Chamber of Commerce February Board Meeting Minutes

February 3, 2017

Attendees: Josh Dahlenburg, Steve Schenewerk, Nancy Beiter, Sandy Lipphardt, Valynn Currie, Sherri Standley, Michelle Waggoner, Kevin Miller, Wayne Ellsworth, Mandy Johnson, Mike Winters, Andrew Fish, Morgan Aten, Mike Freed.

Meeting called to order at 735am

Prior meeting approval-no minutes were provided at this time, as the last meeting was in November, Mandy will provide them at next meeting in March.

Treasurer Report- after paying Rent, corporate division, website fees the checking balance is $27,183.71; Payment of Room Tax for the last quarter of 2016 was received January 5, 2017 $5,041.17 and $600.00 from the city; 2017 Dues notices have been sent out. 

Chamber News Letter- Sandra Thorn sent out Chamber News letters on 01/27/17, these will be going quarterly at a minimum.  If you have things you want to put in them, they can go monthly, contact Sandra.

Economic Development- Still no report provided by RDI; RDI provided goals which include •Sign Clutter •Business Summit •City Beautification i.e., Cheetah.  Banners are scheduled to come down and changed by March 1^st. Next Economic development meeting is February 8^th @ noon at City Hall.

Tourism- Very quiet this time of year

Old Business- Mike Winter mentioned 1^st Citizens banquet coming up February 27 @ 6pm at the WCC.  Concerns about the lack of advertisement, the website is difficult to get to, discussed our individual involvement in helping spread the word, all businesses took posters to put in businesses today.  Safari is very excited to partner with us at 1^st Citizens banquet.  Mike also discussed that the Safari would also like to partner with the Chamber to revamp Khayam.  Mandy will reach out to Edie young to find a contact at ODOT, Mike Winters will talk to Tom Pappas about his continued participation to continue this project.

Nancy is still working with the Archeological people to move forward on planting the trees and shrubs that were generously donated to the City Boat Ramp and Park in 2016 by Wintergreen Nursery.  Nancy stated that the lowest bid received to have the survey completed was $3000.

New Business- Josh mentioned the questions regarding the taped up paper sign attached to the welcome to Winston sign, it has been taken down; Continued discussion on moving the VIC to the Elephants walk, the space available is comparable to what the Chamber currently pays in rent with no more visibility.  Chamber agreed to put our name on a list for a front facing space at the Elephants walk for later down the road, so this has been put on hold.  Josh brought back the idea of changing the general meeting location to the Community Baptist Church for better seating and hearing.  Andrew made the motion, Nancy 2^nd motion-all in favor.  Beginning in March 2017 all general meetings will be held at Community Baptist Church, with the exception of Wintergreen Nursery during summer months.  Nancy made a motion for monetary requirements since the Chamber will provide food, this discussion has been tabled until the next board Meeting in March.

Sandy let us know that WASP is recreating ICE to raise more funds for the restroom project, she asked the Chamber for a donation of $500 to start the fundraising project; Steve made the motion to make the donation to WASP and Josh 2^nd all approved.  The fundraiser will be at the Safari in May.

Michelle asked if there was going to be a budget committee, we discussed and Michelle made motion to put together a purposed budget and email to board for approval, Morgan 2^nd all approved.

Andrew Fish- Andrew has been working with Sandra on the newsletter, Sandra was not able to make the meeting, so Andrew provided presentation with ideas to promote chamber and increase participation.  Some ideas were:

free trial - that was voted NO, dues are already low; Survey- everyone like this idea; referrals- good idea but initiated negative discussion as to how to present to others.  Mandy made mention that as much as she like the presentation, she mentioned postponing further discussion until Sandra was available, since Sandra was a huge part of this presentation.  Mandy stated that these are the same conversations that take place on a regular basis but we have no one that moves the idea forward.  She would like to see partnerships with other members to take on a few businesses a month to touch bases with our local businesses similar to the greeters and utilize some of the items that Sandra and her committee have put together to build the Chamber. 

Business of the Month- put on hold until Chamber can promote and celebrate this accomplishment for the business.

Up Coming Events – April 7^th South River will be hosting a Community Conversation event 530pm-730pm; all are welcome, this will be to educate individuals about the use, misuse, storage and consumption of Opiates

Meeting adjourned 845am