November 2015 Minutes

 Historic Hannibal Marketing Council

November 2015 Minutes

The meeting was called to order by President John Lewellen.

Members and board members present: Lou Barta; Debbie Hurt; Sarah and Frank North; Joe Anderson; Mary Short; Lisa Marks; Katy Welch; Paul Lewellen; Kenna Bogue; Mike O’Cheltree; Joe Noonan and Katy Welch. Board members not present: Dena Ellis; Linda Studer; Margaret Fessenden.

Lisa Marks and Kenna Bogue made the motions to approve the presented agenda for the meeting. Katy and Lisa motioned to approve the minutes from the October meeting.

Treasurers Report: Treasurer Mike O’Cheltree reported the balance of the combined checking and savings accounts is $24,173.53 of which $5000 is in savings.

At the executive board meeting it was discussed to invest some of the funds and earn some interest. This matter will be addressed with Jim Milan at HNB.

A discussion followed about members who are not current and an accurate membership count is necessary. Mary Short, Mike O’Cheltree and Gloria Burns will get together and check all paid dues against current list and get letters or phone calls to members who have not paid their 2016 dues. A drop dead date will be utilized in the future and members will be encouraged to pay by the annual meeting date. Lou suggested that if members aren’t current, those members shouldn’t participate in the Christmas lights and other promotions throughout the year. Another matter of the non-profit agencies came up – and if the dues have always been traded out.

Committee Reports:

HCVB – no report given

Membership R & R – Mary reported on new members: Quality Inn; Esthetics Studio; Bits and Pieces; and Indigo Pony. Other potential new members: HNB, Beauty Bar; Richard Gary and the Crossing.

Events: Lisa reported on the Victorian Christmas. All members are asked to go to the website and check for accuracy. There is an astounding amount of events listed. Mary Griffith, KHQA, Hannibal Magazine have all promoted the events. Katy at Java Jive has additional posters and rack cards. Members are asked to encourage children of all ages to partake in the Babes and Toyland parade on Dec. 12th. This is a new event that took place in the old days. Children and their dolls, strollers, wagons, etc. will parade down Main Street. This event will hopefully grow each year. Events will be posted on facebook and we should all share to help spread the word.

Chocolate Extravaganza: Kenna reported that there will be a new passport design along with advertising in the passport. The committee has just begun to meet on a weekly basis and has a lot of work to get done! Watch for emails from the committee!

Beautification: Dena not in attendance. Kristine reported that the Hannibal Courier-Post published a nice picture and caption about the Looking Good Awards and the businesses receiving them were very honored. The committee has lots of things in the planning stages including a list of areas that need to be cleaned. Other items of concern are flowers and weeds; dog waste; the lighthouse; and welcome signs. The Christmas committee has been joined with the Beautification committee. New lights will be hung on new businesses with the help of Patriot Painting. This year we are doing a “band-aid” fix but as we move into the new year, the lights will be repaired, replaced or restrung a block at a time. HHMC will provide the wire, merchants buy their lights. There is not enough time to fix all the lights this Christmas. The Park Dept. will string the tree lights and put out the snowmen. A motion was made by Joe to include a policy stating that “members are entitled to the installation of the wiring for the lights, but the business owners will pay for lights. Pat seconded. Motion carried.

B-A-M: BAM is June 18th. Golden Eagle has agreed to pay $5000 to sponsor the event. We’ll need to provide a shuttle service from the camp site, B&Bs, hotels, etc.  to the downtown area/ stage. The bike riders could stay at the Cave but other areas were discussed including the south Main area. We will need to get city approval to get the streets blocked off. The committee will also bring up open container approval for this event and the wrist band concept will be used. This event could be a big fundraiser for HHMC and Eric will get ahold of vendors that have been at Twain on Main. Motion was made to form a committee to help Bill. Motion carried and was accepted. The motion to sign the contract with BAM was made by Mike, Lisa seconded.

Other Business: Joe Noonan opened a discussion about the alleys being blocked by vehicles during events. He has talked to the city and the city has agreed to turn them into 1 way  alleys. They will go in opposite directions for the traffic flow. The traffic will not be monitored closely during the non-festival time but will be watched during the festivals and events. Brian Chaplin and Zerbonia were in agreement that this will be a good thing. Paul and Lisa made the motion to endorse the alleys being turned into 1 ways.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 15th. Same time and place.

Respectfully submitted,

Gloria Burns

Secretary