Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce
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Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce
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Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce President Dana Donahue called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m. at The Oak Valley Catfish Kitchen. New member Terry Burns and guest Jean Gore, wife of member Ralph Gore (Burning Stump Lodge) were introduced. A motion was made by Phil Lambe and seconded by John Morris to accept the minutes of the April 2008 meeting. All in favor none opposed, the motion carried. A motion was made by Jake and seconded by Greg to accept the Treasurer’s report dated April 30, 2008. Approximately $20K has been set aside for prize money and some is brochure money. Actually, available funds to the Chamber are apx. $17K. All in favor none opposed, the motion carried. Committee Reports: 5-A. Membership. Bob Williams reports that we are now at 105 paid members plus two new ones that we are waiting on to pay their membership fee. 5-B. New brochure update. The new brochure has 32 pages and contains more information than any prior edition. It is not just geared to tourism but also to those who want to move here. There are three ads unpaid but they are covered according to Barbara. The committee started working on it in January and thought it might go to 20 pages. It will take about two weeks for printing. There are apx. seven cases of the old brochures left and we need to use them first. 5-C. Big Catfish Splash. (1) Brochures: Ron Jones has been working distributing brochures as has Jake. If you have a motel, put them in each room, keep them in the vehicle you drive most and take them in places you visit such as the sporting goods department at Wal-Mart. (2) Hats: Jake said the hats should arrive June 12th at the latest. 5-D. Skeeter. The Skeeter Tournament is June 20 – 22 at Lake Fork Marina. We can put our brochures in the bags the registered fishermen will receive. We will have to check and see if we can also put a Catfish Splash brochure in each bag. 6. Boat Show. Dana said that the two months after the Indianapolis show, our web site had the highest number of hits ever. She also said we should perhaps discuss and decide what boat shows we are going to attend earlier than we did last year due in part to the continually rising cost of gas. John Morris gave his opinion of the following shows: Arlington and Shreveport – not good; Claremore and Indianapolis – good; Dallas would be better than Arlington; Chicago has a waiting list; St. Louis is a nice show – they have a new convention center. 7. Letters. Forgot to bring them to tonight’s meeting, will bring them to June’s meeting. 8. Shirts. Sam Scroggins has order forms with him tonight for the new Chamber shirts. There will also be an order form emailed by Bob to the Chamber members. If you want them by the Catfish Splash in July, you need to get them ordered ASAP. The next meeting will be at 15 Acres Retreat, 1554 CR3235, Quitman on June 26th with dinner at 6 PM – BRING A DISH TO SHARE. The meeting will follow at 7 PM. A motion to adjourn was made by Martin Edwards and seconded by Jake Gay. The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m. Minutes prepared by Secretary Mandy Biggs.
Directions From Quitman, TX: PLEASE NOTE: Neither Barbara nor I will be at the June meeting (Barb = Las Vegas, me = Phoenix). I really need someone to take notes or tape it. If you can/will, please call my cell, 903.638.1970. If you tape it, everyone HAS to talk one at a time! Thanks.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce President Dana Donahue called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at The Links at Lands End Restaurant. The Secretary was late for the meeting so the review and request for approval of the March minutes was not conducted in the usual sequence but is being reported in the usual sequence. A motion was made by Keeley Roan and seconded by Phil Lambe to accept the minutes of the March 2008 meeting. All in favor none opposed, the motion carried. A motion was made by Phil Lambe and seconded by Bob Varner to accept the Treasurer’s report dated March 31, 2008. All in favor none opposed, the motion carried. Committee Reports: A. Membership. Bob Williams reports that we are now at 102 paid members plus one new one that we are waiting on to pay their membership fee. B. New brochure update. Barbara Williams reported that almost all of the ads have been paid; as of today about five or six remain unpaid. Although the brochure was scheduled to go to print around the end of April, it will probably be closer to the end of May before it actually is ready for the printer. C. Toyota Texas Bass Classic. The booth shared by the Chamber and the Lake Fork Sportsman’s Association was in an excellent location. Barbara reported that she has approximately 8,000 plastic bags with the words “Thank You” on them that we could use next year to put printed material in to give to people. Dana said it would be nice to have a rack to display informational material rather than stacking it all over the table. Dana also said there will be thank you letters at the May meeting that will be sent to the Toyota staff, SRA, sponsors, etc. Once again, we won’t know for several months if Toyota is coming back to Lake Fork in 2009 or going elsewhere. As was the case last year, there were ‘murmurings’ immediately following the tournament regarding the parking, overcrowding, etc. We’ll just have to wait and see. D. Big Catfish Splash. (1) Brochures: The brochures are in and everyone needs to get some for display/distribution at their business. (2) Plaques: Bob Williams and Martin Edwards are working on the plaques. (3) Raffle: Barbara has been pricing televisions for the raffle at Wal-Mart and found the average price for a digital flat screen is $135 - $150. A discussion followed on the necessity of providing a television. Sam Scroggins made a motion that was seconded by Keeley Roan to set a cap of $1,000 for Barbara to spend for raffle prizes, which could include other electronics or something totally unrelated to electronics. All in favor none opposed, motion carried. If Barbara does decide to purchase a television, it is critical to purchase a digital rather than an analog model due to FCC rule changes that become effective in February 2009. (4) Hats: Jake stated that in 2007 the cost of the hats was $2.09 each including shipping from China, which was $.08 per hat. The cost this year will be $2.19 plus freight. He ordered 864 hats and the anticipated arrival date is between