The Connection. Chieftain. Annual Meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Transcription

1 The Connection CHAMBER NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY MARCH 2018 It s Annual Meeting time... Calendar of Events Feb 19 CVB board meeting Mar 6 Chamber board meeting Mar 13 Annual Meeting Mar 19 CVB board meeting Chamber Board Nikki Mertz Dennis Swanson Katie Florhaug Amie Aesoph Drew Higgins Nicole Threadgold Rosie Mozelle Annual Meeting Carrington Area Chamber of Commerce Carrington Community Development Corp Convention & Visitors Bureau Job Development Authority Chieftain March 13, 2018 Social 5pm ~ Dinner 6:00pm $15.00 per person Available at City Hall & Chamber office Booth space available - Call the Chamber office. Everyone is welcome to attend! The board meets the first Tuesday of each month.

2 THE CONNECTION PAGE 2 Ambassador Visits Several Chamber Ambassadors were on hand to congratulate Patrick Neumiller, owner of Iron Fit Gym and Wellness, at the recent ribbon cutting held at the new facility which opened in November. Located at 655 5th Street North in Carrington it is a wonderful gym with the latest in gym and exercise equipment. Neumiller gave a tour to the Ambassadors and also talked about the new Beginning Yoga classes and High Intensity Interval Training available. Some amenities include a hot tub, sauna, tanning bed and more. Folks can even have a fruit smoothie! The Cardinaire Dance Team and Forever Dance groups now have a practice room located within Iron Fit Gym as well. Pictured left to right are Katie Florhaug, Denise Schuchard, Brianne Partlow, Geoff Theurer, Nikki Mertz, Dr. Vern Anderson, Randy Hooey, Patrick Neumiller owner, Tiffany Paulson and Ken Hansen. A ribbon cutting was held recently at Studio Five by the Carrington Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors Committee. The business is located at 40 Tenth Avenue North and formerly known as the Tenth Avenue Salon. In November, Leah Becker purchased the hair salon from Shannon Mehring. Leah had worked at Tenth Avenue Salon prior to purchasing the business and has also worked in Jamestown. The salon features a new look inside with new wall colors and flooring. Chamber Ambassadors congratulated new business owner Leah Becker and welcomed her to the Carrington business community. Pictured left to right are Chamber Ambassadors Paul Zink, Kaya Engen, Rosie Mozelle, Nikki Mertz, Dr. Vern Anderson, Stacey Rzaszutak, Leah Becker owner, Denise Schuchard and Brianne Partlow.

3 PAGE 3 THE CONNECTION Ambassador Visits Pictured left to right are: Employees Ashley Hetle, Renae Johnson, Harriet Tufte, Ali Messner, Chamber Chairwoman Nikki Mertz, Dr. Vern Anderson Chamber Ambassador, Scott & Celine Fetch owners, Chamber Ambassadors Nicole Threadgold, Denise Schuchard, Chris Bichler and Kaya Engen. A ribbon cutting was held recently at Carrington Rose Garden Floral The business is located at 366 5th Avenue North and formerly known as Barb s Rose Garden Floral. One year ago, Scott and Celine Fetch purchased the floral and greenhouse business from Richard and Barb Nysted. A few new additions this past year included live Christmas tree sales, homemade fudge in various flavors, and some handmade craft items. Just recently, the interior of the store has been painted and rearranged.. More new happenings are in the works too. Chamber Ambassadors congratulate Scott and Celine Fetch and wish them well in their new business. Trivia Time Be the FIRST person to the Chamber office with the correct trivia answer and you could WIN $20 in Carrington Cash! chambergal@daktel.com Started in 2018, our Chamber of Commerce is doing something NEW on Facebook each week. What is it called? 2nd Chance Drawing Winners $100 gift card to Leevers: Sarah Hargett $100 gift card to Runnings: Andy Williams $50 Carrington Cash: Ellen Linderman $50 Carrington Cash: Nancy Bjornstad Chieftain t-shirts: Leslie Hulbert

