Highlights of the March 2013 Chamber Minutes

from President, Carmen McGregor

Business Arising

Karen Debergh gave a summary of the ChamberMaster program. The Executive committee was looking at two different objectives for the office; 1) to streamline some procedures the Office Manager does and 2) find other sources of revenue. Karen started to investigate different data programs and client management programs. Karen called the Ontario Chamber of Commerce for suggestions; they recommended ChamberMaster as it is specifically geared to Chambers of Commerce. Karen briefly discussed some of the benefits of the program. The possible revenue, if 10% of the membership took part in the marketing aspect of the program would be approximately $8,000. The cost of the program is $3,000 per year. There is no contract to sign and the fees are guaranteed to stay the same for 3 years. There is a 100% money back guarantee; however ChamberMaster asks that we use it for 6 months before we cancel. We would have to start promoting the program right away.
Lottery tickets and money need to be returned to the Chamber office by Monday. The board discussed reducing the cost to $5.00 for the next draw so that we might sell more tickets.

President’s Report

Mike reported on the minutes of the Executive meeting (included in package). There was a discussion regarding Matt’s cash flow report; we will be in the overdraft at the end of year, which was predicted due to the sign renovation. The budgets for 2013 are in and are pretty much the same as last year. The committee discussed attendance at meetings. The board agreed the nominations committee should look into this in the by-laws for the AGM. The Office Manager’s report was included in the board packages.
Karen Debergh discussed the Strategic Planning Session. Brad Borland first brought up the idea of getting the committees together to set some long-term/short-term goals and to work on a new vision/mission statement. An email went out to Brad to see if he would like to head this up. Karen was going to talk to Tom McCarthy about being a moderator; but she needed a date first. It was also discussed for different events or programs the Chamber has; that a procedural binder be created. This way incoming boards will have an idea of what is going on. The board thought Tina could help with this. Carmen and Tina will discuss possible days for the meeting and send out an email.

Treasurer’s Report

Carmen McGregor discussed the treasurer’s report (included in package). Matt included a very detailed report. The cash flow report doesn’t include any revenues from special events. The budgets look realistic for this year. The Chamber will be going into the overdraft at the end of the year, so we will need the revenues from Business Excellence, Golf and the Lottery tickets. We will also have revenue from First Data coming in each month. It was also discussed that there is a potential for revenue on the back of the sign on Base Line. Ron has talked to WAMBO as they are on the sign currently. If they don’t want it, we could sell spaces to others who would like advertising space.

Committee Reports

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  • Business Excellence/Special Events Committee: Carmen reported on the Business Excellence event. We only need one more award sponsor (Volunteer of the Year) and Carmen will be contacting United Way to see if they would sponsor the award. The clocks have been ordered and have a space for a picture on the side. The committee will be looking at getting sponsors for the favours instead of a door prize this year. The favours will be boxes of chocolates with the sponsor logos on them.
    Gloria reported on the Special events. All of the Business after Hours is booked except for November. The Membership Fair will be held at the CBD. The committee discussed doing an expanded Business after Hours in December with a toy drive. It will be the first Thursday in December.
  • Golf Committee: Barb Noorenberghe reported on the Golf Tournament. The date is set for May 24th. There will be an early bird fee this year. With the $300 sponsorship you get a golf entry as a bonus incentive. Sponsorship letters have been mailed out.

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New Business

Letter to the Editor – Karen discussed the Letter to the Editor in the Courier Press from a newcomer to Wallaceburg. When the newcomer went to research information on Wallaceburg they said the site they visited had limited information and was outdated. Karen thought that someone should contact her to welcome her to Wallaceburg and to see what site she visited and let her know about the Chamber site. Carmen volunteered to contact her.
Carmen also talked to Dave Elliott regarding the Wallaceburg.ca site in regards to having it updated. Rob Armstrong was going to get in touch with Carmen.

Ontario Chamber of Commerce Conference – Karen discussed the upcoming OCC Conference being held in Chatham-Kent. The executive discussed it and thought the Chamber could pay for one person to attend the event. The cost is $460. (+HST) for the convention and $59. (+HST) for the opening night social. The committee thought Carmen should attend on behalf of the Chamber; if she would like to go.

Next board meeting – April 10, 2013 – 4:00 PM – Chamber office