the end of May and mid June. E. Legends of Lake Fork Bass Tournament. Bob W has a sign-up sheet for volunteers to work at the Chamber booth, Friday – Sunday May 16th – May 18th. It is broken up into three hour shifts so please volunteer to work at least one shift during the weekend. F. Awning: Bob W requested the Chamber authorize the purchase of a portable, fold-up gazebo-like cover and a couple of camp chairs for use at outdoor Chamber events such as the various tournaments. A motion was made by Keeley Roan and seconded by Ralph Gore to authorize the requested purchase. All in favor none opposed, the motion carried. G. Donation: Barbara read a letter from the local chapter of the American Cancer Society requesting a donation from the Chamber. We have donated $100 a year to them for the past two years. A motion was made by Mandy and seconded by Jake approving the donation of $100 for 2008. All in favor none opposed, the motion carried. OLD Business H. Shirts. (This information is reprinted from the March minutes.) Sam will do shirts for the Chamber members at special prices; minimum order is one. Sam will furnish an order form to Bob Williams so he can email to members (Sam was reminded after the meeting to be sure and get the order form to Bob so the shirts can be ordered). The prices and styles are:
The next meeting will be at The Oak Valley Catfish Kitchen on May 22nd with dinner at 6 PM and the meeting at 7 PM. A motion to adjourn was made by Jake Gay and seconded by Ralph Gore. The meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Minutes prepared by Secretary Mandy Biggs.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce Director Bob Williams called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at PeeWee’s Pit Stop Café. President Dana Donahue was unable to attend due to an emergency dental appointment. The minutes for the January and the February meetings were distributed. A motion was made by Jake Gay and seconded by Bob Varner to accept the minutes of both meetings. All in favor none opposed, the motion carried. A motion was made by John Morris and seconded by Karey Atkinson to accept the Treasurer’s report dated 2/29/2008. All in favor none opposed so the motion carried. Treasurer Barbara Williams noted the travel expenses for the boat shows are on the reverse of the Treasurer’s Report. Committee Reports: A. Membership. Bob Williams reports that we are now at 101 paid members plus two new ones that we are waiting on them to pay their membership fees. B. Ad for Quitman Heritage Foundation Program. The QHC prints a brochure each year for their Annual Spring Swing Festival. The Chamber purchased the back page last year for $250 and the price remains the same this year but will be in color. A motion was made by Bob Williams and seconded by Keeley Roan that we again purchase the back page of the brochure. All in favor none opposed, the motion carried. C. New brochure update. Bob Williams reported that we now have $20,550 in confirmed ads for the new brochure. It will be thirty two pages which is twice the size of the last one. Although it was decided at the last meeting to have the front & back cover at 100 lb paper, due to the size of the brochure and additional cost of approximately $1,400, we have decided to make the whole brochure with 80 lb paper. The cost for 40K brochures is $19,100 plus shipping. The brochure will go to print on or about the end of April. D. Toyota Texas Bass Classic. We are partnering with the Lake Fork Sportsman’s Association (LFSA) to have a booth at the tournament. Friday morning, Saturday and Sunday are covered; we still need someone for Friday afternoon. With our current number of volunteers, we will need to do six to seven hour shifts. If we get more volunteers, the shift length could be reduced to four hours. LFSA has six volunteers. TTBC staff will assign booth space when you get there to set up on Monday the week of the tourney. We were approached by the printer of a fishing book to sell the book at our booth. The book is apx. 5 ½” x 8 ½” and is of the “coffee table” style. The printer and his wife will do all the selling, give us ½ of the proceeds and we will split our ½ with LFSA. A motion was made by Jake Gay and seconded by Bruce Allen. All in favor none opposed, the motion carried. E. Catfish Splash. Need people for the committee, possibly some that haven’t been involved in the past – “new blood”. The following people volunteered at the meeting: Jake Gay, Karey Atkinson, John Morris and Sam Scroggins. Bob Williams will call Martin Edwards tomorrow to see if he will be available to assist this year. Bob also said that although in the past he had made the plaques for the sponsors, he will not have the time to do that this year and he would like to outsource it. Mandy Biggs made a motion and Jake Gay seconded it to outsource the sponsor plaques, approximately five or six. All in favor none opposed, motion carried. Hats are on order; the leftovers we have will be given to ‘latecomers’ if we run out of the new ones. Bag stuffing will be done at PeeWee’s following the normal schedule. F. Shirts. Sam Scroggins has about 70 of the small logo patches but none of the large logo patches (Jake said he has some he will get to Sam). Sam will do shirts for the Chamber members at special prices; minimum order is one. Sam will furnish an order form to Bob Williams so he can email to members. The prices and styles are:
OLD Business Three pictures that had been submitted by members were passed around for us to select the one we felt was the best one for the front cover of the new brochure. After the votes were counted, picture number 9 was selected. The next meeting will be at The Links at Lands End on April 24th with dinner at 6 PM and the meeting at 7 PM. They have both a menu and a “theme” buffet. The theme that night will be Italian. A motion to adjourn was made by Mandy Biggs and seconded by Jake Gay. The meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m. Minutes prepared by Secretary Mandy Biggs.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce President Dana Donahue called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at Moser’s Restaurant. The minutes for the January meeting were not available for review however, they were emailed to all members and posted on the Chamber web site. A motion was made by Jake Gay and seconded by Dennis Sheley to accept the Treasurer’s report dated 1/31/2008. All in favor none opposed so the motion carried. Treasurer Barbara Williams indicated that we are now down to one bank account. Committee Reports: A. Membership. Bob Williams reports that we are now at 100 members.
