City Pulls $476k Chamber Contract from Tuesday’s Agenda

SAN ANGELO, TX — In the wake of the sudden firing of San Angelo Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Steve Ahlenius, Mayor Tom Thompson said Friday morning he is pulling the agenda item that would have funded the Chamber’s City of San Angelo Development Corporation contract.

The $476,000 contract, paid from the half-cent sales tax economic development fund, had been placed on the consent agenda for the Sept. 1 regular City Council meeting. Funding under the current contract expires Sept. 30.

City staff had not expected opposition. The item had already been vetted by the COSA-DC board of directors and was therefore scheduled for routine passage on the consent agenda.

Thompson said Thursday’s move by the Chamber board to fire Ahlenius placed too many questions on the table about the Chamber’s role going forward into fiscal year 2027. He said the council will want to address those concerns and that now is a good time to table the funding until more information, and a cohesive plan, is presented without Ahlenius.

Questions remain about how the city, which provides a lion’s share of the Chamber’s funding for economic development, business recruitment and tourism marketing, will move forward. Former Mayor Brenda Gunter’s long-stated goal was to strip the Chamber of those contracts and move economic development and Destination Marketing Organization programs under COSA-DC, which is controlled by the city manager and council.

Thompson was guarded when asked about that possibility. He left the question open, noting he is only one of seven votes on the council.

The proposed fiscal year 2027 agreement is essentially a copy of last year’s contract, which at that time Ahlenius negotiated upward from $262,500. It listed these performance metrics for the Chamber for the next fiscal year:

• Business recruitment leads generated: 20  
• Business retention and expansion visits conducted: 50  
• San Angelo Regional Manufacturers Alliance (SARMA) meetings: 4  
• Focus on Business events: 4  
• Capital investment secured (retention and recruitment): $25 million  
• Jobs created: 90  
• Workforce coordination meetings: 8  
• Startup and innovation engagements: 10  
• Trade missions and site-selector engagements: 3  
• Quarterly economic reviews published: 4  
• Comprehensive annual economic impact report: 1  
• Goodfellow AFB advocacy and MAC coordination: 6  
• Prospect facilitation: 10  

SARMA is a Chamber program that supports San Angelo-area manufacturers, fabricators, industrial services, energy companies and agribusiness. It focuses on industry networking, workforce training, industrial growth and recruitment.

The Chamber board announced Thursday that Ahlenius’ tenure ended effective Aug. 27. Jeremy Bartz, vice president of destination marketing, was named acting president and CEO during the transition.

The current contract’s expiration at the end of September leaves a short window for the city and the Chamber to decide how economic-development services will be handled after Sept. 30.