Next Meeting- Mark your Calendar: Third Tuesday, June 16 at Chamber offices 4Pm
Social 4:30 MeetingMembership To Do List for next meeting:
- Set date for new member orientation on Financials- Teresa
- Set date for training on BaseCamp- Teresa
- Members LIKE the Chamber Facebook page
- every member needs to help raise the $10,000 for 4th of July event
- June 11 OPEN HOUSE of new Chamber space- contact Teresa to offer help/ food/
refreshments/ set up/ invites etc.
Meeting Minutes May 19, 2015 at Chamber (new!!) offices
Convene 4:35 PM
Roll Call of Attendees:
Amanda Funaro (Maritime Center) , Dominic Svornich (Kitsap Bank, Celler Door) , David Faber
(attorney) , Casey Gribble (Discovery Bay Enterprises) Rebecca Benjamin (North Olympic
Salmon Coalition , Karen Best( Caldwell Baker) , Jennefer Wood (Maestrale) , Kris Nelson
(Sirens and Alchemy) , Jordan Eades (Hope Roofing) Rob Story (Chimacum Corner) Austin
Henry (Atlas and Robotics) , Katherine Baril (consultant)
Excused: Adam Burns (port hadlock Ferinos) , Heather Bailey (Jefferson Health Care) , Rob
Burman (Centrum-Fort Worden) , Kevin Scott (Port Townsend Paper Mill) , Susan Windle
(Resort at Port Ludlow), Lee Hornbeck (Senior advisor) Shelli Cates (Edward Jones, Port
Hadlock)
Staff: Executive Director, Teresa Verraes
Notice of ResignationWill O’Donnell is in the midst of graduate school and Market high season is stepping down from
Board
Need replacement for VP of Finance— with Will’s departure need to have someone step up or
recruit a new VP of Finance, Job duties: one meeting a month with Teresa, one meeting with
Board- could recruit new board member, -lead discussion of financial picture- perhaps have
books looked at by professional CPA- could be person with financial management- need
financial person to strategize, redesign the format of reporting, start to prepare the budget
process for next year.
Action Step: need to find someone to look at finances, audit and work on budget with Teresa
Board Training- Chamber financials 101 training set
DRAFT AGENDA:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
April Financials
Relocation Expenses - Teresa
4th of July/Fundraising – Dominic
Policy Discuss - Amanda
Workgroup Check-in 10 minutes each: Member Services, Revenues, Leadership
Advancement, Community/Visitor *co-champions please bring your reports to
share
1. April Financials Report: Teresa reported
1) Reader board and kiosk income looks down is changing- not necessarily down with income
but coding was change on a $4000 big purchase of signage so actually the expected income looks
like less but is still within expected income
2) Map and directory update from LEADER- the Chamber gets 30% of profits and LEADER
gets 70% will be receiving $4, 052 additional income from LEADER
3) City Service Contracts: New contract with City of PT provides $17,500 to subsidize the new
space - Chamber is the landlord . By paying $17,500 for services the City can pay rent out of its
general fund to subsidize the Chamber. Chamber has no rent for two years. Chamber gets
$17,500 to manage the contract and that is in lieu of rent. When Chamber moved to visitor center
the deal with City was that Chamber would get 30 years free rent and that has had to be
renegotiated with new space.
4) City ELTAC- Chamber has LTAC contract with City for $90,000 a year and 15% of that is
operations - now operating under two organizational structures 1) the VIC and 2) Chamber of
Commerce program of services. - City pays VIC Center directly- issue is who pays for the
Chamber side- is it rent payment or contract payment in lieu of rent? Teresa will negotiate with
Timmons and involved Amanda or others as she needs it.
5) County LTAC- lodging tax based on “putting heads in beds” - in 2015 the contract is for
$15,000. In October 2015 Chamber plans to put together a larger request/ proposal for services to
be funded by LTAC
6) Relocation Reimbursements_ it’s an in and out account- originally Chamber invested $80,000
for old VIC Center- now we got a huge upgrade to
City invested $123,000 . . . so idea was that Chamber budgeted $17,500. Building renovation
contract was estimated at $90,000 and was actually $133,000+ some yet to be received
technology. There were unexpected structural issues such as plumbing, bird waste removal—
City has covered more than they put in Chamber escrow and they also made signs- Bill White is
the building owner- Teresa is negotiating landowner deferred maintenance and Chamber rent
exchange.
Short run is $10,000- Negotiations cover several options 1) may come out of Chamber service
contract as moving expense. . 2) may come out of Landowner as deferred maintenance penalty3) or City might chip in. Teresa was encouraged to bring someone with her to negotiations just
to ensure understanding and accurate record of discussions. David Faber will review paperwork
- Chamber needs to have contracts with City- Amanda advises that things be put in writing.
