Garretson Commercial Club Meeting Minutes
August 14th, 2024, Regular Meeting at The Sports Cabin
Those in attendance: Carrie Moritz, Garrick Moritz, Bruce Brown, Paetyn Dreckman, Luke Dreckman, Laurie Bennett, Guy Johnson, Heather Jacobson, Macie Coburn, Susan Haygood.
12:00 pm Luke Dreckman called the meeting to order.
Secretary’s Report – Paetyn provided minutes from the regular July meeting. Laurie motioned to approve the meeting minutes. Carrie seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report – No treasurer’s report was available at the time of the meeting.
Old Business:
State Park Signage: Luke gave an update that the sign has been placed across the street from the new state park entrance.
Celebrations: Bruce confirmed the Historical Society will be hosting their 35th anniversary over Hometown Christmas and will be providing a Christmas ornament to the first 100 visitors as well as snacks and refreshments. Carrie motioned to donate $150 to the Historical Society to offset the cost of providing their own snacks. Laurie seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Carrie advised the Library will be hosting an open house over Hometown Christmas and discussed moving story time with Santa from the Legion to the Library. Hometown Christmas is scheduled for December 14th
TAP Grant and Jesse James Days: Luke provided the timeline and intentions for funds from the TAP Grant awarded for advertising Jesse James Days. Advised any funds not expended would need to be reimbursed to the organization. Discussion around adding carnival rides ensued and Luke and Carrie advised they would keep searching. Susan talked about adding more items to raffle during the street dance. Macie brought up moving the parade to a later time to keep people around and in town rather than spreading events out throughout the day. Discussion was had on moving inflatable time frame. Discussion was had on the involvement of the Commercial Club and the band for the street dance. The Commercial Club paid for the band in 2024 but recouped the money through wristband sales to enter the street dance. Discussion surrounded making it fair to both bars on Main Avenue if the Commercial Club continues involvement. Laurie motioned for Luke to discuss the possibility of The Gulch hosting the street dance for 2025 and giving the owner 3 weeks to decide. Guy seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
Hiring Campaign: Luke provided a list of members that are currently hiring and discussed assisting with advertising. Discussed budget and decided to hold off until treasurer update.
Fundraiser: Discussed options of items to raffle, Blue Dragon cooler full of meat from GFC, internet for a year from Alliance, year of oil changes from Dons, year of residential garbage from Garbage-N-More, golf membership from River Ridge, security system from IntellaPro. Luke will work on reaching out to members and lining up items.
Commercial Club Golf Recap: John provided settlement statement from golf tournament. 17 teams played in the tournament and earned $1,500 profit.
New Business:
Labor Day Flags: Luke will send email to membership base to see if anyone is available to put up the Labor Day flags in town.
Truck or Treat: Carrie advised the Parks Board wants to give the event back to the Commercial Club so they can focus on beautification. Discussed date time and location. Guy motioned for 5-6:30 on October 31st in Split Rock Park and Main avenue businesses that want to be involved. Paetyn seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
Luke moved back to report on gift certificate funds available.
Other Business:
Luke discussed having a special meeting as board only to go over membership classification and 2024 annual meeting. Scheduled for August 28th 11:30 lunch and meeting at noon at the Sports Cabin.
Carrie advised that she is still working on a website redesign and option being available to add raffle ticket sale to website for fundraising. Board discussed adding a donations section. Laurie brought up asking the fire department to do chili feed again at Hometown Christmas and asked Luke to reach out. Hometown Christmas was requested to be placed on the next agenda.
Paetyn motioned to adjourn with a second from Laurie.
Next regular meeting will be held September 11th at Palisades Oil. 11:30 meal with meeting to follow at 12:00pm.
