Zach Schafer new Chamber president

At its December 8 meeting at Any Occasion Banquet Hall, the Odessa Chamber of Commerce elected new officers for the coming year. Current president Marcus Horak handed out ballots and nominations were taken from the floor. Lise Ott, Sherri Frederick and Jennifer Martin accepted nominations for the two open board member positions. Larissa Fink and Mo Sheldon accepted nominations to continue in their present positions as treasurer and secretary, respectively. Zach Schafer accepted the nomination to run for president. Sandy Libsack accepted the nomination to run for vice president.

Members were instructed to mark two of the three candidates for board member, and the top two vote-getters would receive the #1 and #2 board slots. The biergarten chair is automatically the third board member, and that is Marcus Horak for 2016. The results were as follows:

President – Zach Schafer

Vice President – Sandy Libsack

Secretary – Mo Sheldon

Treasurer – Larissa Fink

Board Pos. 1 – Lise Ott

Board Pos. 2 – Jennifer Martin

Biergarten Chair (Board Pos. 3) – Marcus Horak

The marketing committee, comprising Lise Ott, Mo Sheldon, Sherri Frederick and Terrie Schmidt-Crosby, continued its discussion about reaching out to new members and existing members. Some kind of after-hours mixer was discussed.

That discussion was tabled, however, when the float trailer issue arose. The committee decided the issue should have top priority. The marketing committee will offer to help with the float trailer ads if help is needed. Some Odessa businesses have already paid for ads to be placed on the trailer, but thus far only the Odessa Trading Co. ad has been completed and installed (after OTC made a major donation toward purchase of the trailer).

Committee chair Jennifer Martin said plans are coming together for the annual meeting/New Year’s Eve party. She said old cassette tapes are still needed for decorating.

Prizes at the event will be handled differently this year. Instead of basing prizes on chips won at the end of the evening’s games, there will be a drawing. Those who choose not to play the games of chance will therefore also have an opportunity to win a prize.

Mo Sheldon pointed out the statement added to the bylaws as described in an email to the membership and based on the comments from the last meeting. No other significant changes were made. A financial policy was developed by a subcommittee in the form of a separate document to address the concerns noted in November. Brief discussion to recap the comments from the last meeting ensued. The motion to approve the bylaws revision passed with two votes against and one abstention.

This item was added to the agenda during the discussion of the bylaws. The motion to approve the policy passed with one vote against and one abstention.

A 2016 budget was presented for the membership’s input. Horak noted that the original budget had a deficit in excess of $4,000. The board felt that at least a break-even budget was needed. He said the board is looking at mandating a specific “floor” dollar amount before budgeting any capital projects. Treasurer Larissa Fink was very concerned with the low levels that the bank balance reached this past fall due to Fest-related expenses. Sheldon reminded the membership that the membership had set $50,000 as a general minimum bank balance two or three years ago, and relayed Fink’s concern that a $50,000 buffer feels a little uncomfortable during high expense times when the buffer is drawn down significantly.