B.
Ad for
Quitman Heritage Foundation Program.
The QHC prints a brochure
each year for their 3rd Annual Spring Swing Festival. The Chamber
purchased the back page last year for $250 and the price remains the same this
year but will be in color. C. New brochure update. Bob Williams reported that we now have over $13000 in confirmed ads for the new brochure and we are continuing to contact our membership. We will be increasing the size of the brochure by at least 4 pages and perhaps more.
D.
Toyota Texas
Bass Classic.
Ken
from the Minnow Bucket brought brochures and posters for this event for our
members to have at their businesses. E. Catfish Splash. Bob Williams reported that the brochures are completed and have been distributed at the boat shows. The brochures are also available for our members at the end of the meeting. F. Tyler Chamber of Commerce “Chamber Days” at Tyler Pounds Field. We participated in this last year, taking a Ranger Bass Boat to the show compliments of Diamond Sports Marine. This event will be held March 27th this year. If we do the show this year, we need to gather printed material from our members for distribution and determine if we have volunteers to work the event.
G.
Boat and Trade Show Update.
This year we participated in
the following shows: H. Legend Tournament. Don Hampton has again offered us booth space at no charge. We have had booth at the tournament before and we should consider doing it again. New Business Dana Donahue suggested that we get a suitcase and at each meeting, members should bring their business cards and other printed material so that we will have it available for future shows. The next meeting will be at Pee Wee’s Café on March 27th with dinner at 6 PM and the meeting at 7 PM. A motion to adjourn was made by Phil Lambe and seconded by all. Minutes prepared by Bob and Barbara Williams
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce President Martin Edwards called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at AJ’s Fish House. Martin introduced the following new members: - Ken Goule, new owner of the Minnow Bucket - Charles Strebeck, City Limit Boat & Mini Storage - Paul & Nance Duvall, Secret Haven RV Resort - Bobby & Paula Henderson, new owner of the Lighthouse Resort A motion was made by Paul Tibbets and seconded by Bob Varner to accept the minutes of the December 2007 meeting. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. A motion was made by Ken Player and seconded by Keeley Roan to accept the Treasurer’s report dated December 31, 2007. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. Officers & Director for 2008 as follows: - Dana Donahue, President - Danny Silcox, Vice President - Mandy Biggs, Secretary - Barbara Williams, Treasurer - Bob Williams, Director Membership: We are now at 97 members. Publication Committee: The Catfish Tournament brochures are printed and at the bindery. They are scheduled to be picked up Friday morning and we should have them no later than Monday. The committee had a meeting last week to discuss the new Chamber brochure. We have decided to print 40,000 brochures which is the same as the last printing. An email was sent out last Friday to members that had an advertisement in the present brochure so that they have an option to maintain their ad placement. As of today, we have advertisements confirmed for $4650. In February, we will begin to contact members who did not have an advertisement in the present brochure. Boat and Trade Shows: We need 4 people for the Indianapolis Show. We will send out an email to all members on Friday to try to find additional people. New Business: Toyota Texas Bass Classic has requested that we distribute posters and brochures. We will contact them tomorrow to discuss the quantity and where to ship them. It was also asked if we would have a booth at the Bass Classic this year. We will investigate. Next meeting: Thursday February 28, 2008 at Moser’s Restaurant, dinner at 6:00 p.m. and meeting at 7:00 p.m. Adjourn: Motion to adjourn made by Ralph Gore and seconded by Keeley Roan. Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Minutes recorded by Bob & Barbara Williams
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce
President Martin Edwards called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at the Moser’s
Restaurant.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce
President Martin Edwards called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at the Minnow Bucket Restaurant. Martin introduced new members Arthur and Evelyn Mills, CPA’s, of A. Mills Tax Relief and Eric Austin of Farmers Electric Cooperative of Greenville. We also have Wilson-Bartley Funeral Home in Alba, City Limit Storage in Alba and Emory Economic Corporation as new members. A motion was made by Ken Donahue and seconded by Keeley Roan to accept the minutes of the October 2007 meeting. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. A motion was made by Mandy Biggs and seconded by Keeley Roan to accept the Treasurer’s report dated October 31, 2007. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. We have received the Texas YES! grant which is $2,971.74 but it has not been deposited. Nominating Committee: Danny Silcox reported they have three candidates for the three positions that are open. Anyone interested in running for a position on the Board of Directors please contact Danny prior to December 12th. Boat and Trade Shows: All positions for all shows have been filled but Bob would like to have alternates available so if anyone is interested in being an alternate, please email Bob Williams: bigbass@peoplescom.net. Hotel reservations have been made for Birmingham and Claremore and will book Indianapolis by our next meeting December 13th. The reservations were put on Bob’s credit card so he would like to be reimbursed for the $1, 298.88 he has spent plus the Indianapolis rooms. Mandy made a motion to reimburse Bob and Dana Donahue seconded it. