The meeting came to order at 6:34 p.m.

In attendance were Bob Cranston, Beth Murphy, Mark Smith, Peggy Schwartz, Mery Rosado, Miriam Adams and Mike Campbell.

OLD BUSINESS

Bob Cranston gave the Treasurer's report.  There were $10,542 in the special events account and $6,865 in the primary Chamber account.

A meeting with Danette from HITS, which would have been the first Hors'n Around report for the coming season, was cancelled due to an illness in Danette's family.  Mike noted that there may be a special Chamber board meeting called, to meet with Danette when she's ready, rather than wait a full month for the initial Hors'n Around Saugerties report.

Mike covered the status of the "What's Happening in Saugerties" kiosk, which is that the new idea of locating the kiosk in the bricked-in window inset, on the Partition Street side of the Tango Café is being pursued.  Mike has a call in to the building owner.  He's considering it and he and Mike will talk next week.

The latest Chamber meeting locations/speaker plans for the remainder of 2009 are:

• Thursday, November 19th in the Exchange Hotel back room.  There will be pizza served, and in the redecorated Exchange dining room,  there will be a talk by artists Jean Campbell and Jacquie Roland about the new mural (Jean) and paintings (Jacquie) that are part of the decor.
• Thursday, December 17th in the Renwick-Clifton House.  The Chamber voted to reimburse Miriam up to $150 for liquor and a few people who will be serving guests.  The guests who spoke at Chamber meetings earlier in 2009 will be invited to mix and mingle (no speeches).

There was a discussion about a Chamber "thank you" to the Saugerties Fire Dept. and the Saugerties Department of Public Works, for their help with Hors'n Around Saugerties.  The Fire Department had already been given a pizza party for their help.  It was decided to give the people in the DPW $50 gift certificates to local restaurants.

Bob Cranston indicated he's handling getting the 2nd half ($500) of our grant for Hors'n Around Saugerties from the National Heritage Trust (Quadricentennial).

Mike indicated he has begun using the PayPal credit card, primarily (thus far) for paying for postage.

NEW BUSINESS 

We developed a general plan for the 2010 board meetings:

• Wednesday, Jan. 13th - chocolate and wine theme
  
• Wednesday, Feb. 10th- Holley Carnright speaks
  
• Wednesday, Mar. 10th - Bill Pfleging and Minda Zetline speak - "The Geek Gap"
  
• Wednesday, Apr. 14th
• Wednesday, May 12th
• Wednesday, June 9th
• Wednesday, July 14th
• Wednesday, Aug. 11th
• Wednesday, Sept. 8th
• Wednesday, Oct. 13th
• Wednesday, Nov. 10th
• Wednesday, Dec. 8th

and for 2010 member meetings:

• Thursday, Jan. 28th
• Thursday, Feb. 25th
• Thursday, Mar. 25th
• Thursday, Apr. 29th
• Thursday, May 27th
• Thursday, June 24th
• Thursday, July 29th
• Thursday, Aug. 26th
• Thursday, Sept. 30th
• Thursday, Oct. 28th
• Thursday, Nov. 18th
• Thursday, Dec. 16th

General ideas for locations for these events included the American Legion hall, the Dutch Arms Chapel, and the Donlon Auditorium.

The board began planning elections.  In general, there will be nominations called for in January and elections in February.  The positions to be voted on are those of Mike Wardell, Mery Rosado, Mark Smith and Beth Murphy.  At the time of this writing, it was known that Mery Rosado and Mark Smith are interested in being re-elected and Beth Murphy (who is ending her reign as head of the Saugerties Economic Development Committee) will not be running.  In a check with Mike Wardell subsequent to the meeting, he indicated that he is interested in running, to be re-elected as a board member.

The agenda for the November 19th meeting is as follows:

• Member Introductions 
• A talk by Artists Jean and Jacquie (as mentioned above)
• Cahill PTA to tlak about their plans for a Festival in May (a fund-raiser for their planned playground)
• Closing

In a discussion about forming a true not-for-profit 501(c)3 part of the chamber to allow tax deductible doncations and fundraising, it was agreed that we would start looking into that, with Peggy Schwartz approaching Dan Lamb about what this would entail.

Holiday in the Village lights updating is being done by the Saugerties Fire Department.  They might require a forklift, which might cost as much as $200.  In the meantime, the SFD has found someone who will donate the use of their forklift to the department for free.