July 5, 2007 - MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE PERKINS COMMUNITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - July 5, 2007

Present:
Jeff Gill
Jeana Leatherbury
Debbie Clinesmith
Lori Kastl
BeLinda Adkins
Janice Coate
Richard Coate
Cinda Krout
Mike Larsen
Martha Larsen
Merl Kinser
Virginia Sasser
Seth Phillips
Jack Vassar
Sandy Hutchings
Ellen Proctor
Robert D. Johnson
Cindy Sheets
Pete Seikel
Travis L. Majors
David Sasser
Lisa Sasser
Rena Hines
E. B. Huber
Kelly Myers
Jim Winchell
Cheryl Sheldon
Denise Lowery
Shelley Ricker
Dan Johnson
Beth Skye
Chris Petermann


Call to Order: Jeff Gill, president, called the meeting to order at 12:20 p.m.
Meal: Provided by Subway
Invocation: Merl Kinser
Announcements:
-Travis Majors said Good News Community Church will be holding its Vacation Bible School July 9-12 at Oak Park Retreat Center.
-Bob Johnson said GNCC will also be hosting Dr. Thomas Sharp. Sharp is the co-president of an earth museum who will be speaking about creationism at Oak Park Sunday evening at 7 p.m. Sharp is also bringing the museum’s dinosaur display with him.
-Shelley Ricker said United Way is once again raffling a new boat. The boat and motor, valued at $10,000, were provided by MerCruiser as a fundraiser for the organization. Tickets are available for $10 each or 6 for $50. To purchase tickets, visit Payne County Bank in Perkins or the United Way office in Stillwater. The drawing will be July 24.
-Beth Skye, a volunteer with the Perkins Animal Shelter, said the group will soon be expanding its volunteer base and community programs. They will also be conducting a community survey, which will look at ways to serve pet owners, and non-pet owners, better.

Minutes: Chris Petermann made a motion to approve the minutes of the June 21 meeting; Pat Bickell seconded; motion approved.
Treasurer’s Report: In the absence of Treasurer Jalyn Bailey, Chris Petermann reported a balance of $27,471.17. He also noted there are STILL those who need to pay their 2007 membership dues.

Board and Committee Reports:
Business Fair: Gill said Pat Bickell and Debbie Clinesmith are working on organizing this years Business Fair. The event will be held Monday morning, Aug. 13, at the high school commons area. If anyone has questions or needs more information about the Business Fair, they are asked to contact Bickell or Clinesmith.
Old Settlers’ Harvest Fest/Pistol Pete Run: Gill said Chris Petermann will chair the committee for OSHF this year. The event will be held Saturday, Sept. 22. Jamie Andrews will chair the committee for the Pistol Pete Run that same day. Petermann said he’d appreciate volunteers to help with organizing OSHF. He’ll bring a sign-up sheet to the next chamber meeting.

Old Business:
Picnic: Gill said plans for a chamber family picnic had been discussed during the last meeting, but since then he noted it was difficult to get as good a response as he’d hoped, so he decided to cancel the plans.
July 19 caterer: The next meeting will be held as usual at noon, Thursday, July 19, at the Lions Den. Gill said he hopes that Buffalo Hill will cater the luncheon, but that has yet to be confirmed.
Hello! Catering is lined up to cater meals for first Thursday meetings for the rest of the year, but third Thursday meetings are still open for the second half of this year.
If anyone knows of other caterers who’d be interested in providing meals for the chamber meetings, they are asked to contact Gill.

New Business:
DA Stop Loss meeting: Gill introduced Stan Templeton who spoke briefly about a DA Stop Loss community meeting planned for noon on Tuesday, July 10, at the Lions Den. Everyone is invited to bring a brown bag lunch and listen to a program about the new bogus check program being implemented by District Attorney Rob Hudson’s office. Templeton said past programs have been cumbersome and hard to use. This new program is extremely easy for merchants to use and is a big benefit to them. There is no cost to merchants or to the DA’s office. Fees are paid by the bogus check writers. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.

Program: Chris Petermann introduced a short wrap-up program about the Oklahoma FreeWheel visit on June 13.
Cindy Sheets presented a slide program that featured photos taken during the visit.
Ellen Proctor of Oklahoma FreeWheel relayed her thoughts about the group’s visit in Perkins. She said Perkins was selected as the “Best Host Community.” She said she was impressed by how quickly the community responded and reacted when storms and flooding caused many changes in plans. She also expressed the main reasons that Perkins was selected for the top honor this year:
-Organizers reaction to the flooding situation.
-The friendliness of everyone in town.
-Free water
-The riders loved the vendors downtown and the ‘carnival atmosphere’
-Wonderful food and drink, ‘Everything was top drawer’
-Impact Youth Center provided a great place for children on the tour
-Plenty of indoor camping
-The evening movie made them feel like they were at home
-The motivational speaker
Proctor said approximately 875 bicyclists and a couple hundred support people were in town that evening.
At the end of the tour, FreeWheelers are asked to vote for their favorite stop, and instead of just writing “Perkins” on their ballot, many of them wrote sentiments like, “Perkins, hands-down” or “Absolutely Perkins.”
Proctor then presented a “Best Host Community” plaque to Gill and committee co-chairs Cheryl Sheldon and Travis Majors.

Meetings: The next general membership meeting of the chamber will be at noon, Thursday, July 19, at the Lion’s Den. Buffalo Hill is the scheduled caterer, and Kelly Sasser will present the program.
Adjourn: The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:58 p.m.