Location: Erickson Municipal Airport: Neilson Airport Club House.
Invited
Erickson & District Chamber of Commerce Board members and invited guests including representatives from the Erickson Flying Club and the Erickson Airport Commission
In Attendance:
Eric Bjornson, Brandice Bator, Cody Cameron, Dave Walker, Laurence Bertram, Brian Schnell, Nigel Kerr, Josh Surovy, Heather Howdle, Kristy Vermiere, Valerie Soltys
Meeting called to order at 11:07
Goal of the meeting: spend most of meeting talking about Chamber quarter
Additions to Agenda: Valley Life Housing Inc. Update - Heather
Minutes
Approval of Agenda
Approval of April Minutes (posted to public website)
Motion to approve: Heather
Seconded: Valerie
Approval of new members: No new members this month
Treasurer's report (Valerie Soltys)
- a. Radonmatters Invoice 1436 - Zoom Membership, GoDaddy, Xero Accounting, Poster My Wall, Printing
- Move to pay invoice: Heather, Seconded: Laurence
- Everything up to date
- Collected $1176 in membership fees
- Balance: $25843.45
- Savings: $1650.73
- a. Radonmatters Invoice 1436 - Zoom Membership, GoDaddy, Xero Accounting, Poster My Wall, Printing
Follow up on Chamber News and Views event
- 6 people attended including 3 chamber members
- Talked about signage, missing out on advertising,
- Lack of water in Newdale, would increase property values - not sure if there is someone advocating for this to the Municipality - Nigel considering sending a letter to Steve
- Numerous empty lots in Newdale - selling at a particular price could fund bringing water
- Next meeting: Sandy Lake, May 23rd at 1:00 - Laurence to organize
- Would be good to invite chamber members from that community personally to attend
Update - Erickson Airport Repaving
- Dave & Cody provided an update on paving:
- Funding approved for 2023 for reduced scope
- Looking for donations to Municipality of Clanwilliam Erickson
- Building Sustainable Communities Grant - will find out in June - could expand scope of project
- 2500 ft. = reduced scope = $1.9 million
- 3000 ft. = expanded scope = $2.5 million
- $400,000 shortfall
- Dave & Cody provided an update on paving:
Airport Area Development
General Discussion on Vision for Airport Area and Chamber Quarter development. See: Aerial Image with approx property lines
- Summary of how chamber became involved in land - bought land to bring in airport
- Keep it the way it is/how it is currently generating revenue OR explore other options for revenue
- Have not yet talked to consultant
- Potential ideas: airpark, light industrial, housing on the runway for regular flyers
- Have to talk to Transport Canada about restrictions and regulations (consultant will be able to)
- Community should be surveyed to come up with options before consultant gets involved - hold a townhall meeting to discuss priorities for different groups
- Could pre-sell lots based on stipulation that until we sell lots we don’t proceed with development
- rental/lease rates for hangars - rental rates are high here
- advertise/promote that we have space for hangars
- Erickson = a service provider for the park
- Industrial park would attract contractors
- We could provide services, coordinate and build into plan - stick with water, septic would be holding tanks
- Start finding details from Transport Canada - Brian will look into
- Eric got a quote to bring water over to the quarter
- Cost structure - recover costs value of hayfield? Profit? Contribute to profits of airport?
- Are we selling or leasing lots - selling = 1 time lump sum, leasing = perpetual income
- Next step is information gathering - types of usages, boundaries, set backs etc.
Updates - Swedish Cultural Day June 10, 2023
- Val has tickets
- Will take place at the viking ship and legion
- Laurence working on Rural Tour - will talk to municipality to get access to cairn at immigration house
- No additional assistance needed from chamber members at this point
- Poster is on the CoC website
Progress report: Membership Directory updates
- Hired someone to update membership
- Spent 8 hours to date and added 2023 memberships
- Next steps:
- Solicit for renewals
- Go to businesses to take pictures and provide information if they don’t respond to form
EMS service in the region (Valerie)
- Short on workers, 4 positions available, only 1 filled
- Training fell behind, only offered in Winnipeg - would be good to have local training program
- Can CoC send letter to PMH and MLA? - Laurence will draft and send around for comments
- Motion to provide letter: Laurence, Seconded: Nigel, all in favour
- Also could publish this letter on our website and the newspaper
Follow up on Meeting with Parks Canada: issues of interest and potential for collaboration between the Erickson & District Chamber of Commerce and RMNP.
- Eric met with Superintendent and External Relations Manager
- Discussed what CoC and Park is up to and the focus for this year:
- AIS is focus for RMNP
- Staff housing is an issue
- See themselves as having a need for housing - could we collaborate? They could potentially provide land in the park for housing
- Discussion on public transportation to surrounding communities like Erickson, Sandy Lake, Rolling River, Keesee, - which could draw staff from surrounding communities and alleviate pressure on Wasagaming housing shortage
- RMNP will join CoC
- Hiring Indigenous Individuals/Organizations is a priority
- CoC interest is making this all worth it for an operator - e.g. Shuttle Bug, Ian Drul - Sandy Lake Van, Erickson Bus - Archie Campbell
- Would be a huge benefit to all communities
Follow up from Altitude Festival
- Great educational opportunity
- Great first year - organizers are interested in carrying it on
Updates - Little Valley Jamboree (June 17th and 18th) - Val
- CoC commitment - assist with support staff - crowd control
- Need 10 two hour time slots filled
- Contact Val if interested in volunteering
- Advise members through communications that we need help
- Eric will volunteer
- Parade - Kristy willing to do Kiddy parade again - still have lots of stuff left over from last year
- Kristy will contact police and fire departments
- Adults need to be ready to sign waiver for kids to use the bouncy castles and other activities on site
- Dave Macdonald has rock climbing wall available to rent
- Flying club breakfast - will discuss this weekend
- Sandy Lake Sunrise CU has funds available to support events under $1000 - do they have volunteers?
- Talk to Trish Patterson
- Talk to Sunrise CU to see if this option is available as well
Sunrise - offering support for events
Valley Life Housing Inc
- Website - encourage communities to set up committees
- First committee meeting at 7:00 at Municipality office, Wednesday, May 10
In Camera
Additional Discussion Items:
- Start using community calendar more - Link to form for submitting events
- Laurence - look into advertising in the SW MB visitor guide in the future
- Letter from Rolling River School Division on budget input
- Annual summary for Board of Trade application - Laurence will look into
Meeting adjourned at 1:09
Action Items:
- Laurence - organize next Chamber News and Views meeting - Next meeting: Sandy Lake, May 23rd at 1:00
- Laurence - draft a letter to PMH and MLA re EMS Service and send around for comments
- All - Let Val know if you are able to volunteer at Jamboree
- Kristy - organizing kiddy parade again - will contact police and fire departments
- Nobody Identified - Additional conversations needed for next steps for Chamber quarter & transportation for RMNP staff in other communities