Mission: The Niobrara Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to being Niobrara County's main resource by disseminating information to promote, protect and prospect its members while reaching out to our community and visitors.
Vision: The Niobrara Chamber of Commerce Advocates for the well-being, sustainability and growth of Niobrara County
Board Members: Vice-President Twyla Barker, Treasurer Patti Miller, Kathy MCCaunahey, George Mirich, and President Nick Doucette. Jane Filener also represents the ROCS group.
Staff; Executive Director Jackie Bredthauer
Your membership brings value to you, your company and your community.
As a member we promote your events and encourage people to shop locally. We often give out chamber bucks as a way to promote local events and local shopping. Chamber Bucks are also available for purchase at the chamber office in increments of $5.
We also offer referrals via the internet, phone, mail, social media and walk ins.
We have a working relationship with our congressional representatives, Wyoming Business Council, Small Business Development etc.
We offer our marketing mail permit and free notary services to our members. The Niobrara Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization funded through memberships, fundraisers, Town of Lusk and the Lodging Tax Board. We provide the services of the Lusk Lodging Tax board, which is the majority of our budget.
Vision: The Niobrara Chamber of Commerce Advocates for the well-being, sustainability and growth of Niobrara County
Board Members: Vice-President Twyla Barker, Treasurer Patti Miller, Kathy MCCaunahey, George Mirich, and President Nick Doucette. Jane Filener also represents the ROCS group.
Staff; Executive Director Jackie Bredthauer
Your membership brings value to you, your company and your community.
As a member we promote your events and encourage people to shop locally. We often give out chamber bucks as a way to promote local events and local shopping. Chamber Bucks are also available for purchase at the chamber office in increments of $5.
We also offer referrals via the internet, phone, mail, social media and walk ins.
We have a working relationship with our congressional representatives, Wyoming Business Council, Small Business Development etc.
We offer our marketing mail permit and free notary services to our members. The Niobrara Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization funded through memberships, fundraisers, Town of Lusk and the Lodging Tax Board. We provide the services of the Lusk Lodging Tax board, which is the majority of our budget.
NIOBRARA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MINUTES
JANUARY 13,2021
The meeting was called to order by President Randi Ross at 11:30. Also present were Randi, Patti, Jane and Jackie. Nick and Rick joined us via the phone. Patti moved to approve the agenda, motion carried. Minutes were reviewed with Nick making a motion to approve the minutes, motion carried. The treasurers report was reviewed with a balance of $15,201.29 and was filed for audit.
Guest:
OLD BUSINESS:
ROCS: The group is now meeting every two months so they will be meeting again in February.
Yard of the Month :. Please come with nominations for next month’s Yard of the Month
Travel Storys: The app is now ready for visitors and we are now working on marketing ie posters, rack cards etc.
Website Updates: I have added the 5 Best things to do campaign that we did with the office of tourism and COVID relief dollars. I have also added a chamber page with our vision, board members listing, minutes etc
In May or June we may start adding updates from water and sewer project. It was suggested that we could use the code red program when we need to inform customers of emergencies with the project, ie broken lines etc
NEW BUSINESS:
Invoices: They have all been mailed out and payments are starting to roll in.
Election of Officers: Discussion was held to have Nick as President, Patti as treasurer, Twyla as Vice President. Rick moved to accept the slate of officer nominations, motion passed.
Business Updates:
The Liquor Store will be under new ownership in February. Welcome Rob Carpenter as the new owner.
Same as It Once Was was closed for two weeks.
Public health will be holding COVID vaccination drive thrus at the fairgrounds.
They are having public meetings for the Phase 1 part of the sewer and water projects. The first meeting was well attended and they will be holding another possibly in April and May when more information is available.
Prairie View Campground is empty at this time and they are doing some renovations on the outside of the building.
Lickety Stitch has remained busy due to their internet presence.
Sandrock Vision is busy and Patti is now working there so she will be representing the clinic as well as Miller Construction,
WWC is working short staffed as well as budget cuts but continue to keep the facility safe and have not any inmates with COVID. They have finished their vaccinations.
The hospital has vaccinated all staff and residents who wanted the COVID vaccinations. Cases of COVID are down and they reopened for visitation again after the holidays. Visitors will still need to be screened for fever, wear a mask and limit visitations to 15 minutes.
Jackie than presented Randi with a thank you card and some chamber bucks as a thank you from the board for her years of service to the Chamber of Commerce.
