Los Molinos Chamber

Executive Meeting Minutes

June 25, 2008

(See June 11 minutes following these)

 

The Chamber’s ‘Executive Meeting’ was called to order at 6:39 pm.

 

Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance were Jeannie & Ron Gallagher, Mike & Sharron Druey, Walter Dodd, Treasurer Charles Githens, President Betty Joe Morales and Jan Elmore.

 

We had no guests but we did have a quorum.

 

Past meeting minutes were read into the record with a correction to date & time fireworks sales are allowed to begin.  Kudos plus an “Atta Girl” was given to Jan Elmore for her willingness to pitch in on meeting minute taking for those times when Secretary Barbara is unavailable.  Ron Gallagher commented he likes the details Jan’s minutes contain as it allows him to catch up on our goings-on when work keeps him from attending.

 

Treasurer Charles gave his report for the Chamber and the VFW Independence Day Parade accounts and indicated that all the coins have been procured for both the parade hand outs and the ‘Play Day-in-The-Park’ activities.  There will be another press release submitted for the parade start time and the Play Day schedule of events.

 

Mr. Dodd gave his legislative report.  Some of our legislative information related to voter turnout in our June primary for Tehama County.  The demographics regarding ‘votes per party line’ and who won were covered.  Walter made mention of holding a ‘Candidates Night’ in late September or early October and suggested inviting all those running for positions at the local level as well as state & federal races; such as City Council-Corning, LMHS board openings and Special District candidates.

 

Mr. Dodd covered the highlights from the most recent Tehama County Board of Supervisors activities.  They announced the preliminary budget for 2008/09 at 126.5 million dollars with the final budget expected in September or October.  One of the budget items is raises for elected County officials and the County Supervisors.  More on that July 15th. 

 

For ballot consideration there are 2 items worth mentioning:

1.      A Charter amendment to change back to closed district elections for each member of the Board which would be effective in 2010.

2.      Changing to the method of a Grand Jury recommendation for salary matters pertaining to the Board of Supervisors.

Discussion followed regarding the Board’s current salary and benefits package.

 

The Mayor’s Race received a write up in the newspaper and candidate activities were briefly covered.

 

Thanks to a terrific work party on June 14th, the ‘Fireworks Wagon’ is all spiffed up and ready for action.  Betty’s family members & friends really worked hard raking and cleaning, sweeping and scrubbing.  A follow-up work party on June 21st finished putting the wagon back together & getting it moved into place.  We prepared our big mobile signs that advertise our fireworks are better than the other guys! 

 

The shipment of fireworks was inventoried and the support gear located and made ready for use. Mike Druey worked the computer keyboard and has all our parade entries lined up like little soldiers and ready to march.  Many thanks were extended to our volunteers who show up for these most important work days; without them and their efforts none of the Chamber events could take place!

 

Of course, the topic of conversation turned to the sale of fireworks and whether the CDF Chief will cancel all sales. The Governor asked all Californians to refrain from buying fireworks in these dry conditions as 700 fires burn throughout the state.  The Chamber decided to carry on as usual and get our ‘wagon inspection’ on Saturday the 28th, taking a ‘wait & see’ position.

 

Charles is expecting delivery on the 15 x 25 Flag in plenty of time for our Parade; white gloves need to be located at the VFW Hall.  Finishing touches made to the “Things-To-Do’ chores list; who is where and why.  We believe we have it covered and have dialed in the chores as best we can.  ‘All hands on deck’ if you can volunteer your time to make our 40th Anniversary Parade the best ever! 

 

We will try again next year for a military fly over for the start of our parade and another application will be made for the Budweiser Draft Horse appearance.  Parade entries to date; about 45-50 with many more expected the last week as is typical.  All parade entries must be in the Chamber office by July 3rd at noon.  After that deadline, you still can be in the parade but will not be judged.

