Community Alliance for Main Street, in plain words

What this is

Community Alliance for Main Street, called CAMS, is a nonprofit in Heber City. It plants flowers and planters on Main Street, runs events like Old Fashioned Christmas and Halloween Fest, and helps downtown businesses.

A city paying a nonprofit to do downtown work is normal. Utah has a state Main Street Program that works this way, and CAMS is part of it. This story is about how this one deal was set up and checked.

The deal

Heber City pays CAMS $39,900 a year. The contract runs Jan. 1, 2026 through Dec. 31, 2028 and renews each year on its own. It was not put out for bids. It was a "sole source" contract.

The City also covers police at CAMS events, insurance, marketing help, sound contracts and storage space. CAMS keeps its event sponsorship money, except Heber Market on Main sponsorships, which it splits 50/50 with the City.

The City Council approved the deal 5-0 on Jan. 20, 2026. After a complaint to the Utah State Auditor, the City posted it again as a sole-source contract and the Council ratified it on April 21, 2026.

One person on both sides

Heber City Manager Matt Brower sits on CAMS's board. He wrote the staff report recommending the contract, and he is the only person who signed it for the City.

The contract's own words say the Mayor signs and the City Recorder attests. Neither signature is on the page. On the state's record, Brower's CAMS director address is Heber City Hall.

What the records show

Three totals for one year. CAMS's own papers give three different 2024 totals: $193,966 on its federal tax form, $191,115 on a second federal schedule, and about $387,933 on its own balance sheet.

One big line. In 2024, $347,465.54 went to "Main Street Beautification," about 90% of that year's budget. No public list shows what it paid for. The next year that line fell about 99%.

Who files the taxes. CAMS's federal tax form is filed under Treasurer Jeff Bradshaw's name, from his own CPA firm's office.

State standing. When checked, the state listed CAMS as "Active, but Delinquent" after it missed a June 30, 2026 renewal deadline. This may have changed.

Three board lists. The state filing, the City's staff reports and CAMS's own website each name a different set of board members.

Seven years, not 22. CAMS says it has worked for 22 years. The first company was filed in 2005 and dissolved by the state in 2006. Today's company was filed on June 3, 2019.

What isn't known yet

What the $347,465.54 paid for. Which 2024 total is right. Whether CAMS's board approved the City contract under its own bylaws' rule for deals that involve a board member. Whether CAMS's "Policy Influence" work went on after it became a 501(c)(3) charity on Nov. 22, 2024.

Nothing in the records says CAMS's events or planters failed. The full case file grades the oversight around this deal, not the flowers.