Chamber still needs three more directors

FORT FRANCES—The Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce acclaimed three new directors at its annual general membership meeting here Tuesday, but continues to look for more to round out its board vacancies.
“We actually still have three spots available, so we’re going to continue to work on that between now and our Dec. 16 meeting,” Chamber manager Dawn Booth noted Wednesday.

“If there’s three people out there that are interested, they can certainly call me [at 274-5773] for more information.”
New to the board are John McEvoy (Bell), Darryl Skinner (Wal-Mart), and Mark Caron (M.L. Caron Electric).
They join returning directors Pam Andersen (Enterprise Rent-A-Car), Barb Cournoyer (TD Canada Trust), Cathy Emes (Confederation College), Lillian Gerley (UPS Store), Bev Kotnik (Good Impressions Printing), Leo Melanson (B93fm), and Anne Renaud (Confederation College).
Appointees on the Chamber board include Patti Anderson (BIA), Jane Gillon (Ministry of Northern Development and Mines), Angela Halvorsen (RRFDC), Christine Jourdain (Couchiching), Gary Rogozinski (AbitibiBowater), and Coun. Ken Perry (Town of Fort Frances).
Coun. Perry also made a presentation to the Chamber membership at Tuesday’s meeting on the town’s strategic plan, its 2009 budget, and other upcoming plans.
Meanwhile, the Chamber’s nominating committee will meet in the coming weeks to put together a list of nominees for its executive, which will be voted on at the Dec. 16 meeting, noted Booth.
Tuesday’s meeting officially marked the last for Christine Denby (Gillons’ Insurance) as president. She will take up the role of past-president (most recently held by Rogozinski) as of Dec. 16.
The annual general membership meeting also was an occasion to recognize several directors who stepped down, including Wanda Barker (Super 8 Motel), Nancy Daley-Fulton (CMHA), Krista Mauro (RBC Royal Bank), Janet Plumridge (Investors Group), and Paul Sunstrum (Canadian Tire).
Daley-Fulton, who most recently was second vice-president, is expected to continue to serve on a variety of Chamber committees.
Dues increased
In other news, Chamber businesses passed a motion at Tuesday’s meeting to increase membership fees.
“It’s pretty important,” said Booth. “The motion that was passed was for a 2.5 percent increase in membership dues in 2009, and one percent every year thereafter, reviewing every five years.
“Because we have several different categories people pay dues on, the lowest category will about a $2.38 increase and the highest category will see a $20 increase for 2009,” she explained.
Booth said the rationale behind the hike was mainly inflation.
“We hadn’t increased our membership dues since 2004, and obviously the cost of things has been rising and so have ours, so we have to try and offset those somehow,” she noted.
“We figure a small increase won’t really hurt anybody too drastically, so if we do it over the next few years, it will help us and it will help them keep a handle on their dues.”
Booth also noted the Chamber spends a fair amount of time fundraising to support itself and its projects, which means it doesn’t have as much time to focus on the needs of the business community.
The fee increase hopefully will help in that regard, too.
“We haven’t had an increase since 2004, and in the almost 12 years I’ve been here, I think we’ve only increased our dues twice, so this would be the third time,” Booth said.
It’s not something we do all the time,” she stressed. “Some Chambers have an automatic increase each year to account for inflation.”