Dixon council OKs funding contracts totaling $375K to aid 2 economic development nonprofits

DIXON – The Dixon City Council has approved contracts that allocate funds to Discover Dixon and the Lee County Industrial Development Association.

Both contracts, approved April 21, provide a specific amount of annual funding – $325,000 for Discover Dixon and $50,000 for LCIDA – in exchange for services that include economic development, event planning and tourism marketing. Their approval was tabled at the April 7 council meeting because the council wanted representatives from the organizations to explain what the funds would be used for before casting a vote.

[ Dixon council holds off on approving funding contracts for two nonprofit organizations ]

The contract with Discover Dixon is a renewal of a one-year agreement previously approved at the council’s May 15, 2023, meeting. The contract with LCIDA is new and will automatically renew each year unless either party provides a written notice of termination.

These partnerships “really multiply what our team can do,” Dixon City Manager Danny Langloss said.

In them, they detail what services the organization will provide for the city. For Discover Dixon’s, it outlines marketing plans, community events and running committees, such as the Preservation and Beautification Committee. In LCIDA’s, it would agree to become a member on the Dixon city manager’s economic development team, promote development in Dixon and assist the city in securing federal or state grants for development projects.

“I think it’s really a winning partnership,” LCIDA Executive Director Tom Demmer said, “to have people like the city of Dixon, Discover Dixon and Lee County Industrial Development coming together to try to strategize about what kinds of things you want to accomplish in the years to come, as well as building upon the current progress that we’re seeing unfold.

“Dixon is very active. Every single day, we’re seeing continued progress in commercial, retail, industrial, housing – all sorts of projects."

Some major sites include the Gateway project, the commercial development site on North Galena Avenue near Interstate 88; the city’s purchase of a 65-acre property behind Walmart on North Galena Avenue to be developed; the Lee County Business Park on the other side of Interstate 88 consisting of 236 acres where, most recently, Bonnell Industries built a new facility; and a more than 200-acre property known as Dutch Road Corner along Bloody Gulch Road behind the Road Ranger gas station on Route 26.

Most of those properties are located in either the Fargo Creek or Industrial Park tax increment financing districts. A TIF district is an economic development tool that allows municipalities to set aside property tax revenue created by any new property value in the district’s boundaries and use it to fund economic development agreements, infrastructure improvements and other initiatives.

On Discover Dixon’s side of things, Executive Director Amanda Wike said the organization placed a major focus on increasing tourism in 2024 and, with the help of city and grant funds, was able to launch several marketing strategies and ad campaigns.

“What we have here in Discover Dixon is the gold standard, and it’s hard to do. It took a lot of years to accomplish, because there’s silos and territorialism to be able to bring all these different organizations together, but the synergy and the way they work with our team is just absolutely phenomenal,” Langloss said.

Wike said those efforts resulted in 108,500 overnight visits to Dixon in 2024, which is a 3.3% increase from 2023 based on data from Placer.ai. The potential spend on those visits is about $19.6 million, which is about $175 a night on lodging, dining and anything else visitors might do in a night, Wike said.

In 2024, the group had 99 events, and 62 of those were open to the public. Again, using data from Placer.ai, every event except for one – Ultimate Tailgate – increased in attendance, Wike said.

She noted that Placer only tracks adults, so the actual number of attendees may be higher.