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SACofC Board Meeting - June 10, 2009 The Saugerties Area Chamber of Commerce Board meeting convened in the PrecisionFlow conference room at 6:42 p.m. on Wednesday, June 10th. In attendance were Kevin Brady, Bob Cranston, Beth Murphy, Mery Rosado, Mark Smith and Mike Campbell. The topics and key outcomes were as follows: - Membership fees. The board decided to simplify the membership fee structure, moving from a 12-tier pricing structure (different price depending upon what month you join) to a 2-price model. The fee will be $125 for anyone joining January 1st through June 30th, and it will be $75 for anyone joining from July 1st to December 31st.
- Photograph/video publicity for the SACofC. Bob Cranston suggested that since our meetings are interesting and noteworthy events, we should work to get the word out about our meetings. The ideas that we will pursue are
- Assigning someone to take photos at each of our meetings and submit them to the 3 local papers (Freeman, Saugerties Times, and Post Star).
- Per a suggestions from Mery Rosado, having Ernie Mortuzans come and speak to the Board and eventually the membership about optimal TV23 coverage of SACofC events/members.
- Letter of support re: Partition Street Project. We returned to the topic that was brought up in our April members meeting . . . to draft and approve a letter of support from the Chamber for the Partition Street Project. This draft (which on the one hand is not a blank check, but which states support for the project and the positive economic impact it will no doubt have on Saugerties) will be circulated via the next Chamber email and discussed at the June members meeting.
- Sunset Concert Recap. Mery Rosado indicated that the first Sunset Concert (June 5th) was a success, with 40 or so people in attendance. Mezzaluna sponsored this first concert and for the remaining 3, the Chamber email will solicit sponsorship donations from members. We are also looking into a Brooks Barbeque event as a fund raiser for later this year. The suggestion was made to begin advertising the July concert as early as possible, for maximum awareness that the event is being held.
- Outdoor Information Kiosk Promoting Saugerties Events. There was discussion of a kiosk at the corner of Market and Main Streets, to be updated monthly, to advertise the many events that happen in Saugerties each month. This will key off of the Village Web site, which includes both Town and Village events. The board members will begin to look into this and will report progress as it happens to the membership. Step one is for Mark Smith to check with Reis Insurance on locating this kiosk at the edge of their Market/Main parking lot.
- Hors'n Around Saugerties. Beth Murphy led a discussion of the thus-far very successful Hors'n Around Saugerties public-art display. The discussion included the unfortunate incident where a 23-year old man is being held on a felony charge for destroying one of the horses (among other charges). Since 2 of the 3 primary drivers of this event will be stepping down as of Jan. 1, 2010, there need to be some replacement volunteers identified between now and then. Otherwise, this positive and lucrative event will not be repeated next year. There was also discussion of updating the Web site to allow PayPal purchasing of tickets and thoughts about "Thank You's" that will be going out to various workers involved in this effort.
- Signs Pointing to the Village Shopping District. In response to some Village businesses indicating that they understand that people who exit the Thruway at the Saugerties exit never realize that we have a vibrant business district just a few miles down the road, the board is looking into the possibility of putting up 2 signs, strategically placed to let the northbound exiting traffic and the southbound exiting traffic know that there is a shopping district not too far away.
Note that this is not an anti-Town business initiative . . . it is simply trying to improve awareness that our business center exists. If we can draw more customers to it, and if the result is their plans to more frequently visit Saugerties, everyone can and will benefit.
Some work the Economic Development Committee has going on might possibly be a catalyst for this effort. More on this as further progress is made. - Draft Agenda for Members Meeting (Starway Cafe, 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 25th).
- Member Introductions
- Finance/Application Fee Change (Bob Cranston)
- Small Business Administration (SBA) America's Recovery Act Loan (Speaker TBD) (SBA ARC Loan info to be circulated in advance, in a Chamber member email)
- Sunset Concert Recap (Mery Rosado)
- Flea Market Recap (Mike Campbell)
- Hors'n Around Saugerties Report (Beth Murphy)
- Partition Street Project letter discussion
Meeting adjourned at 9:03 p.m. Submitted by Mike Campbell. |
