Minutes

Crisfield Chamber Board of Directors
January 16, 2007

The Crisfield Chamber of Commerce held its monthly Board of Director’s meeting on Tuesday, January 16, 2007. It was held at the Tawes Library on Asbury Ave. at 8:00 a.m. Board members present were: John Phoebus, Virginia Townsend, Terry Pehan, Dennis Smith, Chris Sterling, Chris Tyler, Billie Jo Chandler, Dean Goldsborough, Danny Thompsons, David Mason, David Price & Sue Heath.

Board members absent were: Charlotte Scott, Tom Shores, Wade Ward, Clarence Bell, Vince Jordan, Mary Beth Pruitt, George Calamaras, Dan Kuebler, Mark Good, Bob Evans and Doug Nelson.

Minutes were read and approved. Motion made by Terry Pehan, seconded by John Phoebus.

Treasurer’s report was read and approved. Motion made by John Phoebus, seconded by Dean Goldsborough. Accountant Chris Sterling stated that we would soon be starting to do the treasurer’s report on the Peachtree program. Chris will train Tommy Shores, Val Mason and possibly Jay Tawes, who is chairman of the finance committee.

Valerie Mason gave the office summary. She is working on year end projects, also working with the different committee’s that have projects going on; started the clam bake mailing; and working with Delmarva Quarterly on an ad for Crisfield. We are looking for 6 businesses to do a page. Valerie will be sending out an email.

Committee Reports:
By-Laws – Terry Pehan: The revised by-laws have been approved by the majority of the board, but we are going to wait for the new board members to be seated and have them review the draft. Then we will get them out to all the chamber members.

Scholarship - Pat Carson: Sue Heath stated that Pat has gotten the grant information out.

Old Business:
Crisfield Heritage Foundation – Chris Tyler: Chris announced that the annual membership meeting for the museum will be held on Wed., Jan 31st. The meeting will be at the museum, then a luncheon will follow at Waterman’s Inn Restaurant. If you are not a member and would like to join, contact Chris. Membership fees are $25.00 a year.
Chris also announced that the museum is partnering with other organization to get work done. For example; she’s working with Val on the mailing list for the Clam Bake and the Waterman’s Festival.

Somerset County EDC – Danny Thompson: Danny mentioned several different project that they are working on, such as the Open House at the ODDI Building in Princess Anne; also working with Md. Dept. of Agriculture on the bio-diesel plant; the ethanol project and the Wal-Mart distribution center.

Somers Cove Marina – Dennis Smith: Dennis said that the marina is in the process of doing their annual review of slip holder contracts. They are also waiting for the 2007 rates to be approved. The marina has two (2) contracts regarding construction; one is for 30 boat slips, which is being constructed behind the Best Value Inn and the other is to rebuild G Pier this fall.

Banquet date has been set for Saturday, March 3rd. Valerie will book the Elks and work with the banquet committee; which is Terri Milbourne, Sue Heath & Jenny McDorman.

Trolley donation: It was discussed whether we are going to donate the $5,000.00 to the trolley. It was decided that we needed to pay it because this was for 2006 and the chamber had already committed the donation last year. Motion made by Terry Pehan, seconded by John Phoebus to pay the $5,000 amount. This year’s (’07) donation will be discussed at a later date.

Nursing Home donation: We will table this until Feb. board meeting, so that the new board members can be present.

Nomination Committee: Jamie Byrd resigned from the Board of Directors effective December 20, 2006. We need to replace him. Steve suggested Diane Megonigle. The Board suggested that Jay Tawes replace Jamie Byrd, since he is already up for election on January 30th and is chairman of the Finance Committee. Motion made by John Phoebus, seconded by Dennis Smith. No opposed.

Annual Membership Meeting: The annual membership meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 30th, at 6:00 p.m., upstairs at the Tawes Museum.

Chris Tyler will talk to Paul Emely to see if he will take the showmobile up to Fruitland to Meadow’s Hydraulics so that they can look at it for repairs.

Audit: The chamber needs to have an audit done. We will send out proposals to local accountants for the cost. Terry Pehan said he will take that on as an action item.

Kim East, from the Crisfield Girl Scouts asked if the chamber would buy some Girl Scout cookies to mail to the troops in Iraq. Terry Pehan motioned to buy 25 boxes @ $3.50 each (totaling $87.50). Virginia Townsend seconded.

Fireworks: The cost of fireworks will be going up $750.00, which will now total $6,000.
We share the 4th of July fireworks cost with the Somers Cove Marina, but they have a limit of $2,500 that they can spend. So the chamber will either have to pay the balance or the fireworks will have to be cut 8%. Motion was made by Sue Heath, to pay the balance so that the fireworks will not be cut. John Phoebus seconded. This contract will be for 3 years.



Proxy Votes: After a long discussion among the board of directors, it was voted on to not have proxy votes and to not have absentee votes. One reason was that the board members felt that the chamber members should attend the meetings to vote themselves; the other reason was the situation that we are voting on may change at the meeting and the member that is absent may have changed their minds, so they just felt it’s better to not have proxy or absentee votes at all. Virginia Townsend made the motion, 2nd by David Mason. Terry Pehan was the only one to oppose.

Chamber members voting more than one time: If you have 3 businesses and have joined the chamber under all 3 businesses and paid 3 times, you should get 3 votes. When a vote is being taken, we will have a sign in sheet with your name, company name and how many votes you get.

Meeting adjourned at 10:00 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,


Valerie Mason,
Office Manager

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