The newly revived Andover Chamber of Commerce met Tuesday evening at 6pm at the Andover Parish house at the corner of Church and Elm St. The primary focus of the meeting was to elect a board. Erica Clark, a driving force behind the renewal of activity for the Chamber of Commerce, was appointed president. Monica Dean was appointed vice president in absentia as she was not available to accept the honor. Here's to hoping she's cool with it (she's probably cool with it). Emily McGinnis and Maria McCormick were appointed secretary and treasurer respectively. To round out the board Steve Walker, Nick Davis, and Mel Thorpe were appointed members of the board.
In addition to appointing the board the meeting focused on first steps for the revival of the chamber. Setting up a website and social media presence was determined to be an important first step. Newly minted Board Member Steve Walker offered up AndoverNY.com as a domain name, but that was rejected as that domain redirects to a fake news blog at present, which isn't a professional look for the Chamber. Steve is rumored to have not even asked the alleged news blogger if that was ok. When asked by this reporter about the matter Steve replied, "no comment." The new superintendent of ACS, Dr. Schuelein, was present and had some thoughts on the matter and there was much discussion with some resolution.
Other topics discussed included setting membership dues at $75 per year for member businesses to include listing on the website directory. Hosting a Christmas decoration event was discussed as well as fundraisers and the potential for a 2024 bicentennial celebration. A lot of ground was covered.
The meeting lasted approximately 55 minutes, which is pretty decent for an organizational meeting. While I was not in attendance to gauge the mood of the meeting 2 anonymous sources rated the meeting an 8/10 with a 3rd source rating it at a 7.5/10 for an average rating of 7.83/10. One source stated the meeting was "very productive and will hopefully benefit the Andover community."
Next meeting 11/16 at the parish house at 6pm.
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