 

On the subject of the Library having to close when it gets hot, we heard from the landlord about the bids to install an air conditioner and upgrade the electrical.  We explored possible grant opportunities and discussed the information that the Los Molinos Woman’s Club may be interested in sponsoring a fund raiser as they were instrumental in getting a County Library branch for our town many years ago. 

 

As these things go; many new bits of info has surfaced.  And the project of getting an air conditioner for the library is complicated by facts such as, the lease will run out next April.  The library has reached the point where more square feet are necessary.  The notion of relocating the library to another site in town is very much a possibility. 

A community fund raiser in conjunction with grant applications is a very big deal.  It requires much effort on the part of many.  The possibility of achieving our goal and having the library move out before the ac unit would even be used would be disappointing to all concerned.  So Betty has introduced everyone to everyone who may be a player in this project and turned it over to the County Librarian, Caryn Brown, who takes it from here and we’ll see what happens.

 

The Postal Service will have a booth set up near the Judging Stand and Fireworks Sales Wagon on July 4th and at Play-Day-in-the-Park to cancel stamps with our special Cancellation Stamp recognizing our 40 years: A Sentimental Journey!  Thanks again to Clarissa for her efforts to make this happen!

 

In announcements, Betty reminds us all about the Farmers Markets around the community; Wednesday evenings in front of the Courthouse and Saturday mornings at the Red Bluff River Park.

 

Remember:  Chamber meetings are held on Wednesdays-second Wednesday for the ‘Meeting of Members’ and the last Wednesday for our ‘Executive Meeting’.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

 

        SHERWOOD BLVD. AND STATE HWY 99E

 

                 MILL CREEK PARK

 

        CHAMBER OFFICE

 

        CHAMBER OFFICE

 

 

Our meeting adjourned at 8:04 pm with folks signing up for shifts and chores not yet spoken for.  A swell bunch of dedicated, really nice self employed people who find the time to give a little bit back to the community in an effort to help make our town always better!

 

Respectfully,

Jan Elmore, Substitute Minute Taker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Los Molinos Chamber of Commerce

Meeting of Members

06/11/08

 

Our meeting was called to order at 6:39 pm with attendance taken and the Pledge of Allegiance recited to honor our Country.  Those present were President Betty Morales, Sergeant at Arms Mike Druey, Treasurer Charlie Githens, Board Members Shelley Patchen, Clarissa Ortner, Jeannie Gallagher, and Jan Elmore on ‘meeting minutes’ duty.

 

We had no guests and no minutes from our last Executive Meeting.  Those minutes will be read at the next Executive Meeting on Wednesday June 25th.

 

Topics for our meeting centered on the Mayors Race and our Independence Day Parade activities and Chamber Fireworks sales.

 

The Mayor’s Race is in full swing with the ‘Candidate’s Jar Displays’ deployed throughout our business community.  The jars will be collected on Monday, June 30th and delivered to Umpqua Bank for counting at noon. 

 

Mayor candidate Shelley Patchen announced she’s has a couple of very nice raffles as part of her fund raising activities with tickets available at Nu Way Market.  Her car wash was successful with the community showing up with some very big, very dirty trucks to be washed!  She’s also putting on a Spaghetti Dinner for June 21st at 6 pm.

 

Mayor candidate Rob Morales will host a BBQ & car wash near the end of June and candidate Jan Elmore continues to wage her passive campaign for spare change.

 

We even got word that we already have an interested party wanting to run in our 2009 Mayor’s Race-how cool is that?

 

Annual Chamber Fireworks Sales always begin with a work party to clean the wagon!  This event set for Saturday, June 14th-first half of the day to avoid the heat.  The main objective is to move out the spiders and just say no to dust; we’ll air up the tires and service Mr. Swampy and get it ready for operation.  Charles and his Posse will prepare the marquee with our annual advertisement to ‘support the Chamber’ and buy fireworks from us….not those other guys!  There is a lot to do to get ready for our biggest fund raiser of the year.  All volunteers welcome.  The sign up sheet is available so please contact Betty Jo to sign up for a 3 hour shift for firework sales in the wagon; it’s lots of fun!