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. Phil Lambe asked Bob about the monitor that was discussed at the October meeting. Bob reported the cost would be $170 plus tax and shipping. Mandy made a motion that Bob go ahead and purchase the monitor and Keeley seconded it. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. Bob reported the bass replica has been purchased at a cost of $300 and is waiting for a shipping box for storage. The replica is in the 14 pound range. Dennis Sheley said he would donate a crappie replica. TTBC Update: Not a lot of info available yet. Reportedly there will be a bigger name in entertainment than last year and also reportedly there will be a charge of $25/person to attend. The media meeting was held a couple of weeks ago. Big Catfish Splash: Martin is continuing his efforts to reach and sign up sponsors for the tournament. Jill Russell has joined a national real estate firm and is required to travel a lot so she has to resign from her position on the WCIC. We do have Ken Donahue of Lake Fork Marina on the WCIC to help represent this area but more representation is needed for the Alba area. Membership Recruitment: Bob reported the bulk mailing to Yantis has been done and we have gained one new member as a result. Social Events: Teresa Weeks has the Senior Angels for members to pick up tonight. Be sure and record which Angel number(s) you have. Angel purchases can be turned in at PeeWee’s Pit Stop Café by December 12th or brought to the meeting on December 13th. The Senior party will be Friday, December 14th from 12 noon until 2 p.m. PeeWee’s private Christmas party will be on Saturday, December 15th. Next meeting: Thursday December 13th at Moser’s Restaurant; dinner at 6:00 p.m. and meeting at 7:00 p.m. NOTE: Meeting moved up 2 weeks due to Christmas. Adjourn: Motion to adjourn made by Phil and seconded by Bob. Meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce
President Martin Edwards called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. at Pee Wee’s BBQ. Martin introduced new member Karey Atkinson with United American Insurance. We also have Wilson-Bartley Funeral Home in Alba, City Limit Storage in Alba and Emory Economic Corporation as new members. A motion was made by Bob Williams and seconded by Barbara Williams to accept the minutes of the September 2007 meeting. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. A motion was made by Phil Lambe and seconded by Dana Donahue to accept the Treasurer’s report dated September 31, 2007. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. We have approval of the Texas YES! grant which is $2,971.74. Barbara also reported that Texas Yes will be available for the next 2 years although budgets have not yet been released. Barbara Williams reported that we now have a new CPA. Also, the Chamber general checking account and the Chamber Catfish account will be combined into one account by the end of the year.
Membership Recruitment Bob
Williams reported that the bulk mailing to all Alba businesses is complete. We
have already signed up 2 new members as a result and this payed for the
mailing. A big THANK YOU to Dana Donahue for printing the 500 flyers. Publicity: We have approximately 9800 Chamber brochures remaining of the 40,000 that we printed. At the time of printing, we felt that would be sufficient for 2 years based on prior experience. Since then, our distribution has been excellent including local member businesses, all Texas entry points and boat shows. It is suggested that we begin the process to put together a new brochure starting no later than January with a proposed printing in the April time frame. All in attendance agreed that we should move forward on this. Bob Williams will get with the publication committee to start the process. TTBC Update: The tourney is returning to Lake Fork April 18-20, 2008. The tourney is scaled back a little in that there will be 100 anglers in 2008, there were 160 in 2007. The Toyota web site is now up and anyone wishing up to date information should visit the site at www.toyotatexasbassclassic.com. Big Catfish Splash: Martin is continuing to work on getting sponsors for 2008. Martin also reported that the contract for next year’s Big Catfish Splash has been signed and returned to Bob Sealey. Boat
and Trade Shows:
Bob Williams is taking over the show scheduling for John Morris. Bob reports
that we have enough volunteers for Birmingham. We still need volunteers for
Claremore and Indianapolis. Bob will be sending out an email to recruit more
volunteers. We had a slide show for this year’s boat shows and Bob asked if we should continue to have one for the upcoming shows? All agreed that we should continue to do the slide show. Bob Williams suggested that if we are to continue to do the slide show, the Chamber needs to purchase a 19” monitor. It was agreed that Bob will research the cost of the monitor and report back on it at the next meeting. Nomination Committee: Danny Silcox will chair this committee for the upcoming Board elections. Dana Donahue, Barbara Williams, Phil Lambe and Martin Edwards will also be on this committee. Social Events: Teresa Weeks reminded everyone that she will have Senior Angels ready for the next meeting and asked that everyone pick at least one angel. Teresa will provide the information to Bob and an email will be sent out to remind everyone with full details of time and place for party and gifts to be turned in. Teresa will also be putting together the Christmas basket for the Chamber’s Christmas Party and Meeting. Next meeting: Thursday November 15 at The Minnow Bucket; dinner at 6:00 p.m and meeting at 7:00 p.m. NOTE: Meeting moved up 1 week due to Thanksgiving. Adjourn: Motion made by Phil and seconded by Bob. Meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce
