Gunnedah and District Chamber of Commerce and Industry Committee meeting
Wednesday 20 December 2016at Mackellar Motel
Meeting opened at 5.31pm
Present: Jamie Chaffey (Chair), Welington Sardinha, Ann Luke, Treena Daniells, Jim Farquar, Mike Broekman, Stacey Thibault,Wendy Marsh (arrived 5.52pm), Lorraine Boyce
Minutes: Alysha White
Apologies:Tim Duffy, Lauren Robertson, George Hoddle
Motion: that the apologies be accepted (Boyce/Farquar) CARRIED
Minutes of last meeting - Committee meeting held 11thNovember2015
Motion: that the minutes of the meeting be accepted as circulated (Daniells/Sardinha) CARRIED
Business arising
-New committee members Lauren Robertson and Lorraine Boyce have accepted positions on the Chamber committee
Correspondence
Incoming
- Gunnedah Shire Council – Email correspondence in relation to public liability insurance matters and general procedures relating to the Spirit of Christmas fair on the 17th December 2015
- Request email from BHP Caroona Coal Project (Andrew Garratt) in relation to having another forum with Chamber members to give an update on the current state of play with the project.
- Correspondence from the Gunnedah Show Society regarding the “Best Dressed Window” competition leading up to the show in 2016. Was supported by Chamber last year and they have requested we be involved again this year by working in conjunction with the show society to participate in promoting and judging the best window. The committee discussed that being involved is practically cost neutral to the Chamber and a good idea to show support for the Show society.
Motion: That the Chamber be involved in the Gunnedah Show Societies “Best Dressed Window” competition with a budget of up to $100 to cover graphic design of posters etc (Luke/Broekman). CARRIED.
Outgoing
No outgoing mail at this point in time but the Chamber secretary will be writing letters of thanks in relation to the Spirit of Christmas Fair.
Motion: that the correspondence report be accepted Luke/Farquar. CARRIED.
Treasurer’s report (Treena Daniells) – Report attached
Gunnedah & District Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc
Meeting 20th January 2016
Accounts to be ratified – paid 8/12/15 to 12/1/16
2MO & GGGFM - Christmas Fair$ 112.20
Why Leave Town Promotions – 3000 Gift Cards$ 9000.00 cancelled
and replaced with
Why Leave Town Promotions – 1500 Gift Cards$ 4500.00
RenayeBenham – Spirit of Christmas Prize$ 500.00
Amy Perfrement – Spirit of Christmas Prize$ 500.00
Karen Buhagiar – Spirit of Christmas Prize$ 500.00
Tove Sparkes – Spirit of Christmas Prize$ 500.00
Ken Randall – Spirit of Christmas Prize$ 2000.00
Gunnedah Newsagency$ 11.52
Regional Publishers – NV Independent $ 680.55
Sign Print Stitch – artwork and print 5000 tickets$ 771.10
Koodos Pty Ltd – balance payment Advert Shop Gdh$1100.00
Wialla Group – admin$1515.00
Accounts to be approved for payment
Sign Print Stitch – print additional 20,000 tickets$ 726.00
Koodos Pty Ltd – additional fee 18 businesses x $50$ 990.00
Prime Media Group – advert Spirit of Christmas$ 729.30
Australia Post – Account 9250074$ 30.80
Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises Limited$ 25.00
Regional Publishers – NV Independent – Spirit of Christmas $ 1220.85
K & K Creative – Newsletter and Gift Card Promo material$ 181.50
2MO & GGGFM - Christmas Fair $ 448.80
Gunnedah Newsagencies $ ______
Wialla Group – various admin$ 165.00
Reports from Dec ember 2015
-After accounts are paid in January there will be balance in the bank account of between $15,000-$16,000
-Some members at this point in time are un-financial for the 2015-2016 year and will need to be followed up
-New membership fees must be set before April 2016 for the following year
-Going ahead and following the Spirit of Christmas fair which is likely to come in with a loss the Chamber will have to use their retained earnings going forward
-The Beyond Bank account is to be closed and currently has a balance of approximately $7,283.85
Motion: That the Chamber proceed with closing the Beyond Bank account and removing the money from it (Daniells/Sardinha).CARRIED.
-Discussion was made about moving from the current MYOB accounting software to a cloud based system for ease of accessibility by various chamber and administration personnel
-The current invoicing system the Chamber is using is unacceptable with no proper recording or accountability in place. This new system would be much more controlled.
-The Treasurer proposed that the Chamber adopt theXero Program which has an approximate subscription cost of $50/month which is not determined by how many users but on the type of package purchased.
Motion: That a cloud-based accounting system by implemented with Xero being the program of choice , on a standard plan, with authority to have the monthly fee taken from the Chambers bank account and to be used for all future Chamber accounting (Daniells/Luke). CARRIED.
Reports/Projects
- Sponsorship Working Group (Mike Broekman) Report Attached
Meeting Minutes, Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce Working Group
12/01/2016, 5.30 pm
Attendance: Michael Broekman, Jamie Chaffey, Anne Luke, Lorraine Boyce, Wendy Marsh and Jim Farquhar
Apologies Treena Daniels
Much discussion was had into the financial sustainability of the Chamber moving forward to 2016. The discussions led into security of projects, succession planning and core values that ‘meet the needs’ of chamber members.
