The Ponoka and District Chamber of Commerce welcomed a few new faces to its board of directors at its AGM.
Held Jan. 17 at the Ponoka Youth Centre, the meeting saw Andrew Middleton elected as the chamber president for a second year while Barry Grant takes on the role as vice president. Pam Baron continues her role as treasurer and Jim Hamilton remains the past-president for another year.
During the president’s message Middleton said he looks forward to 2017.
“We are looking forward to some positive and exciting changes for the upcoming year,” he said, adding that with the new executive manager Kori Hart has taken the helm for upcoming plans.
“The chamber is working towards increasing our online presence and some new online offerings for members,” he explained.
The board itself stays relatively the same with Jimmy Palliotto from Adams Chevrolet and Mike Ro from Husky becoming the newest members. Continuing board members are Susan Bussiere, Kyla Courte, Judy Dick, Melodie Helm, Inger Laing, Dan Lea, Steven Reguly and Theresa Turner.
For financial data, the chamber is sitting relatively decent with a slight loss for 2016. Gross Revenue sits at $121,000 while total expenses sit at just over $124,000. The chamber saw a loss of $3,360 mainly due to a drop in revenues for the annual trade fair.
A decent cash position of $57,000 ensures the chamber is covered for the loss.
County speaks to its functions
Special guest to the meeting was Ponoka County CAO Charlie Cutforth, who spoke on the county’s goal to minimize the hurdles for businesses.
“We attempt to create and maintain an environment that allows businesses to succeed,” said Cutforth.
The philosophy at the Ponoka County offices is to drop everything to ensure taxpayers or businesses are assisted.
Despite a low number of staff members — Mountainview has 95, Wetaskiwin 80, Camrose 62 and Ponoka County has 34 — service has not been reduced, says Cutforth, and it shows in the field. Another benefit of a smaller workforce is when the economy suffers.
“We honestly don’t have to worry about cutbacks and layoffs or rollbacks for that matter,” he said.
Despite this, Ponoka County had some loss in tax revenues at approximately $900,000 for two different businesses. There was little the county could do, said Cutforth, saying that the hope is companies that take over may make some revenue in the future.
As for relationships with other municipalities, Cutforth says despite challenges with the transition of fire services for the town and county of Ponoka, there is still a positive working relationship between the two and he offered that residents share services.
“It’s true really. The town boundary is simply a line on a map,” said Cutforth.
For the fire department differences Cutforth says there are mutual aid agreements between the Ponoka Fire Department and the east county department and support is there if needed. His hope is that these issues will eventually become a thing of the past and that there is some type of reconciliation.
“It’s embarrassing for both of us to say that we have two fire departments in a small community like this,” said Cutforth.
“We sincerely hope that the town will eventually see the merits in this and maybe if we prove to them that a regional system can work, I hope they can see the merits of that in the future,” said Cutforth.
He praised town CAO Albert Flootman for being a “breath of fresh air,” to their communications.
Cutforth concluded by saying the relationship between him and Flootman has always been a positive and amicable relationship.