President Martin Edwards called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. at Texas Grill. Martin introduced new member Ralph Gore, new owner of Burning Stump Lodge. A motion was made by John Morris and seconded by Bob Williams to accept the minutes of the August 2007 meeting. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. A motion was made by Mandy Biggs and seconded by Jake Gay to accept the Treasurer’s report dated August 31, 2007. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. We are still waiting for approval of the Texas YES! grant which is apx. $2,900. With that we would have a total of apx. $48K in the bank. Membership Recruitment (Agenda Item 5-b): Bob Williams suggested doing a bulk mailing to all Alba businesses to recruit new members. A copy of the letter that would be sent was attached to the August minutes and distributed to all in attendance. Depending on the results of this mailing, we may do mailings to surrounding areas, i.e.: Yantis, Quitman, etc. Publicity (Agenda Item 5-c): ) We were too late for the current edition of Images of East Texas which comes out in Jan. 2008. But we could consider having an ad in the Jan. 2009 edition. The cost of an ad is: $8K for a full page and apx. $1,500 for a right hand column. Gary McKinley, Executive Director of the Wood County Industrial Commission, spoke with Martin about running a two-page ad in 2009 and we could partner with them. ) Martin gave an overview of the history of our involvement with Bass Master. ) WCIC has no money in their reserve account. The options are to increase the hotel tax in unincorporated areas (currently $.04, could go up another $.03 maximum) or to discontinue paying for some the activities they have been supporting. Martin said the most logical is to discontinue advertising in Bass Master which cost apx. $42K a year. Gary has been looking at other advertising options such as Southern Outdoors or Bass Inc. Judy Stroman asked about the possibility of running a smaller ad in Bass Master instead of dropping it altogether. Martin said that our current ad is small and a smaller ad would still be too expensive. We could also consider establishing a tax district for the Lake Fork area. It would be necessary to hire a consultant to establish the precise boundaries for the district. ) Catfish Gold update: A ½ page ad in the May and June 2008 issues would cost $820 per month. We could do member ads on the other ½ page. Bob Williams will continue to talk with Richard. Ad information would have to be to Richard by April 2008. Two other possibilities are Southern Sports and Lake Caster. TTBC Update (Agenda Item 6-a): The tourney will be returning to Lake Fork April 18-20, 2008. The tourney is scaled back a little in that there will be 100 anglers in 2008 and there were 160 in 2007. Toyota has a meeting scheduled with SRA and TPWD in November where the plans will be finalized. Big
Catfish Splash (Agenda item 6-b):
Martin is working on
getting sponsors for 2008. Wood County Industrial Commission donated $5K and
Bank Texas $2,500. Ferris Brothers in Hattiesburg, MS burned down but should be
back in full operation January 1st. Some stats from the 2007
tourney: 758 participants representing 15 states, among them: Boat and Trade Shows (Agenda item 6-c): <1> John Morris distributed a list of shows that he was recommending we attend next year: Birmingham, AL (01/30 – 02/03/08), Claremore OK (02/07 – 02/10/08) and Indianapolis, IN (02/15 -02/24/08). Claremore was previously approved so reservations have been made and paid for already. Barbara Williams expressed concern about the closeness of the ending of the Birmingham show and the beginning of the Claremore show. The show dates actually start one day earlier and end one day later because of set-up and tear-down, i.e.: for the workers, Birmingham’s dates are 01/29 – 02/04/08, etc. Bob Varner made a motion to accept John’s recommendation and Bob Williams seconded the motion. All in favor, none opposed – motion carried. John passed around a sign-up sheet. Dana Donahue asked how many people are needed to work at the shows and John suggested four. Martin said there should be at least two on site at a time and it’s not a bad thing to have at least one extra person available in case something happens to one of the people scheduled, i.e.: one becomes ill, one has to leave for some reason, etc. John also stated we could really use a bass replica to display at the shows. Mandy made a motion that John research cost and bring the info to the October meeting. The motion was seconded by Dana. All in favor, none opposed – motion carried. <2> Martin said we need to get people to come to Lake Fork for more than just a weekend. We won’t get that at the small shows. We get a lot of people from Indiana. <3> Bob Williams suggested we establish a meal per diem for the people who work at the boat and trade shows. Based on his experience, daily meal expenses can vary substantially from city to city. Martin said we could discuss it further and perhaps consider a meal allowance around $25. Social Events (Agenda item 6-d): <1> Some months ago Jill Russell suggested we (CoC members) have a fish fry. Unfortunately, Mandy, Social Events Chairperson, forgot to follow up with Jill but promised she will contact Jill before the October meeting and have something arranged. <2> Mandy reminded everyone about the Christmas Angel Tree project for the Alba-Golden School. There will be an Angel Tree located at Lakeside Cove RV Park and she asked that everyone come by and pick an angel – or two or three if they wish – from the tree. <3> Barbara asked if we were going to have a Seniors Christmas Party this year and if Teresa Weeks was willing to head up the project as she has the past two Christmases. Teresa responded that yes she would organize it. Barbara made a motion to sponsor the Senior Christmas Party and John Morris seconded it. All in favor, none opposed – motion carried. Next meeting: Thursday October 25th at PeeWee’s Pit Stop Café, 3589 Highway 154; dinner at 6:00 p.m and meeting at 7:00 p.m. NOTE: This is a change from the list that was distributed. According to the list, the October meeting was to be held at the Bass Lantern. Due to construction, it needed to be moved so we have swapped the October and November locations. Adjourn: Motion made by Martin and seconded by Jake Gay. Meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce
