Minutes
Crisfield Chamber Board of Directors Meeting
May 10, 2007
6:00 PM
The chamber meeting was held upstairs at the Tawes Museum. Meeting brought to
order by President Steve Marshall. Board members present: Steve Marshall, Wade
Ward, Sandy Atkins, Pat Carson, Terry Pehan, Teri Christensen, George Calamaras,
Diane McGonigle, Virginia Townsend, Bill Buttrill, Jay Tawes, Mary Beth Pruitt,
Dan Kuebler, David Price, Sue Heath, Tom shores & Patti Marshall. Board members
absent: Chris Tyler, Chris Sterling, Dean Goldsborough, David Mason, Clarence
Bell, Dennis Smith, Mike Milbourne and Mark Good. A quorum was in attendance.
President Steve Marshall presented Somerset County Administrator, Mr. Charles
Massey, with a plaque, thanking him for his 31 years of service to our county
and community.
Mr. Massey retires June 1st.
Mr. Brian Garrett & Ms. Barbara Tull, from Delmarva Discovery Center were in
attendance to discuss the center that will be opening in Pocomoke. It’s expected
to open in Spring ’08, on Market St., Pocomoke. The Delmarva Discovery Center
will be a place to learn about the Delmarva’s history through exhibits and much
more.
Renee Croft, Somerset County Public Library, announced that Crisfield will be
getting a new library, which will be 5 times larger than the present one. It
will be 15,000 square feet and should be completed by 2010. It is mostly being
funded by State and County. Finding a suitable location is a major
challenge of this very important project.
Minutes from the previous meeting were approved. Motion made by Bill Buttrill,
seconded by Sue Heath. Tom Shores gave the treasurer’s report. Motion made by
Bill Buttrill, seconded by Mary Beth Bradshaw. Motion was also made to accept
minutes from Special Board Meeting held on Tuesday, May 1st. Motion made by Bill
Buttrill, seconded by Terry Pehan. No opposed.
Valerie Mason gave the office summary. She stated that Chris Sterling has been
in the chamber office and downloaded “Peachtree” for our accounting. He will
teach Valerie and Tommy how to use it. From last meeting, Valerie was instructed
to eliminate having two phone bills, one with Verizon and one with AT&T. We
closed out AT&T, which was for long distance calls only. Everything is now on
Verizon. We received thank you notes from some of our Teacher’s of the Year,
thanking us for our contribution. Shirley Merryweather has started in the office
part time.
Steve Marshall introduced two new members at the meeting. Susan Linyear from
“Heart of the Home” located at 325 W. Main St. and Debbie Jankowski from
Debbie’s Chocolates and Gift Shop, located 323 W. Main St. He encouraged
everyone to stop in their shops and look around. We welcome them to the chamber.
Committee Reports:
Finance Committee – Jay Tawes: Jay passed out a copy of the finance report. A
question was asked about the payroll taxes, Valerie will check with Chris
Sterling. Jay stated that there is no additional cost to include the Jazz
Festival under the current Chamber “events insurance” liability policy. Also,
the board needs to decide if we are going to have a liquor liability policy.
It’s an additional $2,300 for the alcohol rider. Terry Pehan suggested to let
him and John Phoebus (insurance committee) look at this issue and report to the
Board at the next meeting.
Events Committee – Virginia Townsend: Virginia stated that all is going well
with the Crab Derby planning. Fishing Tournament will be setting up a committee
meeting next week. Dan Kuebler suggested that we do some advertising for the
fishing tournament. Valerie asked if we wanted to do an ad with WESR for
$400.00, which we have done for several years now. The board voted yes, Valerie
will get in contact with WESR.
By-Laws Committee – Terry Pehan: Terry announced that he had enough votes from
the Board of Directors to approve the latest changes to the by-laws, now we go
to the entire chamber membership, which will go out by May 29th. Board members
and chamber members are urged to attend the June 14th meeting (8:00 a.m.) for
the by-laws to be voted on by the entire membership.
