MINUTES – December 8th, 2015

The Coldwater Area Chamber of Commerce held its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, December 8th , 2015 at 7:35 a.m. at the Village Offices. 

The meeting was called to order by President Chris Buschur with the following trustees present: Bob Hibner, Andy Kremer, Angie Lefeld, Becca Wenning, and Barb Delzeith, as well as Eric Thomas. Absent were Kerri Lauber and Mark Reigelsperger.

The Treasurer’s Report was presented by Keith Selhost’s with an ending balance for the month of November in the regular checking account of $22,298.97. Keith did mention that there are currently some outstanding bills from the Hometown Christmas of roughly $1,000. Overall the Chamber will be forecasting to be under budget for the year. Discussion was also held by the Trustees in regards to the 2016 budget which will be made in March of next year after the annual meeting in February. Items reviewed were the chamber member brochure expense for 2016 and potential of rolling those funds into a different line item in the budget. Discussion also included the potential addition of the technology package for the website security that was mentioned at the November meeting. Keith reminded the Chamber that we will need to add the line into the 2016 budget for the Circus which will be coming into town.  The trustees also spoke about spending some money in newer Christmas lights to replace those that are of non-working order. In addition to the potential of budgeting to send three people to the Mercer County Leadership class instead of two. After the 2016 Budget Discussion Andy Kremer motioned to approve the Treasurer’s report; it was seconded by Bob Hibner.

The minutes from the November trustee meeting were approved, with a motion by Becca Wenning and seconded by Angie Lefeld.

Committee Reports

Bob Hibner reported information regarding the Annual Banquet and shared that Becca Wenning will be working on a Save the Date mailings. Discussion was held in regards to giving out the yearly membership date stickers at the event instead of mailing them to save on stamp costs.  The date of the event will be 2/17/2016.

Chris Buschur presented information on the marketing folders for new or potential members. Chris did receive some information from SOCCA to include in the folders and was shared with the trustees. The group shared in the idea of including the information also with the December meeting minutes and also in the annual membership letters.

Andy Kremer and Barb Delzeith reported that the Hometown Christmas event went very well and overall was lovely. Special thank-you goes out to Bob, Becca, and Keith for their help with the committee. Andy discussed the need to send thank you cards to the choir, band and Alexus Muhlenkamp for their performances at the event and Marg Kahlig for opening up Gross’ for the kids would stay warm. Special notes were also made to Holy Trinity for the use of their coffee pots to maintain hot water for the cocoa and Ben Wenning for his assistance in many areas. Andy also shared that attendance was down for this year which could be due to the weather being colder and roughly 40 canned goods were collected. Overall, the newer location of the music was much better and well received. The committee also reported that they went through 30 gallons of hot water for the hot cocoa and discussion will need to be had for next year’s event as maintaining hot water was a struggle and potentially took away from the Bakery whom was also handing cocoa out. Discussion was also held in regards to the sponsorship of the Santa House, all comments were taken into consideration and the sponsorship among other sponsorships will be reviewed with next year’s events.

Old Business

Chris presented in regards to the website and how the chamber would like to proceed with the website and overall how much of a presence does the chamber wish to have on the web? After much discussion it was decided to table this item and have the membership provide feedback on a few questions for the next meeting. Chamber members are ask to answer the below three questions and provide their answers back to Chris by the January meeting:

What would you like to see in the chamber website?

What are your expectations of the chamber website?

How often do to access the information and what items do you access?

New Business

Chris presented a friendly reminder in regards the rights and responsibilities of all Chamber Trustees and reviewed the Chamber By-Laws with those in attendance. Much discussion was had and the Board deemed that a gentle reminder would be sent to those trustees not in attendance as well.

Coldwater Area Chamber of Commerce By-Laws (revised 2-11)- Article V. Board of Trustees- Section 5 states: “Absence of a Trustee from three consecutive regular meetings, without an excuse deemed valid as so recorded by the Board, shall be construed as a resignation. The Board shall then appoint a member to complete the term of the resigning Trustee.”

Chris also reviewed that the Board will need to be thinking of replacements for Beth as Vice-President as well as whom to bring into the outgoing trustee spots held by Barb and Chris. Any nominations are to be brought to the January meeting for review.

Meeting was adjourned with a motion from Chris Buschur, seconded by Barb Delzeith.

Announcements:

Save the Date: Chamber Annual Banquet February 17th, 2016

The Coldwater Chamber of Commerce is on Facebook!  Like our page to keep up-to-date on community events and new happenings. We can be found on the Chamber’s website or go to: www.facebook.com/coldwaterchamber

THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE ON January 12th, 2016 AT THE VILLAGE OFFICE AT 7:30AM

ALSO-REMEMBER TO VISIT THE CHAMBER’S WEBSITE AT WWW.COLDWATERCHAMBEROFCOMMERCE.COM

TO CHECK OUT UPCOMING EVENTS AT AREA BUSINESSES

Our mission: “To enhance the growth and prosperity of the community through the support and promotion of our members.”