Action Steps:
1) May 20 Teresa will negotiate with building owner — landowner may offer deferred rent to
balance total improvement investments
2) Then next week Teresa will meet with City Manager about outstanding $10,000 balance
2. Relocation Expenses- Executive Director Report- Teresa
Potential Revenue Opportunities are offered by New Space. Relocation: Homebuilders are
charged $20 a day, available to others /members at $20 an hour and rent conference room and
classroom— Not charging EDC and SBDC, e.g. part of the contract is that we provide free rent
to partners.
Relocation congrats to Teresa for a job well done- the space is beautiful- really nice meeting
room, good layout, better lighting, nice spaces for small meetings
Staff is pleased with move: its working out really well- so much opportunity in this space, some
revenue options e.g.
we can discuss this more with Budget 101- also get Board involved more with budget requests . .
2nd page P&L— Relocation expenses will be coded as occupancy expenses and no longer
reported as professional fees
Membership Report: Teresa
Port Ludlow, Hadlock and Chimacum starting to have nice outreach outside Port TownsendResult is that it is ticking up the membership- appreciate acknowledgement of community
differences- Chamber can convene meetings, encourage businesses to hear each other, expect
improved membership in County- initially alarmed
at report of income that was $2000 this year but $6000 last two years. Anomaly maybe that
membership directory used to be printed later in year- Members may have paid for ads in
directory but not their membership??? Teresa doesn’t like to stack ads in Chamber publications
and that may have had a $4000-$5000 membership impact. Hoping membership income will
show up in July. All in all happy with membership. Retention is still about 75-80%. . . so sad
when drop membershipInvestor Memberships: Teresa
Teresa grew the investor class of membership from 2 investors to 25 investors in 2 years. Just
talking to member planning to drop their investor level status -(Resort at Port Ludlow) Teresa
feels that the Inn got advantage of all their Chamber tier benefits but are their indicator of value
is Local/ Chamber referred heads in beds from local residents and not overall County visibility.
Resort looks to Kitsap, King reservations and they don’t see Jefferson County level marketing
as an asset- Teresa is talking with them about the $1350 a year investors fee equivalent to 10
dinners the investor fee would have paid for itself- the Inn used every one of their assets- we
send a lot of training to Resort- Staff worked hard to promote Port Ludlow- still doing
analytics— Inn is staying as a member but dropping their investment level- they are counting
people in beds and not counting ROI on restaurant, marina, hotel on the Map. . .
Report clarification: Rebecca clarified that salary and wages- $11,000 a month is that current-?
yes its for a month not a year. . .
3. July 4th Executive Report- Dominic
- Estimated $10,000 is needed to fund event
- Mill has contributed and already expensed their donation
- Leader doing ads for all four of Thunderbull events including the 4th of July
- Event is moving forward, things going well, graphic for poster will be ready in next day or so,
fundraising going pretty well, some large sponsors are coming in- re Caldwell Baker is in
Kiwanis’ are paying $1000 (root beer floats) .. . Rotary still planning to donate, Dominic’s
strategy is to get three civic clubs to donate $1000 each for $3000- WAVE contributing $250. .
can’t do more donations in 2105 because they don’t have marketing money but Dominic is
following up for 2016.. .
getting donations at Kitsap bank $15-$15 equal $1200 or $1500 and one person giving $500 out
of enthusiasm got $132 selling kerchiefs at Cake Picnic Cake
Poster almost finished- no more time for publication of $500 sponsorships but still can accept
$100 to $250 but won’t be on poster.. . $250 donation may provide parking on grounds- may
consider preferred sponsorship seating on the grounds for $250? donations also get “sponsor"
vendor space on the grounds
Ad in LEADER - after the event thanking everyone that donated- so still get recognition
Bottom line — every board member please help raise funds. . . talk to businesses? neighbors? we
don’t have a lot of time- if a couple of weeks before the event then Dominic can go door to door.
. . goal $10,000 raised about $4500 roughly without contributions from service club— need
about $4500 to $5000 - -need to make $5000 in one month- Jordan asked: how about a do a
gofundme on Facebook??? it’s not tax deductible its a business expense. . . a little underwhelmed
with individuals in community— Amanda feels that there is a lot of energy for the eventindividuals are pumped- we need to solicit more from individuals- Expenses come in at or after
the event invoices- - paying musicians- paying beer for beer garden- paying Milholland for
coordinating it. . . without doing a single individual ask to business we’ve already raised 1/2 of
budget— look at deferrable expenses- it might take 6-8 weeks to get reimbursed. . .
Confirmed that at April Board meeting Board approved setting up a Separate Bank Account.
This was approved by email vote of membership.