4 PAGE 4 Board meeting minutes CHAMBER BOARD MEETING DECEMBER 5, :00 NOON CHIEFTAIN ATTENDING: Kerry Anderson, Katie Florhaug, Dennis Swanson, Nikki Mertz, Drew Higgins, Nicole Threadgold, Amie Aesoph (via phone), Rosie Mozelle and Laurie Dietz. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Kerry Anderson. Rosie was introduced and welcomed to the board. She will be coming on board in January. Dennis moved to approve the minutes of the November 7, 2017 meeting, seconded by Nicole. Motion carried. Financial report was presented. Nikki moved to approve the financial report, seconded by Amie. Motion carried. OLD BUSINESS Committee reports: Ambassadors: Trying to schedule some visits perhaps Carrington Rose Garden Floral upcoming next. Pageant: Nothing new to report. Birding Drives Dakota: The dates for the 2018 festival are June Registration forms are now online. Healthy Communities: Laurie attended the November meeting. Looking at fundraising ideas to replace serving lunch at JunkFest. Also offering a sleep seminar in Jan. Work on the Partnership for Success grant continues. JDA, CDC & CVB: JDA: Dennis reported on their recent meeting this a.m. Possibility of hosting a large conference here in summer CDC: Met on Nov 9. Not a lot of new things to report. CVB: See attached minutes. Membership Update: Laurie is working on renewals to get to our membership goal. Discussion on non-chamber members. Welcome Wagon: A new family in town Laurie is putting together a welcome bag. Main St Beautification / Garden Club: The Garden Club participated in the Light Parade last night. Will resume meeting in February. Retail & Promotions: Laurie is working on Christmas Scratch and WIN promotion. -Carrington Industry Roundtable Discussions: Met on October 25 and upcoming meeting tomorrow. Good feedback on the TV commercials. Working on various ideas. One goal is to attract 3 CHS alumni back to Carrington by October Electronic Sign: Nothing to report at this time. -Office Interior Update: Katie moved to order 3 shelving units for the back room. Seconded by Nikki, motion carried. We ll work on reorganizing the back room in January and following that we ll tackle the basement. Laurie is looking to find two chairs for the office yet. -Christmas Scratch & Win promotion: It s up and running. Discussion on the 2nd Chance Prizes. Katie moved to offer two $50 Carrington Cash 2nd chance drawing prizes from the Chamber. Seconded by Nikki motion carried. -Christmas Cash Program: The program began in October and is currently running behind last year. Some discussion on Shopko not accepting Christmas Cash. We have approximately 30 Chamber members participating/accepting Christmas Cash. -Christmas Around the Town / Parade: Was held last night. The weather was troublesome with the advisory and winds etc. We had a nice group of parade entries some new ones. First place prize went to Harildstad Tax and 2nd place to Carrington FFA. There were several places having vendors (Crossroads Golf, CYC etc) business was slow around town perhaps due to the weather. Some new ideas may be to hold this event right after Thanksgiving and tie it in with Small Business Saturday next year. -Young Professionals Chamber Committee: Nothing new to report at this time. We ll look to kick this off perhaps after the new year with some type of Munch & Mingle social. -Committees 2018 Events & Activities: Laurie shared a tentative list of events and activities we generally hold in 2018 for board members to review and next month we can put together some ideas of who to work on each etc. -Residential Christmas Lighting Contest: We will run this contest as we have in years past with 3 categories with Carrington Cash prizes. Judges have been found. Continued...

5 PAGE 5 Board Profile WELCOME Rosie! We have a new member of our Chamber board in Rosie has worked at Central City Lumber for the past 2.5 years and where she is now their Kitchen & Bath Designer. She is married to Craig Mozelle and they have two boys ages 3 and 5 yrs. Rosie is originally from the Carrington area and has returned here to raise her family. Rosie enjoys reading, riding horse and fishing in her spare time. She is also a member of the Putnam House board. We look forward to working with Rosie in continuing to make Carrington a great place to live, work and play! Employee of the Month Have you received exceptional service or had someone go above and beyond in their job? You can nominate them to receive the Chamber s Employee of the Month award. The nomination form is available at the Chamber office or online on our website December board meeting minutes continued NEW BUSINESS -Chamber Board Election: Number of ballots received was 10. Seven votes for Rosie Mozelle and 3 votes for Mikayla Schlegel. We ll hold officer election in January. -Laurie s Annual Review: Laurie left the meeting room. Dennis moved to offer Laurie an increase in salary of 5%, continue with $ per month to be used for health insurance or IRA, cell phone cost share of $50 per month and a $ Carrington Cash bonus. Also, $ toward Chamber logo clothing. Seconded by Katie, motion carried. Laurie returned to the meeting and thanked the board for their support and increase in salary etc. The board shared that they felt she has done a good job. APPROVAL OF BILLS: Katie moved to approve and pay all bills presented. Seconded by Nicole. Motion carried. NEXT MEETING DATE: Thursday, January 4 at the Garden Gate. Meeting adjourned.

