Ephrata Chamber of Commerce

Board Meeting Minutes

June 10, 2015

Attendance: Deb Adams, Peggy Muchlinski, Alayna Lodi, Kevin Danby, Danielle Langley, Kerry Moser, Roger Johnson, Crystal Castro, Cindi Harr, Annetta Paolinelli, Valli Millard

Call to order: 7:02 AM

  1. Approval of Previous Minutes: Minutes were approved with a couple of small corrections.
  1. Profit and Loss: After brief discussion of current financial position, the Profit and Loss was approved. Notable items were: good financial position for advertising budget, insurance was taken out, and Ag Boosters are still in need of sponsorship funds.
  1. Committee Reports
  1. Basin Summer Sounds – Sponsorship money from the Chamber was discussed by the board. Last year the Chamber sponsored Basin Summer Sounds with $2500, a motion was made and passed to match that same amount again this year. Danielle will transfer the money over. Columbia Basin Foundation check came in for $5000. The group Gabo Gonzalez was unable to get their Visas so they will no longer be able to perform. The next BSS meeting will discuss whether to find a replacement for that spot or eliminate it. Alayna has spoken with 12 Hawks to see if they will have a beer garden for the weekend. The initial response was “no” but after further conversations it appears they are going to look into it. Valli spoke with the City and it is their suggestion that we keep the beer garden open as late as possible to eliminate the issue we had last year with fighting and crowd problems. There was discussion about the time constraints involving tear-down that evening. The board agreed upon 12AM as a closing time, Kevin and Alayna will further discuss this at the next BSS meeting. Alayna has been speaking with the FFA and 4-H groups for tear-down, another possibility that she will look into is the Boy Scouts troop. Kerry suggested the football team to help out. Alayna notified the board that after this Basin Summer Sounds she will need to step down from her position and a replacement will need to be found.
  1. Ephrata Chamber Business Connections: Danielle mailed out this year’s ECBC letter which discussed the different events and opportunities that the businesses can participate in. The goal of this letter is to try and get the message out that there is an opportunity to step-up and participate. The letter is encouraging businesses to take part in making their business and other businesses in Ephrata successful. Steve from the Alabaster Box gave the Chamber a wonderful compliment in the letter he wrote where he stated how grateful he was for the efforts that the Chamber has put forward to help Ephrata businesses succeed. He also spoke about the continuous effort to get businesses to participate and why you should be involved in these opportunities. Steve gave us permission to run this letter as an advertisement.
  2. Car Show- Deb passed out the income and expense report to the board. So far it looks like everything is going well and the Car Show is making a profit. The committee is meeting every other Monday. T-Shirts are being printed and the $500, $250, and $100 will be listed on them with all other sponsors listed on the trophies.
  1. TSB- The goal is to have the Shop Local book ready for distribution by October for the Wine Walk. There was conversation about the phone calls that Chandra from iFiber had made to the businesses regarding the books and the feedback was positive. Ultimately, ECBC needs participation from the businesses in order to get this book compiled so help to spread the word would be appreciated.
  1. Youth Ag Sales- Valli reported that the group is working to get the kids out and contact previous sponsors. The group is hurting for sponsors this year and they are in great need for donations. Phone calls have not been made this year as they have been in the past so the hope is with the kids going out and contacting the sponsors, it will encourage the financial support that the group is missing.
  1. Old Business
  1. Downtown Beautification: Danielle will meet up with Ray and discuss this project further. Kerry read an article about Phillipsburg, Montana and how it was mentioned as being “one of the prettiest areas in America”. The article highlighted how a town with distressed buildings made a change that carried a huge benefit to the businesses and the community years later.
  1. Chamber Copier/Fax/Scanner- Danielle and Annetta have spoken with BIE and they have a few used all-in-one copiers coming available soon. They will send Danielle quotes on these machines once they come available.
  1. New Business
  1. New Chamber Member- Pizza Hut has joined the Chamber and expressed great interest in being involved with the community.
  1. Part-Time Position- Ayla is currently working for the County full-time this summer and will be returning to school in the fall, so a part-time office assistant will need to be hired. Danielle will get an ad in the paper and look to hire someone as soon as possible.
  1. Business After Hours: The next Business After Hours will be on July 14th at the Best Western in Ephrata. BBSI will be hosting our October BAH at the Nat Washington House.
  1. For the Good of the Order:

a.Reader Board- Unfortunately the Chamber did not receive the Paul Lauzier Grant for the readerboard.

  1. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:04AM.

Ephrata Chamber of Commerce | June 2015 Minutes / 1