Acting President Martin Edwards called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at The Place on the Lake. Martin introduced guest Gary McKinley, Executive Director of the Wood County Industrial Commission. A motion was made by Phil Lambe and seconded by Keeley Roan to accept the minutes of the July meeting. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. A motion was made by Bob Varner and seconded by Keeley Roan to accept the Treasurer’s report dated July 31, 2007. Barbara Williams maintains the Big Catfish Splash bank account now and provided a report for that account as well. Barbara stated that the report for the Catfish account is pretty accurate. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. Big Catfish Splash (Agenda item 5): There is still one bill out. Not sure if we will receive any grant money from the Texas YES! Program. We should be receiving an additional $4K (approximately) so the Catfish account would have $36K and the General Fund account would have $13K for a total of $49K. Catfish Gold (Agenda item 6): The Publication Committee, chaired by Keeley Roan, met with Richard Chrisman of Catfish Gold as requested at the July meeting. Richard gave the committee a price of $2,500 a month for a fold-out map in the center of the magazine with business card size ads all around the map and $1,900 a month for a full page ad with the business card ads. There would also be an article on Lake Fork each month. If we use the Texas YES! logo in the Chamber ad, we could possibly get back part of our expense if they have the funds available (1/2 of 1 page ad). For us to commit to the fold-out ad, members interested in advertising would have to commit to and pay for a full year of advertising up front. We also discussed just advertising for two or three months instead of for the full year. During the July meeting, Mr. Chrisman had stated the regular cost for the fold-out pages ad is $1,430 per month and he offered it to us for $1,000 per month. Due to the considerable discrepancy in pricing, Mandy Biggs made a motion that the committee meet with Mr. Chrisman and get a written proposal for a one page, two page fold-out and a three page fold-out ad and present the proposal to the membership at the September meeting. The motion was seconded by Phil Lambe. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. Note: Richard distributes the magazine nation wide, we would distribute it at boat shows we attend and it would also be distributed at shows we don’t attend. Richard wants to promote the Big Catfish Splash and both of us make money. General Information (Agenda item 7): (A): TTBC: Lenny Francouer will be meeting with SRA next week. Part of the discussion will be regarding charging admission for all concerts in 2008. The tourney is tentatively set for April 10th – 13th. Ron Lewis spoke with the Lake Fork Rotary Club and SRA and suggested hosting a luncheon at Lake Fork Baptist Church for Lake Fork Rotary Club, SRA and TPWD. LFACofC would also be represented. (B): 2008 Big Catfish Splash: The Board of Directors voted to approve contributing $9,600 for prize money for the additional hourly prize winner. The BoD also voted to set aside $20K as a reserve in the event a problem does arise. Phil asked if it wouldn’t be better to purchase tournament insurance instead of “freezing” funds. Kathy stated that you can purchase ‘weather insurance’ that would provide coverage if the event had to be cancelled due to inclement weather; however, you can’t get insurance, for example, to protect you from not having enough participants (registration fees) to cover expenses. (C): Boat and Trade Shows: John Morris was to have presented information tonight but due to a family illness had to go out of town. His recommendations to Martin was to drop Arlington, Austin, Little Rock and Shreveport and attend Birmingham (01/30 – 02/03/08), Claremore OK (02/07 – 02/10/08) and Indianapolis (02/15 – 02/24/08). Barbara stated that Claremore is already paid for and confirmed. Sam Scroggins asked what was the rationale for dropping Arlington and Martin responded that the rationale for going was the availability of guides to attend where they could also book trips. Since the show has moved from Mesquite, the quality has declined as has attendance. The show in Kansas City was also considered, but the booth rental has increased, it is very difficult to get materials in and out and parking is bad. Because of these problems, Kansas City lost a lot of business to Claremore. (D): Meeting date change: Due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, we need to change the scheduled meeting date for those two months. Mandy made a motion to reschedule November’s meeting from Thursday November 22nd to Thursday November 15th and December’s meeting from Thursday December 27th to Thursday December 13th. The motion was seconded by Andrea Lambe. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. The December meeting is the Chamber’s annual Christmas party/meeting. Web Hosting: Bob Williams explained that the company that was hosting our website went out of business but he located a new host. However, Barbara had to pay the fee from personal funds (had to be cash) so she would like to be reimbursed the $150 she spent. Mandy made a motion and Keeley seconded it to reimburse Barbara as requested. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. Texas Old Fiddlers: Appearing February 2nd in Quitman. Tourist Centers: Keeley stated that Joey Baker of the Sulphur Springs Department of Tourism has gotten us into Texarkana effective September 1st. There is a ‘main’ map in the Tourist Center that features specific areas for a period of time. To qualify as the featured area, the organization has to be part of multi-city or county group. We participated along with SS Department of Tourism and Emory Economic Development Commission. Next meeting: Thursday September 27th at Texas Grill (5353 N FM-17, just south of AJ’s Fish House); dinner at 6:00 p.m and meeting at 7:00 p.m. Adjourn: Motion made by Bob Varner and seconded by Keeley Roan. Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce
