is just a matter of common sense.
“Why go so far away? The talent is here and lots of people are hurting,” he said. “What’s the next thing to go?”
Her own purchases in hand, resident and community supporter Patti Munro was enthusiastic about the cash mob.
“I am a huge believer of supporting community business, especially this place that gives back so much to the community that nobody even knows of,” she said.
With a new mayor and council, Welter sees an opportunity to examine and change the way the tendering process operates.
“My goal is to have a local panel of businesspeople to work with the city,” he said. “They should learn to mine the abilities of the local business community.”
Pleased with yesterday’s early-morning turn-out, Wilkinson said she was impressed last week that the mayor had already attended several one-on-one meetings with business owners over previous week to understand the problem.
Wilkinson says she was at Hucul Printing when Wickett shared his annoyance.
“He told us the city spent $11.70 in his store in 2011 and took seven months to pay,” she says. “He’s an example of another business who is not getting support from the city.”
But while angry when he shared the information with Wilkinson, Wickett says a city employee had purchased the item on a Saturday and the bill had likely just been overlooked.
And although he’s a little embarrassed to be first on the cash mob list, Wickett is all for the events.
“There’s two things – one is the idea of buying stuff out of town, something I felt strongly about for 30 years,” he says, noting it is an issue he addressed continually when he was on council in the early ’90s. “It’s complex because you may end up spending more money, but it’s a benefit to the community as a whole.”
Wickett says a quarter of every dollar spent in his store goes to wages and rent, so the money is used in the community, generates taxes and goes back to the city.
“A dollar spent in Kansas doesn’t come back in any form to the community,” he says, pointing out there are other local businesses where returns are even better. “If it’s a goods or services purchase, locally there’s an even higher return to the community.”
Wickett also views the Kansas contract as another form of concentration where a firm in U.S. that specializes in doing municipal websites is now sucking dollars out of communities all over North America.
“It’s a shortsighted view for municipalities,” he says. “If all the jobs are gonna be in Kansas there’s not going to be a municipality here.”
Wickett points out that the idea of the cash mob has been used in various forms and places.
“I don’t know whether it will be weekly or monthly, but it will generate enthusiasm,” he said Friday.
“It will be a good day for me, but also quite symbolic of the community wanting to support people who live in the community.”
Also in attendance at the cash mob, Cooper is supportive and enthusiastic about the possibilities.
“I think there are some real positives out of this whole website issue,” she said Monday. “People are really passionate, it’s really got people thinking about shop local. I hope they don’t stop at one.”
Cooper says she had received emails following the Kansas decision and the business owners with whom she has already spoken have made very clear they think the city could do much better.
“As we talked about going forward they did say it’s been an issue for years,” Cooper says. “They asked me if I could look into purchasing just to see if there’s some way if city could be more involved and have a better connection with the businesses.”
Cooper says she promised to see what can be done, noting she believes it’s always good to review policies.
“People made some really good points, people are energized,” she said, pointing out she would be spending her own money at the cash mob. “I’m looking carefully at this and I think the city could better connect – we can work together. I see so many positive things that can come out of this.”
Wilkinson meanwhile, says she’s hoping local businesses and residents will get on-board the buy-local campaign.
“We’re gonna plan other cash mobs, we are going to keep the process going until they change their damn process,” she said, pointing out she is pleased by Mayor Nancy Cooper’s response. “We’re doing this free of charge while we’re working on other people’s projects. Why can’t the business organizations in town do that?”