Invited: Erickson Chamber of Commerce Board members and invited guests
In attendance: Valerie Soltys, Brandice Bator, Josh Surovy, Reghan Langston, Heather Parrott-Howdle, Eric Bjornson, Laurence Bertram, Nigel Kerr, Gloria Campbell
Regrets: Kristy Vermiere
Minutes
Approval of Agenda
- Add: discussion of holding the odd meeting in person
Approval of March Minutes (posted to public website)
- If you have concerns after reading them let Eric know
- Motion to approve minutes: Heather, Seconded by Reghan
Welcome to associate members
Cody Cameron (council representative from Clanwilliam Erickson)
Gloria Campbell (council representative from Harrison Park)
Elvin Huntinghawk (representative from Rolling River First Nation)
- Attend meetings and participate in discussion where it makes sense, cannot vote, will not participate in camera portion
Approval of new members:
None this month
Treasurer's report (Valerie Soltys)
- $25,993.45
- Outstanding cheques: Calabria, McMunnys
- When people pay by mastercard, is there a report of who it’s from?
- Eric will get a report from Stripe and/or will share access with Val
Recruiting a Chamber Manager:
Eric proposes we hire Dirty T-Shirt to manage website updates and other marketing related tasks at [amount withheld] to be billed monthly
- Update business page and chamber calendar, other marketing related items
- Send out something to get members to renew
- Secretary and Treasurers clerical jobs are heavy – could this be included under this?
- Challenge right now is trying to get ahead of the game to find time to recruit chamber manager
- Eric will show Brandice steps to convert meeting minutes to send to everyone
- Cap at 6 month budget - [amount withheld], [amount withheld]/year moving forward
- Motion made by Laurence for [amount withheld] for 6 month trial period– Seconded by Nigel, all in favor – motion carried
Informal (monthly) Coffee Meetings organized by the Chamber (various venues). Chamber news and views. First one scheduled for April 18th, 2023. Need to confirm details
- Newdale Orange Lodge (old Coop grocery store) – Nigel will run it by them tonight and will send out confirmation in an email
- Conflicts on that date – will move it to Monday, April 17th at 1:00
1st annual Altitude Festival (led by The Score Store)
- a. Chamber has committed $250
- b. Presently hosted on Chamber Website (here). Will eventually be moved to altitudefestival.ca but may not happen prior to this year’s event.
- Cattle farming, kids intro to gardening, permaculture, bee keeping, farm tour, concert at Good Street Hall
- c. A few event day volunteers are needed as “event ambassadors” to direct people and make them feel welcome. Volunteers will receive a free ticket to Sweet Alibi show at the Good Street Hall
- Be at some of the events to direct traffic, participate in events,
- Let Eric or Steve Langston know if you are interested in volunteering
- Valerie has a cheque that needs signing for SCORE Store – Eric will touch base with Val
- Val will volunteer for events that are at the legion
- Laurence and Brandice also are willing to volunteer, possibly Josh
Support for Erickson Airport Repaving
Show of support from Chamber at April 12th, 2023 council meeting
- Acceptance of bidder for project
- Public support will make decision easier
- Chamber representation by letter or in person?
- Board recommends sending a letter – Eric will draft letter and send to Iain to present
Airport Area Development
Eric proposes we seek a proposal from Burns Maendel Consulting Engineers Ltd. to prepare a high level plan for the Airpark project being discussed
- CoC has owned the ¼ section – some portions sold off and some run by Municipality
- leased right now to a hay farmer, some lease hangars
- discussion for finding better uses for land surrounding airport/develop the site more (e.g. Subdividing for other ventures like Airpark)
- Put together a high level visionary plan
- Would this include a housing project?
- Land adjacent to runways should be reserved by hangars, but potential for housing development, commercial/industrial development is there
- If we were to pursue consultant we would put together a list of things we’d like to be explored – light industrial or commercial (e.g. boat storage, septic tank, gas station etc)
- Challenge from an investors standpoint – a canvas building is one thing, but some may be reluctant to invest “barndominium” style hanger if they don’t own the land
- Have to conduct research on similar developments and see how it’s working and what has worked well for them
- would have to consider if rezoning from ag is a possibility
- RM has had good experience working with Burns Maendel Consulting from Brandon
- Electric charging station location? Might be better located downtown where the shops are
- Need high level questions to be answered at this point- Is this a project that makes sense? How close can we get access to runway with hangers/proximity to hangers, distance of roads/paving/gravel? Are there height and size restrictions?