Tasks to do:
Chamber Board member LIKE the Chamber Facebook page
David volunteered to talk to Rotary re: their donation
Dominic- Trying to get money from Sunrise Rotary, has a to do list
Chamber - lead article in upcoming newsletter
Pivarnick- is putting article in media about the event
Staff- 4th is now listed on Chamber Facebook page
5:30PM
4. Nonpartisan Policy of Chamber - Amanda
At April meeting Amanda described the Chamber as a “nonpartisan” association- Teresa got a
phone call that County Republicans wanted to make a $250 check to fund the 4th of July event. .
.Raised the issue what is our policy. by-laws. . . changing bylaws would require vote of entire
membership- Chamber Board can set new policies.
Current Policy: BOLD language
Amend our POLICY- NOT THE BY Laws which would require approval by entire membership
Discussion: This isn’t a By-Law change this is a clarification of Board Policy which can be
adopted by the chamber board without going to membership vote. What is our policy? Clarify
can members use Chamber membership in their publicity? for business advantage? for elections?
will the Chamber endorse a candidate or party- An Executive Committee proposed DRAFT was
circulated. Issue came up because local Republican party contacted the Chamber offering to
make a donation and it wasn’t clear whether to accept it and under what conditions? so we need
to clarify our policy. It has helped recruit local members to clarify that our local Chamber is not
affiliated with the national US Chamber. Clearly the Chamber is an advocate for business
regardless of political views. The Chamber acts in roles of convener, informer, advocate- but not
partisan. . Neither party are currently Chamber Memberships- The consideration is the
perception of the Chamber as non-affiliated. This is important to the role of Chamber
in the community and to its membership. What is the Chamber policy for donations in general?
yes, we accept donations. Do we have a policy regarding endorsements in general? no, Farber
suggested we might want to put this non partisan policy in the section of endorsements. ? This is
a policy statement not a by-law so we have no intention to put this sort of policy clarification out
to entire membership because of potential divisiveness . .
Moved: Katherine- Adopt a procedure of consideration by the Board on issues such as this e.g. 1)
is this important enough to consider- 2) then send it to committee. 3) committee is then charged
to do fact finding, research, drafting and 4) bring it draft recommendations back to the Board
for consideration and adoption.
Second: Karen
Discussion: The Chamber is getting more complex and sophisticated and we need to have
predictable policies and procedures. Adopt a procedure of triage to consider new ideas e.g. 1) is
this an issue important enough for Board action 2) then goes to a committee and comes back
with recommendation to Board and 3) discussion and adoption by Board. Where should this go
for consideration. decided David, Amanda, and Katherine would work on a draft for next
meeting. Recognized that David is a candidate for City Council at this time but that he would not
be a decision maker on this it would come back to the entire board for adoption and is role is as
legal advisor to the board. Rebecca- make sure minutes reflect Board considered and determined
that Farber has no conflict of interest and goal is to have him advise members to ensure policy
membership is open and not partisan or discriminatoryNo vote or action was taken
Next Steps:
AdHod Work Group: Amanda, David Farber ( no conflict of interest not partisan) Katherine
Baril, Kris Nelson (email for historic context)
Amanda- Draft recommendation back for Board consideration at June Board meeting
Teresa: consider using Base Camp
Withdrew motion- Katherine
5. Committee/ Work group reports: 5:40 - Amanda set time as 20 minutes total available
before adjourn so 4 committees get 5 minutes a piece for reports
1) Leadership committee- JordanA) YPN CoLab joint meeting to discuss future programs / partnership
on June 19 there will be a meeting of leadership team, colab and anyone else interested; Topic
YPN- Colab
Background: the CoLab has been hosting YPN monthly informal test labs on variety of topicsthat’s where really only activity is for YPN. We want to regroup and discuss innovative ways to
reshape / recharge YPN. . .
Kris Nelson said that YPN was also being discussed under membership services tasks
committee- overlap of two committees on YPN- not really a problem but how do we
communicate that quickly so don’t waste time?? use base camp? use personal conference calls?
check in with each other? email?
Jordan will send out updates / times 10AM at Chamber officesB) Business Leader of the Year- in the past the events have gone well but preparation has started
late, want more active recruitment- need a work group earlier in the year. suggest new category
of best customer service leader of the year. Also want to look at timing of the event- January can
be a hard time- if anyone wants to be part of discussion- talk to Jordan- Last years event added
an alcohol bar and made some money-its the Chamber’s largest event of the year- could be
more of a revenue generator- opportunity for expansion- people were excited about the eventc) Orientation for new board members- Jordan- please let her know of ideas - for all board
members want to hear the ideas/ suggestions/ thoughts for future—
5:45 PM
2) Member Services- Dominic and Kris
A) YPN was also discussed- so will plan to attend June 19 meeting and then talk about role of
membership benefits for YPN depending on how leadership committee conversation goes . . .