The discussions eventually led to us making a recommendation as follows:
That four/five projects be ratified by the Chamber committee, these would be core projects, individually named and timelines set.
The next item would be for two champions, from the Chamber Committee, to volunteer to co-ordinate each of these projects, one as a chair person and the second as a support. These committee members could then source extra support from the general membership
Once this structure has been put into place, a campaign of engaging major sponsors to support these projects would be undertaken. Invitations (a sample of this invitation will be available at the meeting, Wednesday, after the ratification of these recommendations) would be sent out to engage organisations for their support. The working Groups desire was to have letters of invitation out late January, early February. These invitations would have tiered sponsorship options depending on the size of the project.
There were other recommendations that general sponsorship be sought, which would allow smaller organisations participate. The advertising that they would receive in return would be along these lines, e.g.: naming recognition on correspondence etc.
In closing if these recommendations are endorsed by the Chamber on Wednesday January 20, 2016, this working group may need to meet one more time to finalise the sponsorship packages and any other relevant details.
Working Group Chairman Mike Broekman
-The working group met in December to try and nut out a course of action to try and finance the Chamber through various projects supported by sponsorship from local businesses.
-The group highlighted the question “What does the Chamber have to offer the sponsor”
-Our current projects have no long-term sustainability and lack continuity was seen as the major hurdle with getting the project off the ground.
Recommendations
-That there must be ratified core projects for the Chamber into the future and that committee members must be willing to champion projects that interest them and run with them to their entirety. These committee members should not be the President, Secretary or Treasurer. Since the committee is comprised of 12 elected members it would be warranted that 2 members work on each project and take ownership of those projects.
-The chamber president believes the chamber needs to deliver to their membership base with core events and it is very important that we are able to sell ourselves in the region through projects like the Spirit of Christmas Fair, Service and Business awards etc
-It is important that the Gunnedah chamber have a voice and be seen as being proactive in the region.
-There was discussion that we need to have surety of finance before going to the AGM so we know how much we need to seek from sponsors for the various projects.
-Core projects discussed were the Gift Cards, Networking Events, Spirit of Christmas Fair and the Service and Business Awards
-It was suggested that probably 4 or 5 core projects was manageable but will hinge on the success of these will hinge on the support from the committee.
-Seminars were discussed as being a good option for businesses to sponsor as a means of promoting themselves. Attendees could pay to attend these seminars and generate income for the Chamber.
-The Business and service awards have a finite lifespan and this is in part due to the organisation of such an event as well as community interest. It was suggested that perhaps these awards could be alternated biannually and that the nomination process be simplified.
-The projects finally determined on the Chambers calendar of events and those committee members willing to be involved are:
a)The Spirit of Christmas Fair (Luke/Chaffey)
b)Newsletter (Farquar)
c)Gift Cards (current working group to remain as is)
d)Networking Events (to be determined)
e)Business and Service Awards (Broekman/Marsh)
f)Tourism Event (Farquar/Marsh)
g)Training and Upskilling Seminars (Sardinha/Broekman)
-Alysha to send an email to all committee members with their nominated projects and make a request to those committee members absent at Wednesday night’s meeting to commit to a project that is of particular interest to them.
- Spirit of Christmas(Ann Luke) Report attached
Shop Gunnedah this Christmas and Gunnedah Spirit of Christmas Festival
-Overall a good event
-Lots to learn from to make it better next time.
-We had a good response from businesses being involved
-Community at large were pleased that there was a community festival
-Took a lot more admin time than we budgeted for
-Great support from Council for the event management, paperwork and street closure
Points to note
-Need to start planning early - about August at least
-Conditions of lottery – need to have each ticket stamped by participating business
-Need to reinforce rules and advise a condition is that each business educates staff that direct family members of staff are not allowed to have entries in that store
-Greater budget for TV advertising
-Posters and local printing through Sign Stitch and print went well
-Need more stalls and events at the festival
-Need more food outlets,
-Great trade (surprised Ann) for most stores who extended their opening hours eg Blue Denim
-Need more food outlets eg BBQ’s
-Rotary very pleased with the amount of Sausage Sambos they sold
-Timing (last Thursday before Xmas) was good although schools had closed. But we need to keep it close to Xmas as the core of the project it that is maximising people shopping in Gunnedah or Xmas
Letters of thanks
-Chris Frend who played Santa
-Stripes for their truck
-GSC for their support
Drawing of raffle
-Was a long winded affair
-Need to have activities and/or entertainment whilst waiting for the 4 minutes for the winners (we had 5 which were drawn but person not present – 5 x 4 minutes = 20 minutes of waiting
Entertainment
-Lacking somewhat as schools had already closed down
-Most thought that we did not need the band (this was paid for by Hennessey Real Estate)
-Further stage would be great apart from truck platform
-Some groups could not play eg ukulele group as they did not have public liability insurance - advice from our legal fraternity?
