East Tawas Business Association Regular Meeting February 1, 2012 East Tawas City Council Chambers Members Present: John & Sandra Hudeck, CJ Brummeler, John Brummeler, Diane Brewer, Mark Sterling, Mark Hitchcock, Karen Quarters, Helen Pasakarnis, Leigh Mott, Susan Elliott, Melissa McMacken, Ron Leslie, Mike Mooney, Amy Rogers President John Brummeler called the meeting to order at 8:02 Sue Elliott made a motion to accept minutes as written. Seconded by CJ Brummeler. Motion carried. Treasurer Report by Mike Mooney. Report was distributed showing our current financial status. We are current and have no outstanding bills. This weekend is our biggest fundraiser of the year with Perchville Chili Cook Off and 2012 dues letters are going out this week. Ron Leslie- Thankful for not as much snow as last year. All set for Perchville. Deferred to Helen Pasakarnis . Regarding surveys- the Downtown surveys, that went out and were due yesterday, very few have been returned. The information will help determine priorities of downtown merchants and Helen wants to present the information to TIFA and city council. Please fill our and return to Helen. Helen is asking for Re-pledge for Sunrise Coast/Travel MI of $500. John recommend to wait to vote in March after Chili cook-off. The amount of money asked for in donation is based on a population formula. Iosco county’s share is 85000 towards this program. Helen also shared that we are considering a tree memorial for Bob Elliott in the Sawyer St. parking lot. It was agreed that Helen should proceed with this project and will bring pictures and information on the type tree to the March meeting. Helen also shared information regarding the William Look building. ETBA is asked to consider sharing in the cost of renting. ETBA cost would be $450 same as last year. White flower baskets have been offered up for people to use. They had been bought by ETBA businesses. There are 30-40 available for use over the summer then return for winter storage. They are to used on side streets, sidewalks. If you would like to use and maintain for summer contact Helen. Mark Hitchock Thanks for support on Perchville 2012 and the Firework fundraiser over the last weekend. $800 was raised at the fundraiser. Already have raised more then 50/50 fundraiser last year. Warmer weather should help us all get people out and about this weekend. Rockin and rollin with extended Chamber hours this week for Perchville. Get your tickets for the dinner, call ahead if you want to pick up tickets at the door. Dinner tickets are a little down from last year. Expected that and anticipate increase next year after demonstrating how new venue works. Visitors guides have arrived this week. Digital link for guide is available and will be available to all our Chamber members after Perchville. The Chamber has purchased an old trailer that will be gutted and used for mobile headquarters at events. Looks like there will be ice to jump in for polar bear jump. Thin ice signs will be posted. Perchville schedule is available on line along with shuttle run schedule. This year shuttle has increased route going down to buckhorn, and both city limits. Chili Cook Off Going well with some resistance to new cozies. Chili cup does fits in cozy. Helen and CJ will be selling next to Village Chocolatier on Saturday to relieve some stress of selling and serving at businesses. Selling 2000 cozies. Ads in paper. If you need bags earlier come and get them or we will drop off Friday. Be sure to put up signs. This is the 18th year for Chili cook off. Top 3 winners will be out by 5pm to all who participated. One business is not in cook-off but will be serving chili. Not a problem, pass the word- all are welcome. Diane suggested “Chili Here” or “Chili Stop” sign to hang in window so people know where to go. New Business Membership Dues- time again for annual dues. We are contacting all potential and current members. No increase in dues this year. If you can’t pay at this time you will be able to pay at a later date. Letter explains what you owe. We appreciate the support of local businesses and their involvement. Maps for downtown. Leigh would like to be on the map with name. She was not last year. We have fine tuned the map to include as many restaurants and we will work again to squeeze you in. Welcome ideas on how to improve the map. Map is designed for people walking downtown. It is nice for people to know we have a Bed and Breakfast in town. Goal is to be done by Birding Festival. Need to improve on getting maps out to hotels to refill Barb Wasserman from Inn to Art. Barbara stated she is a big promoter of area art. An artist event is being worked on and has many participants she needs sponsors for this event. This year has gone to book form This year is an Art Stroll June 1. Barb stated she needs to co-op with retail merchants, service and food merchants and the artist. Merchants need to set aside space for artist and then also space for a food merchant. Cost is $50. Barbara has lots of support and so it is a go. In West Branch this has been popular. Will be promoted on radio. Sue Elliott Sue addressed the our tendency to tend to spend money then ask for money and figure how we will pay for it, for example the flowers, She is looking to get a sense what the budget will be for flowers this year so we can plan- 2800 for spring and 500-700 for mums based on last year plus this year we have more beds. This lead to a great group discussion with input from many. It was agreed- This just doesn’t happen we need to be proactive. We ask for money above dues to do many of these things. Use total plan for the year. We do need some flexibility. This issue needs to be addressed. We currently are a volunteer organization. Do we want to change that to an assessment formula? We have a good partnership with the city on issues. Not an issue to solve today but one we are looking into for planning purposes. The board does have a meeting schedule to set a budget guideline and still have ability to address unexpected issues. State St. parking lot- Have meet to go over plan and scaled back design will be working with Diane Brewer. TIFA has matched funds in that planting in the past. CJ Brummeler suggested we need same info to give prospective members of what ETBA does and how important it is we work together. The board has attempted to accomplish this in our dues letter. It was also suggested by Ron Leslie that we use a business size card to carry with us that has talking points regarding what we do. Barb Wasserman stated she is not on Newman St. and asked What can you do for me? We would ask Barb or others What would you like us to do? Leigh shared positive comments from her guests on how welcoming and attractive our downtown is to our visitors. Our downtown benefit’s the community as a whole. The business district is important for us all. How it looks make an impression on our visitors! We live where everyone else vacations. Motion by John to adjourn second by Melissa 9:10 Next Meeting March 7, 2012 8am in the East Tawas City Council Chamber Respectfully Submitted by Amy Rogers