March 2022 Minutes
Baker Chamber of Commerce and Ag General Meeting
Thursday, March 3rd, 2022 at Baker Bowling Center
Treasurer Karol Zachmann called the meeting to order.
Members present: Karol Zachmann, Trish Barth, Jade Boggs, Tammy O’Donnell, Beth Epley, Steve Zachmann, Dean Wang, Ralph Tunby, Brenda Stoddard, Shanya Stoddard, James Parks, and Jodi Varner.
Staff Present: Melissa Higbee and Kassidee Kilsdonk
Approval of Minutes: Brenda motioned to approve the February minutes. Trish seconded. All in favor. Motion carried.
Executive Director Report: Director Higbee stated she has been still learning Quick Books. The balances are up-to-date now just learning new ways to input still. Higbee helped with the second session of the Rec Department which entailed creating and printing 385 registration forms and flyers. She did get the forms to the schools and preschools. For this session of the Rec Dept Higbee has been taking registrations and keeping money organized. The Rec Dept has brought in a total of $3,290 dollars so far between the 3 classes. Higbee noted it has been a struggle to keep up with the Rec Dept and my other duties so getting a Rec Director will be great. Membership letters are all out to all the members who have not renewed and to past members. We currently have 55 members for 2022. 12 of these members are new for this year and 3 out of the 12 are totally brand-new members. Higbee is helping with the Job Fair organization committee. The Baker Chamber will have a table at the Job Fair this year. Background checks were run on myself and Kassidee Kilsdonk through the Montana Department of Justice. Both came back clean.
Old Business:
Youth Entrepreneur Program is a program to help our youth with soft skills, work ethic, and job shadowing opportunities. The school runs this program. The Montana Chamber of Commerce would like the Baker Chamber to support this program as a go between with the students and businesses for job shadowing. The Baker Chamber will be supporting this program.
Elect Vice President-Hold until new members are on board. Is anyone interested in a position on the board Karol asked. No comment from members.
New Business:
Membership stickers for 2022 will be looked into at Sew What.
Welcome Packs- Director Higbee would like to get updated welcome packs. Fallon County Times already offers a little magazine of all the businesses and things to do and where to stay. Fallon County Times is working on a new one.
Update Officers on Secretary of State Annual Report-The Chamber can not update this until we have new board members.
Scholarship Committee- Marjorie Losing, Trish Barth, and Karol Zachmann have volunteered to be on the committee. If anyone else would like to be on this committee let us know. Deadline for scholarships is May 1st.
New Board Members- Karol stated we would like you to consider being apart of the board. Would anyone be interested in being on the board? No comment from the members.
Approval of Rec Director- Kassidee Kilsdonk is our new Rec Dept Director. She started February 25th. Kassidee will be teaching Dance and Martial Arts this session. We would like the board to approve of her becoming the new Rec Director. Dean motioned to accept Kassidee Kilsdonk as the new Rec Dept Director. Tammy seconded. All in favor. Motion carried.
Rec Director Report:
Kilsdonk reported the program has been very successful. Preschool Music and Dance is full. Martial Arts is full as well and people are excited for this new program. Dance is not all the way full but has been a very good turn out with 23 kids in the K-2nd and 8 in the 3rd-6th. April 5th we will be having a dance recital and martial arts showcase at Longfellow Gym at 6pm. The idea was brought up to get sponsors for the T-Shirts which would help with the costs. Kilsdonk will look into some businesses sponsoring the T-Shirts. Maybe Miss Mia, Lacinda Huether, or Windfarm are options for funding this. Kilsdonk stated she had some volunteers for this session but needing to find volunteers for track. This summer she stated a couch to 5k would be a fun program. She would like to bring back some adult classes as well.
Reports From Members:
EPEDC has been working with SMART on the Montana Historical Preservation Grant to renovate the roof on the Baker State Bank building. This grant was submitted on February 28th. Zoom training for digital businesses on Wednesday evenings. EPEDC have already done 4 of these training. The recording is available just let Beth Epley know who wants it. Next training is March 16th if interested in this training reach out to Beth for the link. The trainings go from 5:30-7pm. Matt Rosedale stopped by the EPEDC office to see how Baker’s economic situation was doing. Also, EPEDC will be having a resiliency study done. Beth stated that EPEDC will be at the Tavern on March 8th from 5pm-8pm and at Compass on March 9th from 7-9am with a survey to fill out in return for a free drink. On March 9th from 11:30- 1pm at Thee Garage, EPEDC is putting on a luncheon that will dig deeper in the study. Grants available for beautification right now are the Caviar grant, AARP grant, and the Jerry Metcalf grant.
Jade Boggs would like to just thank Melissa and Kassidee for all their hard work on bringing the Rec Dept back.
Baker Lions Club: Ralph Tunby stated Bingo is back for the Baker Lions Club. Also, scholarships are available.
Spirits Plus: Brenda Stoddard brought a new member to join the Baker Chamber.
City of Baker: Steve Zachmann informed the members of the increase in fees for planning for subdivisions. Resolution passed for a special gas tax. City has to ask for it to renew every time. 2 seasonal positions are available at the city. Clerk of Court has been hired as a shared position with the county.
FMC: Karol Zachmann foundation organizer stated the upcoming events for FMC. The Mammo Whammo set for June 11th. 5k Run Walk set for Saturday April 23rd. July 4th event at the lake. Karol and Kassidee will be meeting with commissioners next Tuesday to get support to bring back this event. Community Needs Assessment will be mailed out so be on the look out for that.
Trish motioned to adjourn. Brenda seconded. All in favor. Motion carried.