Minutes

Crisfield Chamber Board of Directors Meeting
May 11, 2006

The Crisfield Chamber of Commerce held its monthly Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, May 11, 2006 at 12 noon, at the Pizza Shoppe in Crisfield. The meeting was brought to order by President Steve Marshall. Board members present were: David Mason, Dean Goldsborough, David Price, Vince Jordan, John Phoebus, Billie Jo Chandler, Wade Ward, Virginia Townsend, Tom Shores, Charlotte Scott, Chris Tyler and Steve Marshall. Members present were: Lee Ann Linton, Renee Croft, Elaine Patterson, Cindy Kinder, George Calamaras, Raymond Anderson, Debbie Landon, Russell Ward, Dan Kuebler, Patti Marshall, Tillie Doyle, Denny Bowers, Carol Torre, Jay Tawes, Janice Tones, Gordon Christensen, Teri Christensen, Cindy Stevens, Jackie Cassidy, P.J. Purnell, Linda Mister.

Steve Marshall announced that we were going to keep this meeting to an hour, since it is lunch time. Previous minutes were reviewed. Motion made by John Phoebus to accept, seconded by Raymond Anderson. Tom Shores gave the treasurer’s report. Motion made to accept by John Phoebus, seconded by Wade Ward.

Valerie Mason gave the office summary. Last year’s part time help, Ashley Holland, will be coming back again this summer. She will start the beginning of June. She also passed around a new book, by local author, Jason Rhodes, called “Crisfield, The First Century”.

The book will be on sale May 15 at the Crisfield Heritage Foundation gift shop.

Valerie stated that the office is getting very busy with the upcoming festivals. She is working on the Soft Shell Spring Fair, Scorchy Tawes Fishing Tournament, Tawes Crab & Clam Bake and the Crab Derby.

Renee Croft, Somerset County Library Systems, was a speaker. Renee has been with Somerset County for about 6 months and enjoys her new job. She is looking for someone in Somerset County to sit on the board for the county library. There is a vacancy on the Board of Trustees, which only meets quarterly. (twice in Crisfield and twice in Princess Anne.) If anyone is interested, please contact Renee. She also passed around hand-outs.

Cindy Kinder, Penny Savers of Delmarva, was a speaker. Cindy lives in Crisfield with her family and started a small business about one year ago, called the Penny Savers of Delmarva. Her and her husband run the business and publish approximately 4,000 booklets each week. It was suggested that the chamber publish our festival dates in the booklet.

Denny Bowers, Veteran’s Representative for Eastern Shore, was also a speaker. He spoke for a few minutes regarding veterans and the services they provide for them. Mr. Bowers also had brochures to hand out to those in attendance.

David Mason, chairman of the Scorchy Tawes Fishing Tournament, said that the committee is working on the event and are on track. However, they are short on volunteers. Anyone that would like to volunteers, please see David or Valerie. He also thanked Jay Tawes for his financial support to the tournament.

Virginia Townsend, chairperson of the Events Committee, said that the committee met on Tuesday, May 2nd.  President Steve Marshall ask the committee to discussed having a Christmas parade in town and will ask the chamber for $5,000 to sponsor the parade. It was discussed to maybe start it on Main Street and end at the marina. We do not want to conflict with Pocomoke and Princess Anne, so we will check with their dates. It was also discussed to try to get organizations and church’s to put floats in the parade.

Chris Tyler, Crisfield Heritage Foundation, stated that the foundation is going to host the Crisfield Waterman’s Festival, to be held on Friday, October

She asked for the chambers support for the festival regarding help from volunteers, mailing list from the office, publicity, etc. No financial matters were discussed.

The chamber discussed at the last chamber meeting to hold a forum for the candidates running for Mayor and Council. Charlotte Scott agreed to chair the committee, with the help of Steve Marshall. The date is set for Thursday, June 8th at the Crisfield High School. Invitations will go out to all the candidates and it will be publicized in the papers. Charlotte will ask chamber members for ideas on questions for the candidates. They will get a mediator that is not from the area and that will remain impartial. It also may be possible for the museum to provide the trolley for the evening for those that have no transportation.

John Phoebus introduced the newest member of the chamber, Mr. George Calamaras. We welcome George to the chamber.

Steve Marshall set a board of directors meeting tentatively for May 18 or May 30 but Valerie will let board members know the date for sure.

Meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Valerie Mason,
Office Manager

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