JULY 2005 MINUTES
July Minutes

Chamber Meeting Minutes 7/7/05

Meet Someone New

Meeting began: 8:07 am

Introductions:

Tim Barkley – Barkley Law Office

Denny Ahalt – New Windsor State Bank

Audrey Stapf - Retired

Kerry Turner – Frederick News-Post

Paula Wilhelm – Lorien / Raymond Letterheads

Archie Rogers – Rogers Engraving

Ellie Bonde – Blossom & Basket / Secret Stork

Keir Knight – Plain English Writing & Design

Sam Zee - Fastmail

Kevin O’Neill - Kevin & Co Remax

Bob Cage – Brahma Technologies

Tim Slane – Tim’s Lawn & Landscape

Danielle Bradley – Mt Airy Dent

Peter Holt – Town Council

Michael Zimmer - Attorney

Brendan Madden – All Around Plumbing

Ray Miller – Kevin & Co Remax

Harry Johnson - Aflac

Aaron Kahn – Eclipse Security

Bob Brill – Morgan Stanley

Ramzy Nassar - Costco

Kaye Kolb – Rohrbaugh’s Charter

Carol Blackburn - Gazette

Keysha Kelly – Paradise Title

Tom Neff - MSCC

Marlene Titus – Carroll Community College

Joyce Picard-Busse – Entrepreneur’s Source

Terri Perry – Gazette

Minutes

Accepted as posted

Finance/Treasurer

Revenue to date $18869 for year. Expenses $12016.58. Active balance of $19199.96.

A finance committee is going to be formed prior to the next executive committee meeting. See Denny if you are interested.

Business Card Exchanges.

Two successful card exchanges last month. Next card exchange will be Aug 18 at Brick Ridge Restaurant from 4-7pm. Planning meeting for Gala will be on July 14.

Membership:

Two new members: Dave’s Lock and Key and Wood Street, Inc. Total of 281 members currently.

Government Relations:

Coming up – Government is going to try to put in another crosswalk across Main Street between Ben Gue and Main Event. Town Hall is moving to Van Sant building.

They are working on a proposal to allocate water to new businesses vs. new residential areas.

Carroll Co Chamber:

Member luncheon July 14. Connections after hours 7/19. Any Mt Airy Chamber member can attend Carroll Co Chamber functions.

Their chamber is working on reevaluating what they do – their staff is feeling at capacity. The Department of Transportation has proposed a bypass on 140. This would wipe out businesses and also make access to businesses more difficult, so the chamber is taking the position against the bypass.

Ambassadors Committee

Last few of the welcome packets are being passed out. New items of information will be collected in the beginning of August with the intent to have new packets ready for the next new member orientation at the September meeting.

Professional Development

Professional Development Series – It has been discussed for a few months, the idea of having Carroll Community College put on a professional development seminar series. The Executive Committee is proposing a series of 5 two-hour sessions. Marlene is looking to create a committee to help set up the seminars. The instructors for the seminars will be with Carroll Community College.

Last month, Marlene put out a survey, and the responses were in favor of having seminars on: guerilla marketing, general business planning, power point, financial planning, and business law.

The cost is $701 (to the Chamber). It will be up to the professional development committee to find a location, and set dates and times. It will be up to the chamber to decide whether attendees will be charged a fee or not.

The proposal is for the Chamber to approve the $701 to go to the Professional Development series to Carroll Community College for the above mentioned courses. Other decisions, such as location, what to charge attendees, and food will be up to the professional development committee. Tom Neff moved, Bob Cage seconded.

Discussion - Carol Blackburn brought up that we should have some kind of cost to recoup the $701. Keir Knight feels that this should be free as a service to members. Joyce Picard-Bussee brought up the idea of having a business sponsor the individual seminars.

Motion passes.

Advertising & Marketing

An ad ran for the business card exchanges in the 4 area papers. An ad will also run in the Frederick News-Post on July 24^th. There was an ad in the Gazette Community guide on the inside front. The Lions Carnival book had an ad on the inside back.

The website is receiving 550-600 hits per month. It is currently up to date. The profiles are looking good – send yours to Keir if you haven’t updated yours.

If you are having e-mail issues with the chamber group e-mail, see Keir. He doesn’t always know when people are not receiving the e-mails. Keir will bring a list of e-mail addresses that are being bounced back to the next meeting.

In the works – there is a need to have a search function on the website. Keir is going to either ask for a volunteer or for compensation due to the fact that it is a time consuming process to install a search function. He will have a better idea at the next meeting.

The next Executive Committee meeting is Friday July 29^th at 1pm.

Finance Committee

At the next executive committee meeting, Denny will bring a list of proposed finance committee members. Tim will be presenting a community investment policy proposal to help narrow the focus of where Chamber monies are donated. If you are interested, see Denny Ahalt or Tim Barkley.

Business Fair

Final profit is $2300 – donations will be determined. Next year’s business fair will be April 29^th , 2006. The contract has been signed. Archie will be making recommendations at the next executive meeting regarding next year’s fair.

Phone Book

Everyone in this room should have received an e-mail from Keir regarding an update on the phone book. The project took much longer than expected. Keir is passing a proof of the phone book. It is currently at the printer, and are waiting now to receive the delivery of the paper. It will take an additional 2 weeks to print and bind, then will be sent out to the post office. Thank you so much for your patience. Thanks again so much for all members of the chamber who volunteered their time for this project. Of the 281 members of the chamber, at least 135 were brought in by the phone book. When you receive your phone book, let Keir know if you believe there are any phone #s missing that should be put in the next phone book.

Collateral Package – The executive committee is working on the idea of a package with chamber information in it to give out to important visitors or at chamber functions. If you have ideas or want to be part of the production process, let Tim or Keir know.

The Planning Meeting will be on Sept 9 11am – 4pm at the Lorien of Mt Airy. If you have suggestions for the chamber next year, see Tim.

The Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company is putting on a golf tournament on September 9. Keir Knight moves that the Chamber spend $100 to sponsor a hole. Carol Blackburn seconded. Motion passes.

Meeting adjourned at 9:02am.