The summary and calendar were then distributed.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:07
The next meeting will be Wednesday February 9th.
Respectfully submitted by:
Jackie Bredthauer, Executive Director
DECEMBER 9TH, 2020
The meeting was called to order by President Randi Ross at 11:30. Also present were Nick, Twyla,and Jane. Twyla moved to approve the agenda, motion carried. Minutes were reviewed with Randi making a motion to approve the minutes, motion carried. The treasurers report was reviewed with a balance of $18,340.12 and was filed for audit.
Guest:
OLD BUSINESS:
ROCS: The chili feed, Christmas celebration went very well. The group will be meeting every two months instead of monthly.
Yard of the month: Discussion was held to give Tangney’s the December Yard of the Month. Please come with nominations for next months Yard of the Month
NEW BUSINESS:
Lodging Tax; State-wide tax passed and will be at 5% starting January 1st. 2% of that goes to Lusk Lodging Tax Board and we voted in another 1% lodging tax so it will be 6% within city limits for lodging tax and another 5% for sales tax until April 1st. Those outside of city limits will also be collecting a lodging tax now of 5% with 2% of that going to the county. Jackie will be meeting with the county commissioners to discuss the lodging tax.
Attached is the chamber year review ad for the Lusk Herald. It was reviewed with a few corrections and will be submitted to the Lusk Herald for the December 23rd addition.
New state health orders: Dr F will be doing a zoom meeting today at 12:30 for business owners.
Business Updates:
The BQ Corral has been purchased and Mark has begun clean-up on the building with hopes of having it open this summer.
The Outpost has reopened after renovations.
The Pizza Place will be closed to two weeks before Christmas and will re-open the dining room, etc on December 23rd.
NEA: New hire for apprentice in Harrison. They are not looking for a CEO as Shawna Glendy is managing the office and Rick Bridge is managing the rest.
The Senior Center is open and will be looking at lights on the 17th.
Several questions were brought up regarding the mask orders that can hopefully be answered at todays Zoom meeting.
Lickety Stitch has been busy,
Prairie View Campground’s occupancy is none and the motel occupancies are down as well
The Hospital is shut down for visitation until the 11th of December and then will be closed again after Christmas for two weeks for visitation. The hospital has been busy with an increase of beds as well. Precautions are still in place. They are doing gifts for the residents and they have a box available for toys for children. They will be issuing chamber bucks to all their employees in lieu of a Christmas Party. They will have COVID vaccines available for the staff, residents, and volunteers etc soon. And the vaccinations are nota condition of employment.
No other business updates.
Randi’s term on the board will be expiring and we will need to elect officers at the next meeting.
The summary and calendar were then distributed.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:08
Respectfully submitted by:
Jackie Bredthauer, Executive Director
NOVEMBER 18TH
The meeting was called to order by President Randi Ross at 11:30. Also present were Nick, Patti, Julie Dunn and Jane. Nick moved to approve the agenda, motion carried. Minutes were reviewed with Nick making a motion to approve the minutes,motion carried. The treasurers report was reviewed with a balance of $14,040.39 and was filed for audit.
Guest:
OLD BUSINESS:
ROCS: They will be displaying outdoor musical instruments for people to enjoy hopefully between True Value and Heths. The Christmas Downtown is scheduled for December 5th with chili cook off, parade etc.
Yard of the month: Discussion was held to give Ron and Holly Nelson the November Yard of the Month and Jim and Sheila Tangney for December.
The State Chamber meeting was held in October as only a one- day event. One speaker was in person while the other two were via Zoom.
Trick or Treating: We had approximately 300 kids in attendance. Discussion was had to have the costume contest parade at the hospital next week.
NEW BUSINESS:
The health variance for Niobrara County will expire on November 23rd so we will be under the state health orders at that time. Exceptions for events can be directed to our public health nurse Melanie Pierce.
Christmas lights at the museum will be doing up today and we will not be hosting a ceremony this year.
Taxes: The state- wide lodging tax begins January and Jackie will be meeting the county commissioners.
The 1% excise tax passed as well and will begin April 1st.
Instead of purchasing an ad for all the holiday festivities, I suggest we do a year in review for the newspaper. We will approve the review in the December meeting.
Business Updates:
NEA: Their GM, Kevin is no longer with them and Shawna Glendy and Rick Bridge are in charge.
No other business updates at this time .
The summary and calendar were then distributed.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:25
Respectfully submitted by:
Jackie Bredthauer, Executive Director