Vice President Martin Edwards called the meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. at Little Mustang Restaurant. Martin introduced guest Richard Chrisman, owner and publisher of Catfish Gold Magazine (formerly Catfish Now). A motion was made by John Morris and seconded by Jake Gay to accept the minutes of the June meeting. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. A motion was made by Mandy Biggs and seconded by Bob Biggs to accept the Treasurer’s report dated 06/30/07. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. Big Catfish Splash (Agenda item 5): Bob Williams stated there were 758 entries this year. The complete financial information will be reported as soon as it is available. Barbara does not maintain the Big Catfish Splash account at this time. Total entry fees collected were $71,940 and this still has to be reconciled with Bob Sealy. A couple of sponsors have not been billed yet, Ferris Brothers are being invoiced for $1K for ’07 and ’08 and the raffle brought in $2,239 which is not as much as last year but the top ticket sellers weren’t available to help this year. Jake Gay made a motion and Bob Biggs seconded it to reimburse Martin $500 to assist in covering some of his expenses as host of the tournament, i.e.: comped rooms and meals, etc. Martin has hosted the Big Catfish Splash all four years and has never requested any reimbursement from the Chamber. President Jones sent an email via Jake thanking Martin for the time and energy that he has expended to ensure the Big Catfish Splash is always a success with each year being an improvement over the prior year. John Morris said the Boy Scouts did a great job and he would like to see them compensated again. This was approved in a prior meeting so the Troop Leader will be presented with a check at a future meeting. Bob Williams suggested sending a donation to Lake Fork Sportsman’s Association, the provider of the release boat. Jake Gay made a motion that was seconded by Bob Williams to give them $100. All in favor, none opposed – motion carried. Finance Committee (Agenda item 6): As previously stated, Barbara only handles the General Fund account and records at this time. Helen Heavey, CPA, takes care of the Big Catfish Account, financial reporting and income tax filing for the Chamber. The final report on the Big Catfish Splash should be available by the August 23rd meeting and will be furnished to the membership. Martin stated we will probably be consolidating the Big Catfish Account and the General Fund Account soon. He estimated that we made an approximate profit of $16,000. TP&WD Expo (Agenda item 7): Martin does not recommend this show for LFACofC. It was quite successful last year; however, it is geared more toward wildlife than toward fishing. There are a lot of “family type” activities available but it does not promote Lake Fork. He would not spend Minnow Bucket funds on this event. John Morris agreed with Martin’s opinion. The general consensus was to skip the Expo and utilize the money on other events that will promote Lake Fork. Texas Approach Travel Show (Agenda item 8): Martin prefers to have a Lake Fork representative at the various shows instead of a paid promoter with limited knowledge of the area. Overall it would probably be less expensive but the ability to accurately answer questions is more important. Also, we all insure that brochures are available for the attendees at the shows. Would the paid promoter share the interest in distributing our brochure and how would we evaluate whether their services were beneficial? Dana Donahue made a motion that was seconded by Bob Williams not to participate. All in favor none opposed – motion carried. General Membership (Agenda item 9): Bob Sealy wants to add a sixth place at the tournament in 2008. Martin requested a vote from the membership to allow the Board of Directors to determine the level of payout for the 2008 Big Catfish Splash. Jake made the motion to allow the BOD to decide the level of payout that would be paid by the LFACofC but also asked why an increase is needed. Martin gave a brief overview of how the tournament started in 2004 with 385 participants and how it has developed and grown in four years to 758 participants. Several suggestions were made regarding getting Bob Sealy to fund more of the tournament expenses. John suggested increasing the registration fee by five dollars a day would probably cover the increased payout. The motion was seconded by Bob Williams. Favor: 16; Oppose: 1 – motion carried. Richard Chrisman – Catfish Gold Magazine: Richard gave a presentation to the Chamber members regarding advertising in his magazine. He suggested a double page ad with a map surrounded by ads from the various LFACofC businesses, much like the center of our brochure. In the past, he has only done single pages ads – no double pages. Another idea was a back cover ad for the Chamber. The regular cost for the fold-out pages is $1,430 per month; he offered it to us for $1,000 per month. A general discussion followed and it was decided to have the publications committee contact Richard and get more information. Next meeting: Thursday August 23rd at The Place on the Lake (corner of FM-515 and FM-17; dinner at 6:00 p.m and meeting at 7:00 p.m. A list of meeting places for 2007 was distributed. Adjourn: Motion made by Dennis Sheley and seconded by Bob Biggs. Meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce
President Ron Jones called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at Tameraria’s Mexican Restaurant & Cantina.