B) Asked to get a copy of the 2010 membership survey- plan is to review it/ revise it and send it
out- evaluate the membership servicesC) Advocacy subcommittee- nothing pending now, has been in a reactive status- Kris is
interested in building this up more after July 4th- 4th quarter more activity / priority- no requests
pendingD) Hadlock Days subcommittee 2016- Informational only- not asking for Board support at this
point- intend that this could be part of 2016 budget- Adam Burns will Chair and has already
started contacting and getting positive feedback- new owners and business people in Hadlock- let
Adam know- going to recruit non-Chamber members- would like revenue and outreach
committee members to work with him- would like to see this included in ELTAC 2016 budget
request- will be developing a proposal to the boardE) 501c3 discussion - recommend that move forward together for grants? YPN? leadership
development- Dominic will develop a timeline and implementation plan
Move: Dominic moved that the Chamber begin planning in earnest to create a 501c3
membership services move forward to create a plan- set up work group to craft draft bylaws/
organizational structures- needs to have own set of directors- requesting people to
Kris Nelson- second
Discussion- does the board - Rebecca request write up of expectation/ rationale/ business plan/
Kris- didn’t want to spend 10-15 hours of time when the Board was really not interested after alltime it will take- its a big effort to doDominic would allow us to take tax deductible, can’t do fundraisers’ scholarships- no way to get
grants? no way to
Amanda- we were approached by databased software for connections and we didn’t have a
501c3 and we were’t in position to accept money—
Withdraw motion Dominic- will bring together more tangible draft for Board consideration later.
..
Discussion: Katherine- do we have a work plan to be able to link all the activities? Rebecca- we
need leadership / executive to work on to creating work plan- generating conversation that folks
figure out the linkages/ connections- Agenda is not set up for important meeting- its people to
people that is value that will make team strong- Base camp is OK but doesn’t replace face to
face. Teresa- the inefficiency is about the structure the communication - the minutes/ notes of the
meeting needs to go to Teresa- quick conference call- membership of each committee-verbal
briefingAmanda- the committee notes should go and then executive can catch. . Rebecca: we started this
committees at Retreat and they are going well and are active. Katherine issue is how do we
ensure good communication- great synergy— need communication systems/ protocols - use Base
Camp- email? conference calls?
Rebecca: the agenda for the Chamber meeting could help develop the consensus agenda first???
put the collaborative discussion stuff earlier on the Agenda?? put discussion stuff first— Karen:
perhaps put time limits on discussions so can get through the agenda- Katherine a lot of expertise
in room on effective meetings ask for ideas.
Executive Team Report - Amanda
Executive committee talked about the assets/ interests of Board members- honor the fact that the
roles include both a policy board and a working board- not just advisory- not just working
committee - The 2016 ELTAC proposal is going to be larger than ever requested before- due in
October— won’t be asked for port ludlow by the Bay and they are setting up their own
committee to propose their own ELTAC budget- Visitor and Business Center will be priority for
ELTAC budget
Consider quick conference calls between work teams- have a person from every team on
executive to keep other committees informed and avoid duplication-
Use Base CampTo Do ListTeresa and Rob Birman are meeting - new sheet on wall where Teresa asks Board for support
she needs. Reality of the re-location and amount of energyStaff- will be refocusing on membership and programs now that the Move is complete
Request: Set up training for new members to get Base Camp training-take it off-line and discuss
it at the future - Teresa will set up with Frank
Teresa - there are priority projects that Teresa needs help with- re: Open House- call her!
3. Outreach committee report- Karen
Minutes of meeting and DRAFT recommendation emailed to Board members before meeting.
Tried a format of a one page summary report and then 10 minutes of discussion to encourage
Chamber member input/ ideas for suggestions, response, interaction and active engagement.
Karen reported that committee decided to prioritize interviews with VIC first so committee can
work with them during busy season this summer. Consulted with Teresa and got her approval to
interview staff and volunteers. Priority: How can Board help them be the best VIC? how can
they help the Chamber with business and YPN recruitment- 2015 Priorities will be #1 Vic, #2
EDC partnerships and co-tenants in space #3 , Chamber Board and #4 membership
Move: Karen Approve this prioritization and committee’s approach
Second: Katherine
Request for Discussion: Hear Board members how can VIC center provide service.. .
Amanda suggested could include how Vic Center could help members be a question be
included in the membership survey. Dominic offered to send draft survey questions to committee
for input.
No action taken, ran out of time
Executive requests:
Teresa and Amanda will contact Frank to set up board training on Base Camp
Teresa is planning an Open House at the new facilities Thursday June 11th- 5:30-7:30 call
Teresa to give her a hand- send her an email- don’t need to set up a committee
6:17PM Adjourn. . .