Chamber looking for directors

With the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce’s general membership meeting coming up Nov. 27, it is looking to fill several expected vacancies on the board.
As such, the Chamber is putting out a call to members to put their names forward for appointment or election (if need be) to the board.
Chamber manager Dawn Booth said this morning the board currently has one vacancy, but may see another three or four directors not put their names forward again for 2008.
“We definitely are looking for people,” she noted. “And regardless [of the vacancies], everybody has to be re-elected to the board every year, so the people on our board right now are not necessarily guaranteed a seat in 2008.”
Booth said the significant amount of time board members have to commit to being a director has been a factor in burn-out, and the Chamber is looking at changing the frequency of its meetings to alleviate that.
For instance, the Chamber may reduce its number of board meetings, which currently are held at noon on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month, to just once a month.
Booth added they’re also re-evaluating the 10 Chamber sub-committees that meet monthly.
“Right now, there’s three or four Chamber meetings a week. That’s a huge time commitment for someone that’s volunteering,” she conceded.
“We’re looking at amalgamating some of our sub-committees so that we have five instead of 10, and there’s a lot less meetings next year.”
Booth noted you do not need to be a business owner to sit on the board, but your affiliated business must belong to the Chamber.
The responsibilities of a director are:
•to help formulate and review various policies, proposed actions, programs, and projects so that the best interest of the Chamber and community can be accomplished through concerted action;
•to provide the personal leadership, enthusiasm, and support necessary to help co-ordinate and build an effective organization geared to solving community problems; and
•to evaluate and act on issues which come, or should come, before the board of directors.
Anyone interested in putting their names forward can contact Booth before the Nov. 27 meeting at 274-5773, but nominations also will be taken from the floor that day.
If there are more people interested than there are vacancies, there will be an election on Nov. 27. If there’s only enough to fill the vacancies, all the interested nominees likely will be accepted.
“Hopefully, we’ll have more than enough. That’s always a good scenario,” said Booth.
The location of the Nov. 27 meeting, as well as the guest speaker, still are being confirmed at this time.
The current board consists of John Kantola, Barb Cournoyer, Stephen Kontzie, Bev Kotnik, Kevin Nielson, Pam Parsons, Kelly Spicer, and Jeff Wright.
The Chamber executive consists of president Christine Denby, first vice-president Cathy Emes, second vice-president Nancy Daley, treasurer Janet Plumridge, and past-president Gary Rogozinski.
Appointees include Geoff Gillon, Patti Anderson, Christine Jourdain, and Jane Gillon.
In other news, Booth said the Chamber currently is conducting interviews for a community development officer.
It’s hoped a new person will be hired in the next several weeks to resume the business retention and expansion survey initiative which started back in the spring.