MANCHESTER AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
BOARD MEETING
January 27, 2004
• 12:07 p.m. Called to order by President Patricia
Pinegar
•
Present:
Toney, Pinegar, Powell, Parsley,
Hobbs, Ashburn, Williams, Rogers and Jackson
• Absent: Honeycutt,
Poff, Dotson, Roeder, Rose, Haggard Woodard
Staff: Hellums, McEacharn and Taylor
Liaisons: Bowling,
Mayor Brown, Holt,
At this time President Pinegar wanted to
take the time to welcome one of our
newest members Director Don Rogers, and
say that Director Wolfgang Roeder
had a prior appointment and was very
sorry that he could not make this first
meeting. President Pinegar also welcomed Mayor Brown from the great
City of Manchester and Coolidge Holt our
liaison from Motlow.
Ø
Financials and minutes of the October and November meeting were
reviewed. Director Parsley motioned to
accept, Director Toney seconded; motion carries.
A.
Government Affairs – Director Jackson nothing to report. Executive Director Hellums reported that
Coffee County Leadership is going well, and are asking area Cities, Chambers
and Industrial Boards to sponsor a day on the hill, it will be a breakfast,
March 17, 2004. Hellums also said that Arnold Community
Council is having a promotion ceremony for Col. Eichhorn to General a retired 3
Star General will preside over the ceremony, Feb 6, you can get information or
RSVP to Vicky. Executive Director
Hellums invited everyone that could attend to a new 3 Star program on February
4, in Nashville. President Pinegar
stated that anyone that could attend should.
B.
Executive Committee –President Pinegar said that in the executive
committee one of the discussions was to get Executive Director Hellums
evaluation done soon. Also discussed
some bylaw clarifications, and computer equipment needs for the Chamber,
Hellums will be working with Mike Toney and Mark Williams on getting some bids
for the equipment. President Pinegar
stated that the budget work is in process.
C.
Membership Service – Nothing to report today.
D.
Ambassador Program: Director Ashburn reported that there will be an
Ambassador retreat this afternoon and that Susie had been working real hard on
Ambassadors this year we should have about 16 Ambassadors. Tonight they will elect officers, President
and Vice President. Also Director
Ashburn said that Janet Nettles, McEacharn and Hellums had gone to a meeting in
Franklin County concerning Ambassadors, and got a lot of good ideas.
1.
Special Events: Director Toney asked for information concerning the seminar coming
up, Executive Director Hellums reported
that our next membership meeting will be February 2, the speaker will be Lynne
Farrar with CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocate. February 4, will be the streamlined sales and use tax. President Pinegar commented that the Workers
Comp seminar hosted by United Regional Medical Center went very well. Lynn Taylor stated that we received $540.00
from URMC as the proceeds from the seminar.
Susie McEacharn reported that hopefully we will be having a ribbon
cutting for Family Health Care this week.
President Pinegar asked if we have anything from the membership
directory, Hellums said she had talked to Aaron Miller last week and he still
does not have a proof ready yet. Susie
McEacharn reported that April 5th will be our Business Expo/Career Fair;
we hope to call it Coffee County Business Expo and be able to draw industries
from Tullahoma. McEacharn said that the
banquet had gone well. The next event
will be May 10th which will be the Industry Appreciation Luncheon,
followed on Friday the 14th by the Industry Appreciation Golf
Tournament. Bonnaroo will be June 11th
through the 13th, then comes Old Timers Day on August 21st. Director Toney said that the Chamber has
agreed to do the Beauty Pageant and Hellums will be our point. He also stated that the police department is
in charge of the parade, Christine Archer is in charge of the 5-K, the
entertainment is a joint effort of WMSR and Manchester times, arts and crafts
will be Jane Trail with help from Manchester Arts. Rotary, Lions Club and Kiwanis will be over the food booths. The BBQ is Fantasy with the kid’s festival
being at the Rec. Ctr. The booths will
be concentrated along the greenway. The
name will remain Old Timers Day. There
were new things added including a fireworks display to help keep folks out
longer and spending more time buying and enjoying Manchester. David Pennington with the Tourism Commission
will be willing to fund the fireworks.
