General Membership Meeting Minutes Quarryville Library October 9, 2014, 7:30 a.m., Quarryville Library Welcome/Announcements • • Welcome: President BJ Abdo welcomed those in attendance. A sign-in sheet was passed around. New Member Recognition: BJ announced that the following businesses have become new members of the chamber: Jason R. Brown Electric in Quarryville; Gretchen M. Curran law offices in Willow Street; Jennifer Lightnoer with Llads Ventures, Inc. in Conestoga, and Michelle Moyers with Homefields, Inc. in Millersville. Reports/Activities/Current Business: • Solanco and Lampeter Fairs: BJ thanked everyone who volunteered their time in the chamber booths or otherwise helped at the Solanco and Lampeter fairs. BJ said more volunteers will be needed during next year’s fairs. The chamber is looking at ways to encourage more members to assist with the booths at the fairs. For example, there will be opportunities for members to signin online for their time shifts in the booths. A few new chamber members were signed up at the fairs this year. The drawing for the winners of the gift certificates will be held at the chamber’s next meeting; people signed up to enter the drawing during the Solanco and Lampeter fairs. • Solanco Fair Parade Float: This was the first year the chamber had a float in the parade, and BJ said it went well. • Chamber Night-Out/Mixers Report: The recent chamber night out at the Iron Horse Inn in Strasburg was well attended. BJ encouraged members to attend upcoming chamber night outs and chamber mixers, as he said they are fun events that help support chamber businesses. The next chamber mixer will be Thursday, October 23 at GR Mitchell, Inc. Building Supplies on Beaver Valley Pike in Willow Street. In addition to GR Mitchell, the mixer will be co-hosted by Rhoads Energy. Hours are 5 to 7 p.m. • Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Cathy Kaschak reported a balance of $5,931.94. She said recent expenses included creation of the float for the Solanco Fair parade, and the monthly payment made to the executive secretary. • New Web Launch Date: BJ Abdo said the chamber’s new website will be officially “launched” during the chamber’s 2015 annual banquet in March. • Web Report: Larry Albright passed around a website report for review. It was announced that there were 835 more page visits on the website than during the same time the previous year. The top ten most visited pages include the home page, local history, community calendar, contacts, benefits, positions, mixer and the forms. • Special Events Committee Vacancies: BJ announced that there are current vacancies on the chamber’s special events committee. Special events is an active, fun committee that coordinates events such as the annual shredding event, the annual banquet, and the annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. (This year’s tree lighting will be Friday, December 5). A few members at the meeting volunteered to serve on the special events committee, including Tom Watts (ServPro), Nicole Luecker (SECA) and Elaine Bledsoe (Golden Eagle Enterprises). Anyone who may be interested was asked to contact special events committee chairperson Holly Filius. • • Announcements: Tom Watts at ServPro said October is disaster prevention month and he encouraged people to check their smoke alarms and other safety devices in their homes and in their businesses to make sure they are working correctly. Fran Vita announced that the Quarryville Library will hold its annual used book sale on October 22, 23 and 24. Thousands of titles are available. Trudy Grove announced that the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life kickoff will be October 27. Networking Event: The remainder of the membership meeting featured a networking session during which those in attendance were given an opportunity to briefly describe their business or organization and the products and services they provide. Everyone was asked to answer a preprepared question about themselves that they randomly pulled from a basket, and each member also had the opportunity to win a $10 gift certificate to Ferguson & Hassler or Musser’s. Adjournment: The chamber’s next membership meeting will be Thursday, November 13 at 7:30 a.m. at the Quarryville Library.