Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau
Board of Directors Meeting
September 24, 2014
8:30 a.m.
The Board of Directors of the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors
Bureau met Wednesday, September 24, 2014, with Chairman of the Board Steve Critchfield presiding.
The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m. Craig Richards said the opening prayer.
Review of Minutes – A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to accept the minutes of the August 27, 2014 Board of Directors meeting as presented.
Financial Report – Treasurer Tim Connell asked for approval of a resolution to change the authorized check signers to: Steve Critchfield, Tim Connell, Randy Brashers and Ron Jett. A motion was made and seconded to approve the list of check signers as presented. The motion was unanimously approved.
A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to accept the financial report as presented.
Chairman’s Report – Appointment of Election Judges –
A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to accept the following as this year’s election judges: Garrett Anderson, Janet Ellis, Jennifer
Gregory, Deidre McCormick and Julie Wilson.
Appointment of Officers Committee – A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to accept the following board members as this year’s Officers Committee: Randy Brashers, Ron Jett, Janet Oller,
Craig Richards and Craig Wescott. The committee requests that suggestions be made to them no later than the October Board meeting regarding Board members to serve as officers. The committee will develop a slate of officers, which shall be sent to the Board on or before November 15 for their consideration. Officers will be voted on at the November Board of Directors meeting.
President/CEO Report – Legislative Update – Ross Summers provided a brief update of the Missouri
Legislature’s Veto Session held earlier in the month. There were a record number of overrides this year.
Fortunately, the issues that directly affected this area were not brought up.
Tourism Community Enhancement District Contract Negotiations – Ross stated earlier this year we provided the TCED with a national study showing the CVB staff is underpaid relative to other positions with similar descriptions; from top to bottom we are well below the mid-point. A five-year plan to get salaries where they need to be has been developed and presented it to the TCED. Other administrative costs were briefly discussed.
Chairman Steve Critchfield stated the TCED contract negotiating team includes him, Tim Connell, Mike
Pitman, Leah Chandler, Cathy Hubert and Terri Rogers. It was requested staff send a list of the TCED
Board and FOC members to the BLACC/CVB Board of Directors.
Chamber Strategic Plan – The progress report, which was updated to reflect changes made during the follow-up session with Patrick McGaughey last week, was distributed at the meeting.
Update - Revitalize Leadership Program – The revised plan for the 2015 Leadership Academy was distributed at the meeting. Shelly Vorhaben, Marketing & Membership Programs Manager reviewed the plan. A big change for 2015 is the participant will get a certificate for completing the classes in year one, but must meet specified goals in year two to receive the graduation plaque. We would like to get more

Leadership graduates involved in our committees. The cost of program has been increased to $575.
Chamber members receive a discount of $100.
Membership Update – Executive Director Julie Bolton reported Chamber staff has been working hard on the many projects and events. They’ve really stepped and are doing a great job. Janet Akers has been hired full-time as the Membership Development & Retention Manager. Danette Gocio has been contracted to help with retention efforts. Julie reviewed the Membership Update in the board packet.
Membership Drop Report – Staff is working with Mailboxes Plus on renewing their membership. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to accept the drop list with the exception of
Mailboxes Plus as presented.
Julie stated the Chamber staff attended the ACCE Convention in August. It was the first time they all attended the conference. They learned a lot and it was a good experience for them.
Infused Learning offers online courses for small businesses. This will be offered for a fee to our members and be a new, non-dues revenue stream. People can take the webinars at any time they want. We will get word out through Member Service Announcements, Flash Facts, our website and various other avenues.
Staff visited with Collette Vacations at ACCE to gather information regarding Chamber group travel.
This is being considered as another way for non-dues revenue.
Staff continues to visit members. They take pictures during the visit and post them on Facebook.
Julie reviewed the Leaderboard totals. Steve Scherer is leading with seven. Mike Pitman is in second with five.
Save a Member Sheet – Julie stated we now have a great system in place with Janet and Danette. They are out visiting members regularly. If they feel like a board member needs to reach out to a business to help us save their membership they will contact you. For that reason, we will no longer pass around the sheet in these meetings.
The Small Business and Charity of the Year Awards Banquet is tomorrow night, September 25. 178 people have registered. We are excited about the number registered. 108 attended last year’s event.
Reminder - Black Tie is February 28 at the Branson Convention Center.
Membership & Funding Advisory Council Policies and Procedures – A motion was made and seconded to approve the Membership & Funding Advisory Council Policies and Procedures as presented. All approved. Motion carried. Monica stated the Small Business Development Advisory Council is developing a similar document.
Taney County Partnership – Jonas Arjes thanked the BLACC/CVB board for their commitment to the
Taney County Partnership. He reported that Jennifer Langford is the new Marketing and Programs
Manager for the TCP. She is developing a statistics/fact sheet that will be available on the website.
Tom Boyce Excavating is the newest business sector partner. Metropolitan Bank will join January 1,
2015. All political subdivisions are still involved.
Branson Airport is the only business to take advantage of the EEZ thus far. Fifteen jobs were added with
Fly Branson. Total capital investment of about $400,000. They’re getting state tax credits on new jobs.
TCP is working with the director of Workforce Development in Springfield. She oversees operations of
Missouri Career Centers. They applied for a grant with JP Morgan, which will pay for student testing of

the ACT WorkKeys Assessment tests in both Taney and Stone Counties. The grant money will allow them to utilize the mobile testing unit.
TCP currently has 19 projects with 15 of them active. The four inactive only means there has been no significant activity in 90 days. In the last 60 days three inactive were made active again.
Jonas thanked all for their efforts with the Air Service Committee and writing letters to help with Branson
Airport’s grant request. We do not know yet if they will receive the grant. The TCP has established a similar committee to explore the possibility of OTC expanding their district to include Branson. Getting the measure on the ballot takes great effort. The committee will explore it and come up with a plan. Rob
Dixon has offered to assist in this effort.
Jonas talked about Amendment 7 not passing in the August election. Our long term future in economic development is reliant on infrastructure. We need to keep promoting and pushing to get as much as we can from the standpoint of infrastructure.
Old Business – Steve Critchfield stated the land adjacent to the RecPlex and ball fields were discussed in
Executive Committee. We need to make a decision on this pretty soon, but there is more work to be done first.
This meeting of the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB Board of Directors adjourned into Executive Session at 9:20 a.m. for personnel discussion.
Present: Randy Brashers, Mike Combs, Tim Connell, Bob Cox, Steve Critchfield, William Mahoney,
Janet Oller, Mike Pitman, Craig Richards, Steve Scherer, Scott Skoglund, Angie Smith and David Smith
Absent: Jim Barber, Jeff Bourk, Danita Brown, Chris Hamon, Ron Jett, Stephen Marshall, Chris Myer,
Patrick Parnell, Brad Swofford, Craig Wescott and Jamie Whiteis
BLACC/CVB Staff Present: Julie Bolton, Deborah Cohen, Monica Evinger, Cathy Hubert, Aaron
McCullough, Ross Summers and Shelly Vorhaben
Jonas Arjes – Taney County Partnership