Meeting Minutes

Call to order: Meeting called to order at 6 PM by President John Snyder

Minutes: Previous minutes reviewed. Motion to accept the minutes of the March 10, 2015 meeting made by Phyllis Lapi  and seconded by Reverend Ogden.

Treasurer’s Report:

Checking Balance: $5981.44
Savings Balance: $2560.25
Motion: Sue Barker made the motion to accept the Treasurer’s report, seconded by Phyllis Lapi.

Old Business:

May Day Event: To be held 5/1 3:30 at the village park. Event will feature music from the Canajoharie students and the Kindergartners to dress the maypole. Ice Cream being donated by Stewarts. Dolores Jacksland is coordinating this event

Village Wide Garage Sale: To be held 5/30/15, Dale Folmsbee has volunteered to coordinate this event. She will contact the village clerks.

Riverfront Park and Pavilion Clean up: Scheduled for 4/25/15 10:30-12, Deb Eckler is coordinating this. Volunteers can report to the park and it is suggested to bring rakes and brooms.

Bike Tour:  Bike tour to be held 7/17/15. The tour’s preference is to stay downtown with barbecue at the museum. T-shirts will  be sold again this year with proceeds going to the chamber, Janine Nelson is coordinating this.  Music on main street is sponsoring the concert.

New Business:

Committees: John Snyder explained that the chamber board members met and formed new committees as follows:
Executive Committee – all Board members
Finance Committee – Carl Marucci and Sherri Mossey
Membership Committee – Jim Sancho and Sue Barker
Promotional Committee – Phyllis Lapi, Sheryl Neal, Tim Robertson and John Snyder
Village Pride Committee – Dolores Jacksland
Fundraising committee – Carl Marucci, John Synder, Phyllis Lapi, Kim Lawrence
Nominating Committee – Jim Sancho and Sue Barker

Membership: Jim Sancho and Sue Barker report that membership is going well, approximately 60 members have joined.

Promotional Committee Report: Presented by Phyllis Lapi, committee looked at venues for advertising such as Rte 20 guide, Mohawk Valley Living magazine, Canal guide, local papers which may offer free listings. Other ideas are welcome bags given to new residents by real estate agents, have a booth at local Sharon Springs events. Group to get prices and bring back a finalized plan for advertising for the first half of the year.

John Snyder also made suggestion to look at additional advertising space at the Riverfront as more businesses have expressed interest and current sign in full. Suggestion made that perhaps a volunteer group such as the Boy Scouts would be interested in building a new sign. John Snyder to look into this further.

Mission Statement: It was asked if the chamber has a mission statement. In the constitution the purpose of the chamber is listed as: “The purpose of the Canajoharie-Palatine Chamber of Commerce shall be to promote the Civic, Commercial, Professional, Industrial and Moral Welfare of the Villages of Canajoharie and Palatine Bridge and vicinity.” It was suggested this be added to our website page.

Website and face book: Members are reminded that the chamber has a website and face book. Items for the website can be sent to the address listed on the website. Any member may post on face book page found at, “Canajoharie and Palatine Chamber of Commerce.” Members are encouraged to also like and share the page to promote local events.

Additional Items Discussed:

John Snyder presented an idea to feature a member of the month, member would be highlighted on website and face book and possibly through posters. All present thought this was a good idea.

Additional advertising through Signage was discussed. Members would like to see some type of signage near the  thruway exit, also at the bike path. This will be explored further.

Phyllis Lapi shared an idea passed on to her from Dolores Jacksland about a possible golf fundraiser. The event would be different than a tournament, it would include more fun challenges. This will be explored further.

Reverend Odgen of the church of the Good Sheppard shared that the local clergy have started meeting as a group to assess the needs of the community. It is felt strongly there is a need to offer assistance to those who are looking to improve their job skills and increase job opportunities. The group has also discussed if the beech nut building could be used in any way to help promote improving the community.  Their next meeting is 4/16/15 at 1 pm at the Lutheran church for anyone in the community interested.

Meetings: Meetings to be held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Next Chamber meeting 5/12/15 6 PM at Arkell Center.

Motion: meeting adjourned by Sue Barker and seconded by Sheryl Neal.

Respectfully Submitted by: Kim Lawrence, Secretary