The Holbrook Chamber of Commerce convened Wednesday, July 19, during which they approved their 2023-24 Fiscal Year Budget.
The proposed budget is $64,500, with $54,000 of the funding provided by the City of Holbrook’s Lodger’s Fund to promote community events and tourism. The estimated income anticipated by the Chamber makes up the additional $10,500, which is primarily from membership dues, event proceedings, sponsors and donations.
Noted on the budget is $15,235 of the budget to go toward program services, which includes advertising, mixers, cultural dances and other special events. Under special events are Old West Fest, Christmas events among other lesser events.
Administrative funds are $49,165, which includes the Director’s salary of $33,000 and the rest going towards operations and insurance.
New chamber board members were welcomed, which include Paul Ortega of Ortega’s West End Liquor, Christen Iguado, Tara Espitia of TK Nail Candy, Pedro Tafoya of Studio 66, Nicole Young of Shirt Monkey and Roxy Theater and Marcus Espitia of The Healing Quartz Company. Board members will serve a two-year term, which began July 1. They joined current members Janet Dean of Arizona Public Service (APS), Tyreta Brown of Holbrook Summer Dance Group, Lori Romo of Romo’s Mexican Grill, Lonna Young of Community Bridges, Jennifer Basaldua of Preserve Arizona and Daniella Day of Peak Residential Lending.
The chamber then elected officials, with Janet Dean as president, Lori Romo as secretary and Tyreta Brown as vice president (pending Brown’s acceptance of the position due to her absence from the meeting). Christen Iquado was elected to be treasurer.
The chamber then went on to address the frequency and days they host their meetings.
Chamber Director Cindy Tafoya explained that a couple of years ago the chamber switched to having meetings every two months to ensure board members could attend and not overload their schedule with monthly chamber meetings. This also made it easier for board members to attend event meetings. “It really worked out great in the beginning. But this last year, we had two meetings, and those two meetings covered four months. And when you don’t meet in four months and have business to take care of then you get behind.”
Tafoya explained if the chamber continued meeting every other month, board members would have to make their best effort to attend to ensure a quorum.
President of the Chamber Janet Dean stated that she believed a modified approach would work best for meetings scheduling. “I kind of feel like maybe six times a year may not be quite enough and that every month may be too much.”
Dean made a motion to hold meetings monthly except for in June, September, and December, and that they “approach this as a pilot for this year and revisit it later in the beginning of the fiscal year.”
The board approved the motion. It was clarified that there would still be meetings for events as well as the ability to call special meetings if needed. The board did not discuss changing the days or times of the meetings, and the exact date of next meeting in August is pending discussion.
Discussions of possible themes for the Christmas events were also discussed and it was decided to table the decision so board members could do more individual research on the subject.
The Parade of Lights date was changed to the second Saturday of December due to a schedule conflict with the Pat Kenney Tournament at the Holbrook High School (HHS) on the first Saturday of that month, which affected visitor attendance the year before. “I did get a lot of feedback from parents and students who said they wanted to go to the parade, but they were obligated to be at the wrestling tournament,” stated Tafoya. It was not stated whether the Festival of Trees would be moved to that date as well.
The board decided not to discuss anything under the Future Events section of the agenda due to so many new members. They were deferred to their specific event meetings and future meetings.
The chamber also reviewed their 2023-25 Strategic Plan draft during the meeting. Board member Paul Ortego was absent from the meeting, but City of Holbrook’s Vice Mayor Mike Nilsson was in attendance.
The Entrepreneurship Series hosted by the chamber was switched from July 25 to July 27. They will also be hosting Hello Holbrook Showcase on Aug. 5 and more Entrepreneurship Series classes on Aug. 8 and 22. The Navajo County Fair will be Sept. 13-16. On Oct. 12 will be the Chamber Business Break.