- At this point – start conversations about development options, plan to meet at the airport in May to discuss options,
- Steve Richmond from Brandon – surveying company (10th and Rosser)
- Paul Roy is lawyer and Burns is Engineer
- If we couple this in person event with the board meeting we could see if they’d let us use their boardroom space there
- Laurence moved that the board have a board meeting at the airport to discuss feasibility of going to next step of development plan – Seconded by Nigel, all in favor
Updating the Membership Directory
- Will leave this to Jaime ( Dirty T-Shirt)
Updates on Leda Lake Pier Project (being led by the Score Store):
- Infrastructure at the west side of main street to allow access by foot to the water surface of Leda Lake (similar to Ominnik Marsh Trail in RMNP)
- Gravel trail, floating dock/boardwalk
- Other infrastructure (dog park, rest areas, parking, landscaping) depending on budget
- a. A recap of the original vision https://youtu.be/GewK12gfpfg
- b. Trails MB Grant Approval ($75K to be match with other funds 2:1)
- now we have funds that are ready to be used – have to figure out where the rest of the funds come from and finalize scope of the project
- c. Building Sustainable Communities Grant has been applied for
- d. Other funding opportunities being pursued
- PrairiesCan, Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve
- Could be lucky to have to not have to do any fundraising if we can get funding from other opportunities
- Have started initial discussions with TransCanada trail
- Chatted with Tami Johnson – some interest in doing a walking trail around the town of Erickson which could be incorporated into this project?
- Opportunities for sharing neat stories about the community along the way (e.g. Trout farming location)
Membership Drive Update
- Eric will send email for membership renewal and reach out to others who may be interested in joining Chamber
Swedish Cultural Day June 10, 2023 - View event poster here
- Developing rural tour
- Have sold 36 tickets in Winnipeg so far
- Val has tickets available
- Not selling more than 150 tickets
- Heather sent info on sites to Val and Laurence with Delores’ phone number
- They are hiring someone to prepare the food they bring – they have 10-3 planned and anything we want to do will be at either end of that
- For marketing the event – digitize the poster and share online – Val will send to Eric
Clanwilliam Erickson Financial Plan
http://www.ericksonmb.ca/uploads/7/0/3/5/70359031/2023_financial_plan.pdf
- And Harrison Park Plan are available on their respective websites if anyone is interested in reviewing
- tomorrow at 5:30 in Erickson, Meeting at 2:00 and then public meeting at 7 for Harrison Park
Updates on support for Little Valley Jamboree (Valerie)
- Town wide yard sale during Little Valley Jamboree events
- Was another meeting on April 3 – no major decisions made, most discussion was around menu choices,
- Next meeting is May 1 – will be needing names of volunteers shortly after this point – 2 hour time slots
- If interested in volunteering let Val know (Eric will volunteer)
- Laurence – some people are interested in expanding on Kiddie Parade, would like to get the town of Erickson float in the parade (as well as in other parades around the region)
- Laurence will ask Kristy if Northstar is sponsoring Kiddie parade again
- Add townwide garage sale on Saturday to event calendar
Form for in-person events
If you have an event you’d like added to the Chamber calendar: https://form.jotform.com/222137721711043
Additional Announcements
- In person meeting – airport on May 9 (Laurence will book)
- Saturday, April 15 from 12-3 Newdale Loyal Orange Lodge has an open house
- May 5th – Loyal Orange Lodge is holding Western Canada Conference with reps from all over Canada
- SW MB Tourism book for this year is already out so we will not be in it
- Laurence will send updates on deadlines for fall printing as they come
- Meeting at Sandy Lake Drop-In center for Valley Life Housing Group – Tonight at 7:00
- In Camera
Motion to adjourn Nigel, Seconded by Josh at 12:26
Action Items:
- Eric will get a report from Stripe and/or will share access with Val to update memberships
- Eric will send email for membership renewal and reach out to others who may be interested in joining Chamber
- Eric will add discussion on Electric Vehicle Charging stations to next meeting’s agenda
- Eric will draft letter of support for airport resurfacing bid and send to Iain to present
- Eric will show Brandice steps to convert meeting minutes to send to everyone
- Eric will send email for membership renewal and reach out to others who may be interested in joining Chamber
- Eric - Add townwide garage sales, Airport Pancake Breakfast, Kiddie Parade on Saturday, June 17 to Chamber event calendar
- Nigel will run Chamber News and Views meeting by Orange Lodge tonight and will send out confirmation in an email
- All - Let Eric or Steve Langston know if you are interested in volunteering for Altitude Fest
- All - If interested in volunteering for Little Valley Jamboree let Val know
- Laurence book airport space for in person meeting on May 9th
- Laurence will ask Kristy if Northstar is sponsoring Kiddie parade again
- Val will send poster for Swedish Cultural Day to Eric to be put online