BUDGET: yet to be finalised, but expected to go over budget
-
-Run at short notice
-A loss will probably result once all invoices have been attended to
-Was considered a good learning experience and many businesses were very happy with the attendance on the night.
-It was discussed that we had difficulty filling the street which needs to be addressed for this year as well as issues with the lottery.
-Not enough food outlets for the number of people present
-PA system not satisfactory for two roving attendees on the night.
-Ann will send thankyou letters to all those who helped on the night.
- Gunnedah Gift Card(Ann Luke)Report Attached
Gift card Report
Meeting of working group Thursday 7 January 11.30 Enchanted Events: Jodi Dolbel, Sarah Ranclaud, Ann Luke
- Overall position
- The group feels we are in an OK position, noting that there is a fee owing to WLT for the next years support ($1750 plus GST)
- The businesses that are involved bring in membership funds which do underwrite the project to a certain extent
- Funds will be paid to us 4 times a year (75% of unspent funds on exp cards), which will in the long run we hope to match the annual fee for the project
- Many businesses are not doing well with gift cards being utilised for sales in their business (see summary below)
- We had a relatively poor response from major businesses using cards for their staff rewards. Two big buys – Council and Gunnedah Leather processors.
- Some Gift card shops have failed to renew their membership, Sarah and Ann to visit personally
- Marketing for next 6 months
- We wanted to organise some generic posters for shops with the gift card to come out at peak times, e.g. Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, costing TBA for approval by committee. Costing $130 incl GST
- Facebook and direct to our members and through newsletter periodically
- Seek support from Mygunnedah for marketing
- Budget position – next account is in for annual fee from WLT- $1750 plus GST. Otherwise few costs
- Our position on expired card funds. The working group feels that our position should be “that upon direct request, should a loaded but unused card over the loaded value of $99.99 and within 6 months of the expiry date, be requested to have the time extended, then upon a signed statement of maintaining confidentiality, that 75% of that value less $15.00 administration fee be reimbursed through a replacement gift card.”
- Distributing new cards – the working group members will visit all stores to update and revitalise card supply to load up stores.
- Activate card information - required by WLT – to be collected and forwarded
-The Gift card working group met 2 weeks ago
-It was determined that the cards are costing the Chamber money due to them being a cost of $3 each.
-Butchers, liquor stores and the shire council appear to be having the greatest success with the cards at this point in time. It is disappointing that the larger businesses in town aren’t utilising the cards more and therefore they are not a great initiative to keep money held in Gunnedah.
-No cheque has been received from Whitehaven yet to assist with the funding of the cards and mention was made to the Treasurer that an invoice must be raised and sent to them for payment ASAP.
-Cards could be made more visible to the Gunnedah community through better marketing by means of Facebooketc. and poster advertising at certain times of the year like Valentine’s Day etc.
-$42,219 has been attributable to the gift cards since commencement, which the majority of the committee deemed satisfactory.
Motion: In relation to expired card funds “that upon direct request, should a loaded but unused card over the loaded value of $99.99 and within 6 months of the expiry date, be requested to have the time extended, then upon a signed statement of maintaining confidentiality, that 75% of that value less $15.00 administration fee be reimbursed through a replacement gift card.” (Luke/Daniells). Marsh against and Farquar abstained. CARRIED.
- Gunnedah Open for Business– Jamie Chaffey (Report Attached)
Motion: That the reports be accepted (Chaffey/Sardinha).CARRIED.
Upcoming Events
- February networking – Two networking events for February. BHP Caroona coal to have a dinner event and the Anti-Coal farmer group to have a breakfast networking event at the Mackellar Motel on 2/2/2016.
- The regional advisory council are having a meeting in Gunnedah with the NSW Business Chamber on the 1st March 2016 from 3-5pm. The chamber president suggested having a talk on local preference policy with Mr ColinFormann and the Gunnedah Shire Council as guest speakers. Chamber secretary to organise a venue to catch up for dinner after hours. Details to be confirmed.
- Marchnetworking – Tuesday 1st March – Namoi Valley Bricks @ 5.30pm.
General Business (Report Attached)
Chamber communication
Following the secretary’s job getting unwieldy and duplicitous, and a desire to neaten up the treasurer’s role (invoicing and payments etc) a meeting was held on Monday 18 January in an effort to streamline communications to make each person’s job easier and avoid communication hassles.
Present: Jamie Chaffey, Ann Luke, Treena Daniels and Alysha White
Main points:
Phone:
The Chamber phone number 6742 3600 will continue with its answering message and will notify Alysha when incoming message placed.
Action:
- Ann to change message on phone and advise codes etc.
Mail:
Mail will be collected once a week minimum by Alysha and scanned and saved on a file to OneDrive. Relevant person can be notified by email of mail in order to action
Action:
- Alysha to auto feed scanner, folders to be formatted on One drive
Email:
Jamie to access and action email addresses: President@; Chamber@, admin@
Alysha to access admin@
Treena to access Treasurer Chamber
Cover each other when absent
Action:
- New email addresses to be created by Ann : Vicepresidentchamber@ Gunnedah.org.au
- SecreatryChamber@
- All email and website info to be summarised and left with e.g. President and Treasurer
Newsletter and member contact