FEBRUARY 2005 MINUTES

Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce

Minutes of February 3, 2005 meeting – held at the Mt. Airy Fire Hall

Meeting began 8:00 am

Meet Someone New

Introductions 8:05 – 8:20

Tim Barkley – Barkley Law

Kerry Turner – Frederick News-Post

Carol Cahall – Main Event

Keir Knight – Plain English

Ellie Bonde – Blossom & Basket / Secret Stork

Archie Rogers – Rogers Engraving

Carol Blackburn – Gazette

Terry Perry – Gazette

Tom Neff – Main Street Computer Consultants

Sudha Kaistha -- SK Printing

Kaye Kolb - Rohrbough charter Service

Bob Brill– Morgan Stanley

Audrey Stapf – Retired woodworking

Jim Gill – JMG Enterprises

Karen Skidmore – Personal Training

Dr. Andrew Williamson – Chiropractic First

Joyce Picard-Busse – Entrepreneur’s Source

Marlene Titus – Carroll Community College – Miller Resource Center

Lisa Walsh – Crivella Team Realtors

Jim Necker - Bladen Litho

Aaron Kahn - Eclipse Security

Jim Bayer – Farmers and Mechanics bank

Peter Helt – Town Council

Tom Watkins – Watkins Limousines

Bob Cage – Brahma Technologies

Kevin O’Neil – Remax

Tim Slane – Tim’s Lawn & Landscape

Dennis Regulinski – Mid-Atlantic Accounting

Howard LaRoux – Mt Airy Dent Repair

Minutes accepted as posted

Committee Reports

Treasurer: 2005 budget has been proposed. Review today – will be voted on next meeting. If you have any concerns, questions, or you think something was omitted, please let Denny know.

Business card exchange – next one Feb 24 at 4pm Stauffer Funeral Home. Everyone is invited to bring business literature to set out on tables. Please bring at least one guest each who is not a member of the chamber currently.

Membership: 31 new members joined in January!! Over 140 members currently. Goal is 200 members by the end of the year. The challenge will be to have membership retention next year,

Government Relations: Peter Helt has offered to head this committee. Budget cycle in town is starting. Solving road and water problems are top of the agenda. The town relies heavily on the businesses for tax revenue, so they’re working hard to help.

Carroll Co Chamber – Member Luncheon 2/10 – speaker to talk about 2006 budget for CC. Networking breakfast 2/22. Small business awards 3/10. Business Fair coming March 19 at the mall in Westminster. Disney Keys to excellence training $450 full day. Members of Mt Airy chamber can attend any Carroll Co chamber events because we are a member. Leadership Carroll is a good program.

Ambassadors: Kerry and Terry are helping Ellie pass out packets. Ellie is proposing that we go to plastic bags with the chamber logo on the outside. They will be ready by the business fair. It has also been suggested that they be given out as well to the new residents of the Mt Airy community. The town used to have a welcome wagon. This is a brand new idea, and it will be looked at in more detail to find out the best way to do it. Possibly the phone books will be a good use for this - they are being overprinted.

Professional Development: Needs a chair. If you know someone who has some contacts within the business community.

Advertising/Marketing: Keir put out some example ads. The website had a record 460 hits in the month of January. Over 5000 hits since the spring of ’03. Please update your profiles on the page. Keir is looking to develop a thank-you to volunteers for the phone book – maybe a shirt or a hat. He will come to the next meeting with more information. An idea to send a postcard to all in 21771 to invite people to the business fair. It is recommended that the business fair committee look into this idea.

Business Fair – Archie has sent out applications for the business fair to all Chamber members. 2 silver sponsors, platinum sponsor, and 2 gold sponsors. Date has been changed to May 7. Archie and Keir will work on the advertising. The question was raised as to why you can’t sell anything at the fair? The reasoning is that it is a trade show for display. No sales at the tables, but you can set appointments for later with potential clients. Door prizes $25 or more in value, are needed.

Business Directory: Deadline is 2/25. Ads have been running in the Gazette and Messenger. The signs at the ends of town now announce it. If anyone needs business cards to hand out, see Keir.

Dues Survey: It is a thought that the dues need to be increased, but still offering a discount at the membership drives. $95 / $75 for small businesses, $135 / $115 for businesses with 10 or more full time employees. Please fill out your comments and return to Tim ( or fax to his office). Please jot down the benefit that the chamber has been to you, or what you expect it to do for you. The executive committee will review at theit next meeting.

Planning meeting recap:

Advertising and Marketing: $2000 for the Gazette and the Messenger $1500 for the Frederick News-Post and Carroll Co Times. $500 extra is set aside for special projects.

Ambassadors – Plastic bags

Charitable giving – It is proposed that we will take the money we have for charitable giving that will go to something other than scholarships – it is proposed to support the local schools specifically in their technology.

Administrative Assistant – it was discussed that we will try to hire an Admin Assistant part time.

Howard moved, Ellie seconded a donation to the Fire Company of $240 to cover the use of the room for the year. Motion passed. Dennis recommended we present the check at the annual Fireman’s banquet.

9:10 meeting adjourned.