 

Charles is reaching out to the Kiwanis Club by speaking at their next breakfast meeting.  The topic will be the VFW Independence Day Parade and the operations behind putting it together each year!  Perhaps they will want to participate in some parade chores! There’s plenty to go around. 

 

The Parade-To-Do-List was made up.  We still need volunteers to help receive the shipment of fireworks from Phantom.  If interested in volunteering for any Parade and/or Playday-In-The-Park activities, please contact President Betty.

 

Video and still photography is still planned for the parade.  We would like to video the parade and make it available on disc.  Clarissa will be taking photos of parade entrants.

 

The Parade Coins are almost ready.  Charles will be talking to the bank about Kennedy and Eisenhower dollars as well as using gold coins in the event we can’t get enough of our usual ones.  Scott & Mary Liebenow will pass out the coins again this year.

 

The Playday-In-The-Park-To-Do-List was made up.  Again, plenty of chores to go around.  The more help the more assured we are of another very successful Playday.  The main activities are:  Games, BBQ and the Award Presentations. 

Rob Morales of Robs Recycling will once again MC our event much to everyone’s pleasure!  Rumor has it he’ll be sporting a new Tuxedo this year.

 

In the new business and continued business categories, Jan reported that she finished the draft letter several weeks ago, thanking JoAnn Landingham for her years of service and will be sending the draft to Betty this week.  JoAnn recently resigned as Vice President of the Chamber. Jan, keeps forgetting push the ‘send’ button to get the draft letter off to Betty.

 

We received an update on the issue of air conditioning for the Library building.  Betty has been in contact with Tom Nagos, the building owner, via e-mail and the news was good.  Tom has already been in touch with the Librarian and has sought bids for a unit to be installed.  He indicated he’d sponsor a portion of the bill and liked the idea of community involvement and possible fund raisers to cover the balance of the tab.  Of course, until the bids are in, we have no way of knowing just what that balance may be.

 

We heard from Clarissa, chairman of the Stamp Cancellation Project that our Stamp came in and John at the Post Office has it now.  This is big news.  We will be honoring the 40th Anniversary of our Independence Day Parade by having the US Postal Service cancelling stamps through the Fourth of July; create a collectible!

 

The VFW is acquiring a very big flag to be used in future parades.  It’s a nice addition to the tradition we have and are continuing to create for our community.

 

There has been an offer of donation to the Chamber.  An old pick-up truck bed turned trailer.  It’ll make a nice addition to the Chamber and can be used for many things; hauling our ‘special event signs’, parade gear, equipment used for Playday-In-The-Park and such.  Jeannie G suggested that the high school shop class could make a project of fixing it up by practicing their shop skills of welding and painting!  We can then affix a  plaque that recognizes their efforts; it’s a win-win all the way around.  The Chamber agreed to accept the donation kindly offered by Mike & Sharron Druey and Becky MacFarland.

 

Clarissa Ortner found quite the deal while on vacation.  She donated a large quantity of Christmas Photo Greeting Cards which are ideal for our ‘Santa’s Visit’ project each year.  Thank you Clarissa for thinking about us while off having a fun time!

 

Before reading Announcements, Betty suggested the Chamber consider coming up with an award or scholarship which could be included in the line up of awards for the high school graduating class.  After attending the Awards Ceremony at the high school, she was thinking, like she usually is, about how the Chamber might honor a high school student whose goal is to focus on business or a trade school curriculum; more discussion later on this topic.

 

Announcements were read and the meeting adjourned at 8:05 pm.  Our next meeting is the Executive Meeting on Wednesday, June 25th at 6:30 pm at the Chamber office.

 

Respectfully,

 

Jan Elmore, part-time meeting minute’s taker