Albert Lea /Freeborn County

Chamber of Commerce

Board of Directors Meeting

Wednesday, January 27, 2016 – 7:30 a.m.

Chamber Board Room

MINUTES

Present: George Gonzalez, Randy Kehr, Amy Davis, Jeff Eaton, Kim Nelson, Adenuga Atewologun, Catherine Buboltz, Jeff Woodside, Tricia Dahl, Justin Oman

Ex-Officios Present: Kevin Dulitz, Brett Behnke, Chad Adams, Ryan Cafourek

Excused: Jenny Iverson, Kathy Sabinish,

Absent: Julia Thompson, Angie Kolker Randy Cirksena

Guest: Andrew Bernau

Consent Items

  1. Chair Jeff Woodside called the meeting to order at 7:35.
  2. The December minutes were presented. Tricia Dahl a made a motion to approve the minutes and was seconded by Amy Davis. The motion carried.
  3. The December financials were presented. Randy K. stated that member dues are tracking where they need to be. We are signing up quite a few new members, the latest of which are RCV, The Color Wheel, and South Central Pet Care. The number under Board activity in the financials will go down as the CVB and ALEDA pick up their shares of the expenses of the Christmas Party. Randy K. pointed out that the Edward Jones accounting is now on the sheet. He stated that we are where we would expect to be at this time. In answer to a question, Randy informed the Board that we have five enhanced listings on the website. Adenuga Atewologun made a motion to accept the December financials and was seconded by Justin Oman. The motion carried.

Action Items:

There were no Action Items this month.

  • Reports:

County:

  • There was no report.

City:

  • Chad Adams reported that money for the Stables project is in the Governor’s proposed budget; however the Blazing Star Landing is not. He is working with Senator Sparks and Representative Bennett to get phase 1 of the Blazing Star Landing project funding through the legislature.
  • Chad also reported that he received much positive feedback on what Albert Lea has been doing when he attended the Statewide Development Conference.
  • The City is working on a grant for market rate workforce housing.
  • Chad informed the Board that the ALEAP program received the Statewide Partnership Award and also that MERC has made a $5000 donation to help the program continue.
  • The City is working with the Lakes Foundation and Watershed on language for the sales tax renewal. February is the targeted month for city-wide feedback on this. They are looking at possibly holding a vote during the general election this year and going to the Legislature next year.
  • The Idea Splash final presentations were held last night. They included a dog park at either Brookside or Frank Hall Park and the Cellfie Tours. He was not sure if a decision was made, but Catherine said that the decision was to split the $20,000 from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation between them.
  • Chad reported that the City is applying for a $1.5 million grant for downtown businesses to improve their properties. They should have an answer in February or March.
  • A Request for Qualifications is going out next week for the Freeborn Bank Building to see if there are other developers with interest in the building.
  • Jeff Woodside complimented those reporting to the Board on the work that they have done in promoting and improving Albert Lea. Randy K. stated that we are all in this together and these results are because of our collaborations. Chad thanked the Chamber for their support.

Shell Rock River Watershed:

  • Brett Behnke reported that it has been a busy start of the year. They are working heavily on design for the dredging and also doing political work preparing for the legislative session.
  • The Watershed is working closely with the City on the language for the sales tax renewal. The Lakes Foundation is expected to pass a resolution today which will then pass to the Watershed for approval and then on to the City Council.
  • The Watershed is also working on applications for grants and state aid. They are preparing for the upcoming construction season.

Ambassadors:

  • Ryan Cafourek reported that the Ambassadors have two new Ambassadors: Leah Lawrence and John Mitchum.
  • This month the Ambassadors visited Papa Murphy’s, Stateline Safety Council, Hy-Vee, AmeriNational Community Services and are visiting Country Soule today.

ALEDA:

  • There was no report.

CVB:

  • Kevin Dulitz reported that the CVB Annual Meeting was held last month. Grants given for promotion of Albert Lea and events totaled $12,900 last year and they are budgeting $13,000 for grants in 2016. The Big Freeze and Eddie Cochran Weekend have already received grants this year.
  • They are monitoring one hotel that is delinquent with their lodging tax and possibly one other.

Riverland:

  • Dr. Atewologun reported that it is the third week of the new semester and enrollment is down 3-4% which is typical across the board with MnSCU, although he takes this to be a sign that they are meeting employment needs
  • He also reported that the Governor’s proposed budget does not include enough for MnSCU to move Riverland up the priority list. He did state however, that Riverland did very well for deferred maintenance funding. Nuga also said that there is a possibility of Riverland getting $300,000-$400,000 from the supplemental budget.
  • Nuga informed the Board that there would be a summit scheduled for March 15th. Randy K. reminded him that this was the date of our Annual Ag Luncheon and Nuga said that he would take this information back to the committee to see what they could do.

Chamber Business:

Committee Updates –

  • There were no questions about the updates sent to the Board.

Old Business:

Holiday Rewards Update:

  • Randy K. reported that the program was well received. 29 people participated and their Chamber Bucks were spread over 70 member businesses. We will do this again next year.

Chamber Bucks Update:

  • Chamber Bucks orders were for over $100,000 in December and $50,000 was redeemed. Two new members referenced the ability to accept Chamber Bucks when they signed up.

New Business:

Gourmet Auction January 29th:

  • Randy K. reminded everyone that the Gourmet Auction is this Friday. We have a varied menu with many cooks in the room and great prizes for the live and silent auctions.

EOS and Traction February 4th:

  • Randy K. reported that EOS is Entrepreneurial Operating System and a free seminar will be held on this concept on February 4th. It will focus on six things that really provide control of your business. Registration is available on our website or by calling the Chamber.

Board Liaisons to Committees – Review

  • Randy reviewed the liaisons to the various Chamber committees and asked if anyone would like to change their committee or join one if they have not already done so. Amy Davis asked to be on the Ag Committee.

Big Freeze Medallion Hunt:

  • Randy K. reported that we may have some help hiding the medallion this year since the staff may be watched. The Tribune will publish clues at 8:00 a.m. and the radio stations will put them on the air at that time.

Clean Energy Revolution:

  • Randy K. reported that this event will be put on by the Green Committee and we are waiting on confirmation and availability of Dairyland Power. Look for this event in February.

Annual Financial Statement Review:

  • Andrew Bernau of Hill, Larson, Walth & Benda joined the Board for a brief review of the annual financial statement. He reminded the Board that this year we have a compilation – not an audit as we did two years ago.
  • Andrew suggested that that Board think about moving or decreasing Board designated funds to unrestricted funds so that the unrestricted funds become positive.
  • There was a discussion of the Chamber Bucks program and Andrew suggested paying for those expenses through the general account instead of the Chamber Bucks account. That would get that account closer to breaking even.
  • There was a brief discussion of the change in the Ambassador Scholarships.
  • The Board thanked Andrew and Hill, Larson, Walth & Benda for their work. Andrew thanked the Chamber for the opportunity as well as Rhodette and Bookkeeping Cents for their assistance.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50 on a motion by Kim Nelson seconded by Jeff Eaton. The next meeting will be Wednesday, February 24th at 7:30 a.m.