Scholarship Committee – Sue Heath/Pat Carson: Pat stated that the interviews
will be this Monday (May 14th).
Government Affairs – Diane McGonigle: Diane said that Crisfield will be in the
upcoming issue of “Metropolitan Magazine”. Dan Kuebler said that the steering
committee for the SPR have hired Redmond Johnston, out of Easton, Md. to do the
SRP for $185,000.
Membership Committee – Patti Marshall: Patti announced that “Business After
Hours” will be held on Wed., May 16th, upstairs at the museum. It is being
sponsored by Mercantile Peninsula Bank. Chamber members are urged to attend and
bring a guest if they would like. Patti also stated that if anyone else is
interested in hosting a Business After Hours, to please contact her or Valerie.
Other Reports:
Airport – Vince Jordan discussed the expansion of the runway at the airport. He
indicated that the length of the runway was not the most important issue, but
the need for parallel taxiways and aprons for greater flying/operations safety.
Dan Kuebler re-emphasized the importance of the airport to Somerset County and
Crisfield and that the airport has the potential to be a strong economic engine
to future development efforts. Terry Pehan mentioned to the Board the issues
that recently surfaced with the announcement of the 2007 updated of the Airport
Environmental Impact Study (copy available at the library). He recommended that
the Chamber stay engaged with the ongoing “discussions” concerning the future of
the airport and that there was a lot of “mis-information” on the street about
this study.
Crisfield Heritage Foundation – Patti Marshall, board member of the foundation,
said that things are going well; they have several weeks of Elder Hostel coming
in.
McCready Hospital – Jay Tawes, board member of the hospital, said that they will
be starting a fundraiser June 1st, for the nursing home.
Mr. Massey, County Administrator – Mr. Massey stated that the Ethanol Plant is
moving ahead; and the Wal-Mart plans are looking more favorable.
Old Business:
Planter Boxes - Terry Pehan stated that the planter boxes around town are done.
Woodson students did the painting and replanting, with adult supervision. We
thank Terry Pehan and Chris Tyler for the time and efforts on this task.
Marina sign - Terry Pehan stated that the “Welcome to Crisfield” sign is up at
the water entrance to town, as you enter the marina. We thank Terry Pehan and
Eddie Heath for their time on this project.
Showmobile - Teri Christenson said that the showmobile is mostly done being
painted by ECI. Dan Kuebler, Terry Pehan and Teri are going up to look at it
tomorrow.
New Business:
Marketing & Tourism Committee: Steve has asked Terry Pehan to chair the
committee and Terry agreed. Terry said that we need to work on this project
more; we need to promote our town more. Suggestions were to update the current
brochures, more signage, need map of town, etc. Dan Kuebler suggested that
business owners should be on this committee, also get the park and marina
involved. Jay Tawes suggested using UMES marketing dept. Susan Linyear, from
“Heart of the Home” and George Calamaras has volunteered to serve on the
committee with Terry. If anyone is interested in serving on this committee,
please let Terry Pehan or Valerie know.
Mary Beth Bradshaw-Pruitt announced that a local resident, Stephanie Dorman, is
having a stem cell transplant at John Hopkins. Stephanie has lived in Crisfield
all her life and has served her community faithfully. She has a husband, Andre
and 2 small children. Mary Beth asked if anyone is interested in helping out the
family financially, please contact Mary Beth Bradshaw at
bradshawandsons@verizon.net.
Pat Carson asked about the chamber insuring events that are not directly ours.
She’s concerned that if we keep insuring events, that it could cause problems
for the chamber. John Phoebus stated that we could be taking a risk with someone
getting injured. Bill Buttrill stated that John Tawes is working on a “cruise
in” in August and wants the chamber to help with insurance. John has been asked
to attend the next meeting.
Terry Pehan brought up the subject regarding some of the Board of Directors not
attending the meetings. He suggested that it be put on next months agenda.
Meeting adjourned 7:50 p.m.
Prepared By: Respectfully submitted by:
Valerie Mason, Office Manager
Terry Pehan, Secretary