Debe & Henry welcoming everyone

A wonderful lunch and meeting was hosted by the Anderson Chamber of Commerce at the Anderson City Hall, 1887 Howard Street, Anderson, CA.

Attendees:
Anderson: Chamber Representatives Debe Hopkins, Henry Bartolo, Lynn Gillin, Linda Austin, Corky Keenan, Connie Blanc, D.J. Cherrington, Shae Music, Sheri Kerr, and Anderson City Government Representatives: Scott Morgan, City Manager, Neil Purcell, Chief of Anderson Police Dept, and Keith Webster, Anderson City Council member
Burney: Sherri Quinlan, Bob Chibante, Cottonwood: Janis Hill, Mt. Shasta: Larry Montgomery, Shasta Lake: Terry Steele, Bonnie Hurlhey, Weaverville: Ed Bates SCEDD: Jessica Kaiser and PIC, Anna Brassart.

BRC Facilitators: Tom Cowles & Inez Bays

Forum was opened with a welcome from Tom Cowles, Debe Hopkins & Henry Bartolo. Debe pointed out the great working relationship the Anderson Chamber has with the city and introduced representative guests from the city. BRC Facilitators: Tom Cowles & Inez Bays

Everyone was asked to introduce him or herself along with what city Chamber they represent, the sources of their chamber funding and the name of their business organization. BRC Facilitators: Tom Cowles & Inez Bays

Most funding is generated through membership dues, chamber events and, outside Shasta County, a % of the Tourist Occupancy Taxes. BRC Facilitators: Tom Cowles & Inez Bays

Tom read an article in the Record Searchlight regarding Lynn Millers’ (Burney Chamber) generosity.

When Lynn arrived in Burney in 1998, she looked asked herself who did the work of making the small town a community. The answer? "You know what? You look in the mirror. That’s who does stuff." Recently Lynn donated $15, 000 to the Burney Chamber of Commerce, which revived itself in 2002 after being inactive for more than a decade. Lynn also gave another $15,000 to the volunteer staffed Burney Fire Protection District. Lynn is to be applauded for her generosity and a reminder of whatever our financial means, we can all find that giving spirit if we look in the mirror. This works no matter what size town you live in.

Tom also referred to another RS article about residents in rural towns pooling resources to reopen mercantile stores by selling shares in the stores. Evidently this has occurred in Ely, Nev, Powell Wyo. and other small towns in Mont. with success. This is another prime example of personal involvement in small communities.

In the next session the group addressed -What value does your Chamber offer members? Why should I join?

Inez divided everyone into small groups. Each group was given a flipchart sheet and marker and designated scribe. The task was to list 5 reasons for a business to join the Chamber and number the reasons in order of importance. Each group taped their sheet on the wall and explained what values were received in joining a chamber. The following lists many of those values.

Larry Montgomery giving his group's list of 5 values chambers offer business members

Sherri Quinlan of Burney addressed the lack of equitable advertisement in ratio to the Transit Occupancy Tax (TOT) collected in the Shasta County rural communities. It was agreed that Sherri would write a short letter to be sent to the Shasta County Supervisors requesting TOT dollars be returned to the local chambers. The letter will be copied and delivered to all Rural Communities. The goal is to have hundreds of letters sent to the Supervisors showing solidarity of purpose.

Inez wrapped up the meeting by reviewing agenda & purpose of the forum. Everyone agreed that a quarterly meeting should continue. It was also decided that outside presenters of topics applicable to chamber needs would be good.

The Burney Chamber will host the next meeting on Friday, July 30th.
The agenda for July 30th will include sharing planned and possible fund raising activities. Shared vendor lists etc.