Minutes

Crisfield Chamber Board of Directors
September 14, 2006

The monthly Board of Directors meeting was held on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006 upstairs at the Crisfield Heritage Foundation. The meeting was brought to order by President Steve Marshall at 6:00 p.m. Board members present were: Virginia Townsend, Steve Marshall, Tom Shores, Terry Pehan, David Price, John Phoebus, Danny Thompson & Billie Jo Chandler. Please note: there were not enough Board of Directors present for a quorum. Chamber members present were: Steve Megronigle, Karen Megronigle, Teri Christenson, Gordon Christenson, Barb Gregory, Councilman Kim Lawson, David Dodge, Dia Hunter, Andy Haynie, Raymond Anderson, Renee Croft, Jane Riggin, Jerry Black, Dan Kuebler, John Schultz and Richard Crumbacker.

Minutes from previous meeting were accepted, motion made by John Phoebus to accept, seconded by Terry Pehan. Tom Shores gave the treasurer’s report. Motion made to accept report by John Phoebus, seconded by Virginia Townsend.

Barb Gregory, from “This is The Life” shop on Main St. was our guest speaker. Barb is the owner of the shop, which opened this summer at 529 W. Main St., across from Subway. Barb talked about her shop and passed out a brochure and invited the chamber and the community in to see it.

Valerie Mason gave the office summary. We have been working on the wrap up of Crab Derby and still a few things on the clam bake. We are also still looking for a place to store the Miss Crustacean float, which is 24’ X 12’. If anyone knows of a building to store it, please let Valerie know. MPT was filming at the Crab Derby, they will let Valerie know of the air date. The office received request for purchasing 10 tickets for the Waterman’s Festival and also received a request for the Glenn Ward Tournament. Those request will be given to Jay Tawes.

Jay Tawes, Finance Chairman, gave the updated budget report. Jay asked that if anyone has suggestions for the 2007 budget, to get them to him as soon as possible. They will be working on that budget shortly. Valerie is to get the Crab Derby checkbook to Jay Tawes and also get the final report on the fishing tournament. Also, membership dues are short, Valerie needs to get with Patti Marshall & Cindy Stevens, who are co-chair of the Membership Committee.

Dan Kuebler, chair of Government Affairs, is working with City Hall on a draft for the RFP. They met last week to discuss what we want in the report. There is also a city meeting this Monday and Dan has encouraged the chamber members to come out.

Virginia Townsend, Events Chairperson, stated that there will be a Christmas Parade meeting this Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. at the chamber office. The day, time and place will be discussed. We will be working with the Ministerial Association to have some Christmas events in town.



Virginia Townsend also reports that the Crab Derby went well, considering the heavy rains. Boat Docking was very success and Steve Marshall congratulated Dan Kuebler, Terry Pehan, Jay Tawes, Erik Emily and Steve Flaherty for a great job. Dan also passed out the boat docking financial report. The event made a profit of approximately $12,000.
Also, David Price suggested that next year, being the Crab Derby 60th year, that maybe we should have the “Independent Hose Co.” as grand marshal as this will be their 50th straight year of coming to Crab Derby.

Steve Marshall named a Human Resources committee. The members are Andy Haynie, David Price, Chris Sterling, Virginia Townsend and Charlotte Scott.

By-Laws committee will set a meeting for next week with the Board of Directors. Valerie is to send out an email to the directors to set a date.

Terry Pehan suggested that the chamber think about a Business Development Grant Program. The program would be for chamber members only and the members that would like to receive a small grant, would fill out a short application. The chamber would form a committee to look at the application and decide who’s eligible and who would apply to the guidelines that chamber set. This is only for small businesses that do not have a large cash flow, it’s a grant and would not have to be paid back. Dan Kuebler suggested getting some guidelines from someone who has done this before.

Terry Pehan also noted that in the Rand McNally map, Crisfield is not mentioned under the tourism section. He suggested that maybe a tourism task force is needed. Terry has also been working on the “Welcome to Crisfield” sign at the entrance to the marina, at the City Dock. We need a new one and he has received a couple different designs from Becky Lowe, which will be looked at. He suggested that we put it in the budget for 2007 and we can have the sign ready for spring. The sign should cost between $1,500 - $2,000, including installation. Also, Valerie will email Jay Tawes with suggestions for the 2007 budget.

Dan Kuebler suggested that the chamber needs a “business committee”, to help get businesses into Crisfield. John Phoebus suggested that the Membership Committee look into some of the larger businesses in the area, such as Wal-Mart, Food Lion, Perdue Farms and Mountaire Farms.

Steve Marshall went to the meeting regarding the ethanol plant possibly coming to Somerset County. He believes that this is a great concept and that we should look into this. Steve would like to have a joint meeting with Princess Anne Chamber of Commerce and the Crisfield Chamber along with the ethanol plant group for further discussion. Councilman Kim Lawson encourages this meeting. He stated that this plant could bring a lot of good paying jobs to the county. Steve will make the contact to set up a meeting.




Councilman Kim Lawson gave a report on City Hall. He stated that they are looking at changing the fees in the “purple” area for water and sewer. He also stated that at the last City Hall meeting that Councilman Barry Dize thanked the chamber for a great job on the Crab Derby. Also discussed, was possibly getting an electronic sign in town, publicizing the different meeting and events that are going on around town. Dan Kuebler suggested that we get rid of the (3) old street map signs that are in the down town area. The signs are obsolete and incorrect.

John Schultz asked if anyone knew the lastest report on the ferry situation. Danny Thompson, said that the ferry committee is still working on it and things are still looking good for it to come here. Danny also stated that things are going well with Somerset County EDC and that the annual report will be coming out soon.

Old Business: Steve thanked Terry Pehan for getting rid of the two old trucks in the marina parking lot. The trucks have been there a couple years and Terry had them towed.
Also, Steve thanked the Beautification Committee; Jenny McDorman, Sue Heath and Sherree Marshall, for fixing and preparing the flower boxes for Crab Derby.

The donation to McCready Hospital is still on the table. Jay Tawes asked for us to wait
until they worked on the 2007 budget.

Jane Riggin, with Women Supporting Women, announced that there is a fundraiser for Breast Cancer awareness month. It will be a crab feast on Friday, October 13th at H.Glenwood Evans & Sons. Tickets are $25.00 for all-u-can-eat. Please see Jane for tickets.

Meeting adjourned at 7:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,


Valerie Mason,
Office Manager



 

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