January 21, 2021 Kearsarge Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting Board Members Present: D Watts, M Watts, P Miller, E Labbe, N Thelemaque, S Daniel Meet & Greet The Board and members of the public enjoyed introducing ourselves and hearing about how each of us are doing. Introductions - D. Watts I'd like to welcome everyone to the 2021 KACC annual meeting. For those that don't already know me, my name is Dan Watts and I'm the current president of the Kearsarge Area Chamber of Commerce. Membership Status - D. Watts We continue to be a healthy chamber with 175 members from 30 towns and cities. The reason for the large number of towns is because businesses from outside our area recognize the importance of marketing to the people in our area and they know that KACC is a great way to do this. The top member towns are Warner, Hopkinton/Contoocook, Bradford, and Concord. Accomplishments for 2020 - D. Watts This past year was a difficult one for most of our members and our communities. KACC took a number of steps to help out including: * Printed our hardcopy brochure in March. * Moved from a manual accounting system to Quickbooks * Hired Pleasant Lake Accounting to handle all of our financial reporting * Worked out an agreement with the Contoocook Riverway Association to make their building be our physical home. We have new signage in front of the Depot. * Donated lights and wreaths to decorate the Contoocook Railroad Museum for Starry Starry Night and the holidays. * Donated over $2,400 to local area food pantries including Henniker, Hopkinton, Warner, and Wilmot. * Supported local food security by being the primary sponsor of the Kearsarge Food Hub and their Love Local Tour with a $1,000 donation. The Love Local Tour was going to be a series of community dinners and presentations to educate communities about the important of local food security and raise money for their efforts supporting local farms and communities. Things didn't work out the way they planned but they we'e successful in supporting the local community and provided a number of virtual events. * Sponsored over $1,200 for various community events which included the Blue Mountain Snowdusters Sled Dog Race, Magdalen College students, Kearsarge Climate Action, Contoocook Starry Starry Night, and Warner area shopping. * In March we extended all memberships by 6 months * Donated $500 towards the cost of a dishwasher in the Warner Town Hall to support community dinners * Donated $250 towards the cost of new welcome signs for the Town of Bradford * As part of the Dartmouth / Lake Sunapee Region Chambers of Commerce, we obtained funds from the Governor's Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery (a Federal CARES Act fund) and distributed over $200,000 worth of PPE supplies and services to businesses and organizations in our area. * As part of the Dartmouth / Lake Sunapee Region Chambers of Commerce, we participated in the production of a promotional video for our area as well as a number of weekly radio talkshow interviews. We cannot accomplish what we do without our many volunteers and town liaisons. The board wishes to express our gratitude for the contributions of these generous members who have given some of their time to keep us notified of events and needs within their communities: For Bradford: Kris Foss from Moon Mama Herbals For Henniker and Hopkinton: Rita Blanchard from Abundant Nutrition For New London: Ben Barton from Barton Insurance Agency For Newbury: Lea McBain from Newbury Public Library For Salisbury: Christine Heath For Warner: Nancy Ladd from Pillsbury Free Library and Kate Colman We are always welcoming of additional volunteers, Please contact us if you're willing to help out, whether you can share as little as an hour of your time, or wish to help out with an hour or so per month. Slate of Board Members - D. Watts Last year we authorized up to 12 board members and increased the board to 9 members. To make this more orderly, we are setting up the terms so that they are staggered every 3 years. The following people have been proposed to fill a 3 year term starting this year: Myself, Dan Watts continuing as President - Dimentech Mary Watts continuing as Secretary - also from Dimentech Steve Reddy - A Better Image & Marketing The following people have been proposed to fill a 2 year term starting this year. After their term, the terms will be for 3 years if they renew their place on the board: Elizabeth Labbe - Labbe Painting Patrick Miller - Sweeney Rogers Geraghty Mark Winzeler - Union House Oddities And lastly, the following have terms that will be up for renewal at the end of 2021: Nanette Thelemaque, Treasurer - InEssence Virtual Assistance Susan Daniel - Sea Glass Yoga Carrie Williams - A Better Image & Marketing A motion was made and seconded to approve the slate of Board members as presented. There was no further discussion All members present voted in favor The motion passed Plans for 2021 - D. Watts We will be printing a new brochure in February using our membership list as of February 1st We currently do not plan any gathering or group activities outside of our monthly zoom meetings. We welcome suggestions for on line trainings or other virtual events that any in our business community would like us to support. KACC has a Zoom license and we are offering this to our member businesses to use. We also welcome forward thinking volunteers and planners for our next community event, in 2022, once we are cleared to safely gather. Most importantly, we wish to hear from you, our individual business members, as to how the chamber can help you. Consider this your personal invitation to reach out to us through newsletter response or direct email, or attend one of our monthly Board meetings held the first Wednesday of the month, details of which are published on our Google calendar. A suggestion was made that KACC should donate to the Sgt Patrick Bettens Memorial Fund. We will look into this. Financials - D. Watts Total revenue for 2020 was $4,469 Total expenses for 2020 was $10,483 This was a net loss of $6,014 Assets at the end of 2020 were $13,034 Annual membership income is estimated to be $9,761 Meeting adjourned, followed by mingling The Board and members of the public enjoyed each others company for a while longer.