Coon Valley Business Association
Minutes for the March meeting held March 4th at the Skybox.
The meeting was called to order by President Geoff Lenser.
The minutes for the previous meeting were approved. A motion to approve was made by Carol Olson and seconded by Beth Hanson, the motion carried.
Beth Hanson, the Treasurer, reported that the general checking account has $1958.97 and the Bingo checking account has $5063. Amy Adam made a motion to accept and the motion was seconded by Nancy Wedwick, the motion carried.
We heard from Jim Servais, who is on the Vernon County Board of Directors. He spoke about the Vernon Economic Development Association. It is a non-profit organization that helps businesses. It is an incubator and excelarator for businesses. The businesses have to be food based. The building houses many businesses large and small. Some of the businesses are B&E’s Trees maple syrup, Wisco Pop, Kickapoo Coffee, Community Hunger Solutions, 5th Season Coop and more. The Director is Sue Noble. Sue conducts a monthly meeting, open to the public, where a local business or speaker tells about their business or skill. It is also a great networking meeting also. Any business can be a member. Geoff Lenser has the brochure with the member levels. Bob Flottmyer, from Chaseburg Manufacturing spoke about his experience with being a member.
We discussed becoming a member of Connect Communities, at a yearly cost of $200. Linda Schulte made a motion to join and it was seconded by Nancy Wedwick, the motion carried.
Bingo is April 5th. As always, we can use help setting up tables, working in the kitchen and selling cards. The food has not been decided yet.
The Dairy Supply has applied to be in the October Fest Parade again and they would like to have us participate. We also talked about being in the Memorial Day Parade. We discussed having a float with a canoe and a trout fisherman to advertise our events. A motion to participate in the parades was made by Carol Olson and seconded by Frank Mathison, the motion carried.
We discussed the progress of Trout Fest. Geoff Lenser reported that VMH is willing to help with a run/walk that will probably be family color run. Geoff Lenser will contact VMH again to find out exactly what they will be in charge of. Carol Olson made a motion to have the run during Trout Fest and Amy Adam seconded the motion, the motion carried. We also discussed having a cover charge to help pay for the evening band at Trout Fest. Carol Olson made a motion to have a $2 cover charge. I t was seconded by Beth Hanson, the motion carried.
We discussed being a part of running the canoe races by possibly being the lead organization and using our federal ID # for grant writing. Carol Olson contacted our insurance company to see if it would cover the event. She reported that the village requires liability for each race participant. This could possibly be an additional $100-$200. The insurance company was going to check into the possibility that we would have coverage in our existing policy. Any excess insurance premiums would come out of canoe race profits and not cost us anything. Carol Olson made a motion to use our ID # and take the lead in the canoe races. It was seconded by Paul Lewison, the motion carried.
Linda Pederson said that the Chaseburg Snowtrailers are selling their parade float and would the group be interested in purchasing it. Geoff Lenser will see what kind of shape it’s in. We also discussed that if Geoff finds it in good shape, he could negotiate a price up to $600. Paul Lewison made a motion to accept to purchase of the float if it is in good condition. The motion was seconded by Linda Schulte, the motion carried.
We discussed writing some kind of contract, for all organizations participating in the Canoe Races, spelling out each group’s responsibilities and how profits will be distributed. We will discuss this at the Canoe Race meeting Tuesday and write it up by the next meeting.
The next business association meeting is April 1st at 5:15 at the Skybox.
A motion to adjourn was made by Paul Lewison and seconded by Pauline Aspenson, the motion carried.
The next Canoe race meeting is tonight at the Skybox at 5:30. Please attend if you can.