Monday, February 13, 2017

Bradley County Chamber Board Meets

Members of the Bradley County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meet February 13, 2017 for the monthly meeting of the Chamber.  Chairman Patricia Wilkerson presided.  The minutes of the January meeting and the January financial report were approved.

A detailed report on plans for the 2017 Pink Tomato Festival was provided by Mike Nichols.  He stated that plans are proceeding and a "trap shoot" competition is scheduled for Saturday February 18th at the Warren Shooting Range, to raise money for the festival.  He went on to say that chances are being sold on a gun to help raise additional funds, thanks to The Swap Shop.  Mr. Nichols told the board that most of the entertainment for the festival is set, including a big name act for the Saturday night concert, but the group name will not be released until the contract is signed.
He thanked members of the Chamber who are helping in various ways.



The board were presented the bids submitted for renovation and repairs to the railroad depot building.  While the Chamber has voted to donate the facility to the City of Warren and the Warren City Council has voted to accept ownership, the transaction has not been finalized.  The Board voted to approve the low bid from Ideal True Value, Inc. in the amount of $42,790.00.  The City Council will also act on the bid prior to the work going forward, since the city is providing most of the matching funds and will soon own the property outright.  Since the bid was under the estimated cost, there will remain grant funds to conduct additional upgrading to the depot. Chamber members voiced their desire to see additional work bid separately rather than expand the current contract, if allowed by the state. The options are being researched by the architect. The time period for spending the money has to be considered.  Any new grants would be put out for public bid.  State and federal law requires public work to be bid and the contracts be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.

The final ten minutes of the board meeting consisted of a training session on how the Chamber Board should operate.  Future training will be conducted during the next couple of months to focus on board members and officers.

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