Mayor Brown reported that at last nights meeting point people were
recognized for each event, and that these people would be responsible for
making all the decisions concerning their event, including fund raising, rules
and charges. Mike Toney stated that we
needed to appoint a committee for the beauty pageant. Hellums is our point person, and will attend the meetings. Director Ashburn asked if we could go back
to Bonnaroo for a moment. Ashburn
stated that one day when she was by the Chamber Shaw Jared asked about maybe
the Chamber and KCCB going together and having an ice cream booth at Bonnaroo,
and wanted to know if this was something the Board would be interested in
doing. The money would be split 50/50
between the two. Executive Director
Hellums had contacted Jennifer Anderson with Bonnaroo and asked about a booth
for the Chamber this year and asked about the postcards. Hellums has called Totalgraphics and priced
cards 5000 would be $475 10,000 $630.00. President Pinegar asked if we had
assigned a Bonnaroo committee yet, no we have not. President Pinegar stated at this time we needed to go back to the
next event which is the Business Expo/Career Fair, that we needed to get our
ideas together concerning this event first.
Director Hobbs stated that if we market this as a Coffee County Business
Expo we will bring more vendors and use this event to educate the public that
we do have businesses here in Coffee County and Manchester to service there
needs without having to go to surrounding areas. Also, Hobbs stated that we let the community know that if they
spend their money at home it helps relieve some of the property tax
burdens. President Pinegar said she
wants all of us to think what we want the Business Expo/Career Fair to be and
how we can make it successful.
Executive Director Hellums said she had been working with Brenda Brown
concerning the Career Fair, it has been decided that after school from 4:00 pm
to 8:00 pm would be right for the students.
Also, to give the students a free ticket, and then hopefully the parents
would come and buy their tickets.
Director Hobbs said that we could have a high school student work with
each booth to see what the businesses actually had to offer. President wants to get with the schools and
get the students involved with the set-up all the way through the process. Lynn Taylor suggested that maybe we could
use the Youth Leadership group to help.
President Pinegar suggested that we also use Kids Links through the
school system. Director Hobbs suggested
that we have a Business to Business room, where business people could meet. Executive Director Hellums also asked if
there were any other Directors that would like to be on the committee. It now consists of Susie McEacharn, Director
Hobbs and President Pinegar.
E.
Executive
Directors Report: Executive
Director Hellums stated that the past months have been very busy. The Ambassador meeting with Franklin County
was very informative. Hellums served on
a sub-committee for the Industrial Board concerning Work Ethics that was
presented at the High School. The
presentation was about WHY it was important to work and to be on time, there
was a question and answer session that the students participated in that was
very good. Executive Director Hellums
stated that she looked forward to this year and working with the Board.
Unfinished
Business – President Pinegar wants
a deadline on the Directory from Freelancealchemy. Building improvement the Chamber has been utilizing the Trustee
program to paint, do maintenance and housekeeping. President Pinegar asked for ideas for renovation, so we could be
making improvements to the appearance, since we are the front door to
Manchester. Other unfinished business,
finding a way for members or new members to use our website to become members
and to be able to accept credit cards, for easier payment. Director Toney stated that there might be
folks that could fill out applications online then we could bill them or they
might after reading our newsletter want to become members. President Pinegar requested that we look into
being able to accept credit cards.
v New Business: Equipment upgrade, tabled. May 10th for Industry
Appreciation luncheon. President
Pinegar suggested that we poll the industry to see if they would prefer a
breakfast as opposed to a luncheon.
President Pinegar also stated that she wanted to participate in the
Industry Appreciation Committee. Executive Director Hellums stated that
Leadership is going to the Capitol March 17th and are asking that
the Industrial Boards and the Chambers have a luncheon; Director Hobbs said
that Judd Matheny would like to have a brunch instead. President Pinegar asked about cost, Hobbs
said about $900.00 and that would be a good way to let our State
Representatives what Coffee County has to offer. Pinegar wanted to know if we need to make a decision today. Hellums reported that the City is on Board
and we are waiting to here from the Industrial Boards and talk to Tullahoma
Chamber.
v Lessons Learned: The Board retreat was a success and everyone
enjoyed themselves. Director Toney stated that the Installation Banquet was a
great success and we had a record number of attendees 215. Toney also praised the Silent Auction items
that Susie McEacharn had gathered were wonderful. Lynn Taylor reported that the auction alone brought in $3,770.00.
v Adjournment: Having no further business, the board
meeting adjourned at 1:20 pm.
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