Minutes of the Madoc & District Chamber of Commerce

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Madoc Public Library & Cultural Centre


  1. Call to order by Rob Price, President

  2. Introductions: Rob Price, President

Ellen Wilson, Secretary

Jim Bakker, Coordinator

Jason Danielis, Intern with Comfort Country

Cliff Andrews, Madoc Market Vendors

Mary Andrews, Madoc Market Vendors

John McDonnell, Economic Development Committee

Steve Thrower

  1. Approval of Agenda: Approved with the addition of Geo-Caching under new business

  2. Minutes of the November15th meeting: Moved by Cliff Andrews & seconded by John McDonnell that the minutes be approved read. Carried.

  3. Business arising from minutes: see 9. Old Business.

  4. Correspondence: i. Letter from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce acknowledging the receipt of our annual dues. ii. Letter from the Council of the Municipality of Centre Hastings approving the funding of the Chamber for 2006. iii. A request form LIFE WORKS soliciting support for their TV TURNOFF event scheduled for April 3-7, 2006. iv. E-mail from Municipal Clerk, Doug Parks, acknowledging the request to have the washrooms at the Market Square open to the public during the summer months. Council will agree and have appointed a caretaker for the facilities. v. A Pandemic Training Course, sponsored by the Centre Hastings Emergency Preparedness Committee, will be held Feb. 15th, 7:00 p.m., at the Ivanhoe Municipal Offices. If anyone from the business community wishes to attend, contact Cathy Lahey Francis, 473-5344. vi. A letter from the Madoc Market Vendors, stating they have applied for funding for Canada Day Festivities, and they are soliciting support from other groups in the community to make it a huge success.

  5. Business arising from correspondence: No immediate action was required for any of the correspondence.

  6. Financial Report: Financial Statement for 2005: SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT

  7. Old Business: i: Madoc & District Main Street Initiative: Andrew Redden is in the process of finalizing the formation of the management committees for each community and the top six goals for each are being established. Andrew is also putting unofficial reports on the website: centralhastings.com and it will be linked to the Comfort Country Web Site.

  1. Jim Bakker reported for the Economic Development Committee. Their first meeting was held and an information package was passed out to each attendee on the work that has been done to date by other groups. A second meeting will be called soon to work out a programme and select one or two initiatives to work on first. The focus to begin with is increasing job availability and to grow the retail sector. Economic data for the Comfort Country area is on line at the 2ontario.com website with the data from Centre Hastings yet to come. There still needs to be some editing done but the project should be done by late March. Special thanks go to Bob Cloes and Community Futures for funding and supporting this project.

  2. Tax Management Seminar - January 26th, 7:00-9:00 p.m., at the Two Loons Restaurant, Madoc. There is a $7.00 registration fee at the door. “The program is designed to inform and advise owners and managers of small to medium sized businesses of relevant tax topics.”

  3. Santa Claus Parade - See attached financial report for the parade. A special thanks was given to Claudine Prosper for her help in fund raising for the event.

  4. Membership renewal: Renewal letters have been sent out by Jim Bakker and memberships are coming in. There are 61 paid up members to date. New notices have been sent out to 40 businesses in the area.

  5. Community Radio: On January 10th, there was a public meeting held with representatives from CKOL Radio (93.7) based in Campbellford. There were people present from all communities in the Comfort Country area, as well as interested councilors from several municipalities. There was favourable support for the establishment of a repeater station in Madoc that will cover most of Comfort Country. The next step is to apply to the CRTC for permission to set up a repeater station, so letters of support from area interests are needed to submit with the application.

  6. Welcome Wagon: The area supervisor, Laurie Lock, is in the process of setting up the program for Comfort Country. Interviews are taking place to hire representatives and when that is done, businesses will be approached to subscribe to the programme.

  1. New Business: i. Sound System for the Market Square: The new system has been purchased at a cost of just under $1500.00. Storage and security issues were discussed, and it was suggested that reasonable rents be charged for any groups who wish to use it. A photo op, with representatives from the Market Vendors and the Chamber, will be arranged in the near future to announce this new acquisition.

  1. Annual General Meeting of the Madoc & District Chamber of Commerce and the election of officers for the 2006-07 session will take place March 21, 2006. It was suggested that we make it a dinner meeting, with the elections to follow. Jim is to arrange and mail out the invitations.

  2. Skate Park Events - no report is available.

  3. Community Store on line: Jason Danielis originally suggested this web site as a place for local businesses to sell their products on line. Unfortunately he is unable to continue with this project due to time limitations. Jim Bakker is to investigate to discover if anyone else in the area is working on this type of project.

  4. Geo-Caching: Bob Cloes at Community Futures in Bancroft has advised us of a group doing a form of treasure hunt, or orienteering, that requires the use of GPS devices to follow a trail of clues or prizes through the Comfort Country area. Five sites are needed by January 27th and some manpower will be needed. Jim Bakker is working on this..


  1. Next Meeting: Tuesday, February 21st, 7:30 p.m. at the Madoc Public Library.


12.Meeting adjourned.