6 PAGE 6 Board meeting minutes CHAMBER BOARD MEETING JANUARY 4, :00 NOON GARDEN GATE ATTENDING: Kerry Anderson, Katie Florhaug, Dennis Swanson, Nikki Mertz, Nicole Threadgold, Amie Aesoph, Rosie Mozelle and Laurie Dietz. Absent: Drew Higgins. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Kerry Anderson. Katie moved to approve the minutes of the December 5, 2017 meeting, seconded by Nicole. Motion carried. Financial report was presented. Laurie will draft a 2018 budget when we find out if we are getting an increase from CDC and CVB. Dennis moved to approve the financial report, seconded by Katie. Motion carried. OLD BUSINESS Committee reports: Ambassadors: Trying to schedule some visits. Pageant: Nothing new to report. Birding Drives Dakota: The dates for the 2018 festival are June Registrations are coming in. Will be meeting soon to tie up some details. Healthy Communities: Laurie didn t attend the last meeting but the group is offering a sleep seminar (Sleep Well Be Well) in January. Work on the Partnership for Success grant continues. JDA, CDC & CVB: JDA: Dennis reported on their recent meeting this week. CDC: Has not met since November. CVB: See attached minutes. Carrington Endowment Fund: Laurie reported that over $10, was donated to the fund in Applications will be accepted for funding through March 15. Membership Update: Renewals for first quarter will go out soon. Board members are encouraged to encourage non-chamber members to consider joining. Welcome Wagon: Two new families in town that Laurie will deliver bags to. Main St Beautification / Garden Club: Will resume meeting in February. Yard Crasher tickets are printed up and available from Renee Riedesel and Becky Zink. Gardening Plus Day planning is going well. Dennis reported on this event which will be held on March 10 at the CREC. Retail & Promotions: Nothing new this month. -Office Interior- Bldg Update: Looking to get in contact with Ameri-Pride for mat for the floor. Large wood cabinet will be out of the back room next week. Kerry delivered the shelves and put one together so we ll have the back room all reorganized soon. -Christmas Scratch & Win promotion: Has now ended with the 2nd chance drawings held this week. Laurie has surveys ready to go out to the participating businesses. Some discussion on prizes. -Carrington Industry Roundtable Discussions: Met January 3. See notes from meeting. Good feedback on the TV commercials. Working on various ideas perhaps a 2nd video? -Electronic Sign: Dennis brought a proposal for paying for the sign and also more information on the electronic sign. Much discussion on this. -Christmas Cash Program: This program is winding down and appears to be down this year. More definitive report next month. -Young Professionals Chamber Committee: Nothing new to report at this time. -Committees 2018 Events & Activities: Laurie shared a tentative list of events and activities we generally hold in 2018 for board members have a board member chose an event / activity that they would be able to follow up and also be somewhat responsible for. -Residential Christmas Lighting Contest: Winners have been notified and photos in the Independent. First place winners received Carrington Cash. Simply Elegant: #1 Dennis & Mary Swanson, #2 Denny & Carla Hagel. Most Unique #1 Bill & Lynette Rindy, #2 Doug Harildstad. Griswold #1 Elizabeth Hoggarth, #2 Gene & Becky Drewlow. NEW BUSINESS -Election of Officers: Dennis moved to nominate Nikki Mertz for Chairperson, seconded by Katie. No other nominations from the floor, motion carried. Dennis agreed to continue as Vice Chairman and Katie as Secretary-Treasurer. Laurie will get the signature card updated at the bank. -Chamber Scholarship: The 2018 application has been sent to Joan Copenhaver at the high school. Press release to radio and newspaper will go out soon and we will also have it available online. Continued....

7 PAGE 7 January board meeting minutes continued -Annual Meeting of the Chamber, CDC, CVB & JDA: Dates in March were discussed. Laurie will check with the other boards as to their preferences. Two possible dates chosen were: March 13 or 20. APPROVAL OF BILLS: Nikki moved to approve and pay all bills presented. Seconded by Amie. Motion carried. NEXT MEETING DATE: Monday, February 5 at noon at the Pizza Ranch. We ll organize a farewell lunch for a day in the near future for Kerry. Meeting adjourned. Carrington Community Endowment Fund The Carrington Community Endowment Fund is accepting grant applications for its 2018 grant round. Applications are available at Bremer Bank, the Chamber of Commerce office or online at and will be accepted until March 15, Organizations that would qualify for grant funding include those holding a current 501C3 tax status from the IRS, any government entity such as schools, park districts and organizations with a formal city government relationship. Grants are limited to organizations that serve the city of Carrington. The Carrington Community Endowment Fund is a permanent endowment fund, meaning that all gifts to the Endowment Fund are placed into a permanent fund where only the earnings are used on an annual basis to make grants. A local Advisory Board will review all grant applications and make recommendations on funding amounts. For questions, please contact Paul Zink at or Laurie Dietz at Consider Carrington Initiative What s it all about? It s about employment opportunities, a great and growing community, affordable housing, childcare, community assets, moving forward and more! Come to the next roundtable discussion meeting on Wednesday, February 14 at 1 pm at the Chieftain to hear about it or stop by the Chamber office! Carrington Garden Club An informative workshop and lunch, known as Gardening Plus Day, is scheduled for Saturday, March 10 at the Carrington Research Extension Center. This event is open to anyone and features several horticulture topics. One of the featured speakers will be Don Kinzler, gardening editor of The Forum newspaper. Cost of the event is $10.00 per person. Watch for further details to be announced. A second Yard Crasher Raffle is now going on and there are a few tickets left. First prize is winners choice of a Yard Makeover valued at $1, or a Traeger Wood Pellet Grill. There are several other prizes as well including patio furniture, a fire pit, and gift cards.