Ron introduced guests John
and Sunny Milligan and member Jona Vacek.
As of June 28th, we have 96
members. A motion was made by John Morris and seconded by Bob Biggs to accept the minutes of the May meeting. All in favor none opposed so the motion carried.
A motion was made by Jill
Russell and seconded by Ken Player to accept the Treasurer’s report dated
05/31/07. All in favor none opposed so the motion carried. Storage of CofC Materials: Brochures and other materials have been moved to the storage unit and each member of the board has been given a key. Catfish Splash: (A) Bob Williams reported that most things are done except he needs additional volunteers: one for Saturday 10–2 and three for Sunday 6–close. Mandy volunteered for Saturday and Ken Player and Mary Morris volunteered for Sunday – still need one more! Contact Bob W if you can help. Bob mentioned that coolers are needed at the tables for water and soda; Jill offered to lend some (bring to the Minnow Bucket Friday evening). NOTE: everyone who will be working at the event needs to wear their chamber shirt and/or hat. You will also need to bring folding chairs Banners have been ordered and we will have them before the tourney. Ken has t-posts for hanging the banners and he will donate them to the chamber. The banners will be put up the weekend before the tourney. The hats have arrived and Ron found apx. 200 left over from last year. Since they don’t have a date on them, they can be used this year if needed. (B) The Boy Scout troop is lined up and waiting for notification of what time to be at the Minnow Bucket. John will contact the leader to let him know 6 a.m. (C) Friday July 20th at 1:30 p.m: bag stuffing at PeeWee’s Pit Stop – apx. 1 1/2 hours; 3 p.m.–10-ish: registration and raffle ticket sales at Minnow Bucket; shifts of apx. four hours each on Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 6 a.m. each morning. KMOO: Ron will call them to be sure they have the necessary information; they will be broadcasting live at the tourney. (D) Bob found a magazine called Catfish Now and in it was a full page ad for the Catfish Splash. We didn’t place the ad nor should we pay for it. (E) Martin will call Ferris Brothers tomorrow. They usually donate about a dozen Catfish Rods and some really nice shirts. He will also contact Bishop’s and Dorothy Gibson at Eagle Claw. Barbara purchased a TV and DVD player for the raffle. She had been authorized to spend up to $200 and, being such a super shopper, only spent $167! Good job Barbara!!!! Most anything you can get donated for the raffle will be appreciated. Bulk Mail Permit: For those that were not familiar with the permit and the process, Ron and Ken reviewed the requirements and emphasized the savings. Ken said there have already been two or three businesses that have done a mass mailing. Boat Shows: Texas Expo in Austin in October: no decision yet. Jake said we need to wait until after the Catfish Splash so we will know what our budget is for boat shows in 2008 and then decide and make the reservations. A lot of calls have been coming from people in the Great Lake region so Ron suggested we consider dropping some of the less attended shows and replace them with new ones. More discussion will follow. Next meeting: Thursday July 26th at the Little Mustang Café at the Lighthouse Resort on FM-17; dinner at 6:00 p.m and meeting at 7:00 p.m. A list of meeting places for 2007 was distributed. Adjourn: Motion made by Martin Edwards and seconded by Bob Biggs. Meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce Vice President Martin Edwards called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at Oak Valley Catfish Kitchen. He thanked The Bevill’s for opening up to allow us to have our meeting here. New members, owners of Big Mouth Lodge, Wendy Schaffer and Ronda Kluver were introduced .
As of May 24th, we
have 93 members. Storage of CofC Materials: This has been tabled until the next meeting. Jake Gay & Bob Williams will try to move the materials Jake has into the storage unit provided by Lake Side Cove and RV Park. Additional Display Kit: Bob Williams reported that the display kit appears to be in good shape. However, there was no instructions on the assembly. John Morris and Bob Williams will get together to determine how easy or difficult it is to assemble the kit. Based on the results, we will decide to purchase or not.
Catfish Splash:
(A)
Bob reported that he
has not yet got prices on the new banners. This will be done within the next
week. Brochure Distribution: Payment has been received for all ads except Tameraria’s and Good Time Hobby Shop. Boat Shows : John Morris and Jake Gay will p |