8 PAGE 8 Board meeting minutes CHAMBER BOARD MEETING FEBRUARY 4, :00 NOON PIZZA RANCH ATTENDING: Nikki Mertz, Nicole Threadgold, Drew Higgins, Amie Aesoph (via phone) Rosie Mozelle and Laurie Dietz. Absent: Dennis Swanson, Katie Florhaug. The meeting was called to order by Chairwoman Nikki. Nicole moved to approve the minutes of the January 4, 2018 meeting, seconded by Drew. Motion carried. Financial report was presented. Laurie provided a draft of 2018 budget which board members will review and we can approve at our next meeting. Drew moved to approve the financial report, seconded by Rosie. Motion carried. OLD BUSINESS Committee reports: Ambassadors: Recently held a ribbon cutting at Iron Fit Gym & Wellness and Carrington Rose Garden Floral. Scheduled to visit Studio 5 tomorrow. Pageant: Nothing new to report. Birding Drives Dakota: The dates for the 2018 festival are June Registrations are coming in. Healthy Communities: Laurie attended the January meeting and shared minutes of the meeting. JDA, CDC & CVB: JDA: Meets tomorrow. CDC: Met in January. CVB: See attached minutes. Carrington Endowment Fund: Applications will be accepted for funding through March 15. Membership Update: Renewals for first quarter are coming in. Rosie reported she has approached a few non-members regarding membership. Welcome Wagon: Laurie delivered a couple of bags in January. Main St Beautification / Garden Club: Meeting / Social coming up February 12 at 7 pm at the City Library Community Room. Yard Crasher tickets are available. Gardening Plus Day planning is going well and this event will be held on March 10 at the CREC. Retail & Promotions: Nothing new this month. -Office Interior- Bldg Update: Discussion on floor mats from Ameri-Pride. -Carrington Industry Roundtable Discussions: Meeting scheduled for February 7. May need to reschedule. -Electronic Sign: More discussion on the purchase of an electronic sign. Location, funding etc. -Christmas Cash Program: We redeemed $62, this year. Last year it was $82, so we are down about $20,000. Denise Schuchard, Economic Development Director for JDA has notified the Chamber that the JDA will not be funding the 10% free money next year. -Young Professionals Chamber Committee: Nothing new to report at this time. Nicole will explore possible young people from the hospital to be involved. -Committees 2018 Events & Activities: Laurie shared information on the upcoming Annual Meeting with Nikki as she will be partnering on this event. Chamber Scholarship: So far we have received one application. Deadline is April 1. Annual Meeting: This year we will hold the Annual Meeting at the Chieftain on March 13. Some discussion on the program and also menu. NEW BUSINESS -Annual hospital Gala: Will be held on March 24 at the Carrington Armory. Information was shared. Rosie moved to donate $100 in Carrington Cash for the gala. Seconded by Drew, motion carried. Intern position: Amie provided an idea from Jamestown that perhaps the Chamber could partner with our other organizations (CVB, CDC etc) to have a summer intern. Discussion but no action taken. City Scan magazine: Laurie shared the February issue which featured a community profile which she wrote and submitted. APPROVAL OF BILLS: Nicole moved to approve and pay all bills presented. Seconded by Rosie. Motion carried. NEXT MEETING DATE: Tuesday, March 6 at City Hall we ll order from Garden Gate. Meeting adjourned.

9 Carrington Area Chamber of Commerce 871 Main Street Carrington, ND Phone: Like Us! Looking ahead - Here are some dates to jot down on your calendar: March 10 Gardening Plus Day March 13 Annual Meeting of the Chamber, CVB, CDC and JDA March 15 Deadline to submit Community Endowment grant application March 20 Kiwanis Pancake Day March 24 City Lights Sapphire Nights Carrington Medical Center Gala April 6 Crossroads Golf Night Out