Chamber talks of combining two of Holbrook’s main events

“With being informed by the city that they are no longer going to sponsor events or co-sponsor the events, some of the insurance cost is going to now become our responsibility. That includes even the parade,” said Chamber of Commerce Director Cindy Tafoya. She elaborated stating, “Using ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation) right-of-way on Hopi and Navajo requires a three to $5 million coverage.” She explained that the chamber currently has a $2 million policy to cover events that are held on locations other than ADOT roads.

Tafoya said that she received a quote from Shumway Insurance Agency that it would cost the chamber $875 plus tax for six months additional coverage or $1,750 for the entire year. The half-year coverage would begin in July but because, according to Director of Economic Development Jason Foutz, the car show has already been advertised for April meaning they would need to pay an additional $135 to the $875 for the events.

Previously, the chamber opted out of doing the car show, when it was mentioned that insurance would be needed to cover the event. Chamber President Shar Gillespie, who could not attend the meeting but was present by conference call, asked for clarification as she was unaware that the car show would again become the responsibility of the chamber.

Tafoya explained to Gillespie, “Initially, we thought we were co-sponsoring because we didn’t know that the city was not going to do the insurance piece of it. That’s why it’s coming back to this meeting. We’re going to have to get the insurance anyway if we’re going to keep the parade and if we want to do the Bucket of Blood (Races).”

Gillespie asked “Is there any way we can approve the insurance increase that we need to do but revisit having the car show as a chamber event because I really don’t see how it would even fall into what it is that we’re working towards.”

Foutz responded, “I would argue that it does the same thing that the Old West Fest does.” To which Vice President Daniella Day agreed adding, “I don’t think it wouldn’t be a benefit to the community, it would just be another event that we have to take on.”

“I don’t know how it is going to benefit our strategic plan and what we are trying to do with certain events. We are trying to take certain ones and make those great so that we can still have our business goals that we have instead of taking on more events and drowning ourselves in events,” reiterated Gillespie.

To clarify why the event wouldn’t fit into the strategic plan, Director Tafoya was asked to provide a look at what the chambers strategic plan entails. “Part of our strategic plan was for us to become more focused on building our business base. It would be helping the businesses that are already here. Help them to get stronger and be more of a presence in town.”

Tafoya said that there are five stages to their plan, which are to provide better customer service at existing businesses, highlight Holbrook’s resources, tighten relationships with neighboring communities, build better partnerships with other organizations such as the Northern Arizona Chamber of Commerce and focus on improving partnerships with the current businesses.

The chamber approved the six months of additional insurance in the amount of $875 plus the additional $135 as preemptive measure. Foutz then offered to personally assume the responsibility of securing a sponsor to cover the $135 as a resident, not as a city employee.

The board continued to discuss other options such as having the Navajo County Fairgrounds host the vendors and holding the car show at the east corner of Hopi Drive and Navajo Blvd. Some even suggesting that the events be combined.

Board member Yvonne Larson offered, “What’s the problem with combining it with Old West Days? It used to be and it was a big success when they had it combined.” Chamber secretary Colleen Marsh pointed out that there were obvious schematic differences between the two events. Larson replied, “It’s because the car show people are early morning, they get their cars in there, they put them up and they’re gone. That was the peak of Old West Days, when they combined them.”

After more discussion on the matter, Day said, “I feel like we should really investigate whether or not we should move it to Old West Fest and incorporate (the two events), because we’re making Old West Fest a two day event. So why not have it be bigger and better and have a car show and the fair can do some kind of rodeo.” To which Foutz stated, “Whatever we need to do, we need to be consistent.”

Following the meeting City Manager Ted Soltis was asked to provide an explanation for the confusion that ensued during the chamber meeting about the insurance coverage and why the chamber would be taking on the responsibility of the car show, the parade and any other event that is planned to take place on ADOT roads.

“To my knowledge, we have never provided the chamber with insurance,” said Soltis. He clarified that because of legal reasons the city is prohibited from providing funds for the specific purpose of acquiring insurance. Stating that if it had been done in the past, it would have been done illegally.

In a later conversation with Human Resources Director Pat Nichols, he reiterated Soltis’ statement and clarified what the city’s role has been, and according to himself and Soltis, will continue to be. “The city does and is more than happy to co-sponsor chamber events and other events with entities within the city, but insurance is a completely separate deal. The city has never provided insurance to the chamber for any of the events. We can’t, we can’t legally do it. We can co-sponsor, we can help with man hours and manpower and volunteers and we’re more than happy to do that stuff and continue doing that stuff.

“As far as insurance goes, we’ve never been able to and we never can. When I was on the chamber board, the chamber had their own insurance policy through David Shumway that was very inexpensive that paid for all of those events. So, I don’t know what the board is doing now. Why they don’t have insurance or whatever but the city does not have a contract to provide insurance to the chamber.”

Nichols added, “We give them $40,000 each year, that’s definitely a contribution.” The $40,000 given by the city is for the chamber to use at their discretion. There was no discussion on the city’s Route 66 Festival.

In other chamber business, Friends of the Holbrook Animal Shelter co-founder Colleen Marsh gave an update on some new developments happening with the organization. “Holbrook Animal Shelter just won three grants amounting to $15,000 for spay and neuter. We’re doing a catch, neuter release for cats and we’re doing a spay and neuter program that is part shelter animals and part community animals,” said Marsh, who explained that as part of the beginning process they are looking for hotspots within the community where feral cats are so they can set the traps to begin the process of having them spayed and re-released. The program will extend to Holbrook, Joseph City, Sun Valley and Woodruff. If there is more space to fill Marsh explained, “We are extending to Snowflake and Taylor.” There will be more details as it becomes available.

Board member Tara Cheney said that they have started the bridge replacement at the Petrified Forest National Park that has closed off the center of the park, causing visitors to have to exit the park the same way they went in then go around to the other entrance to see the rest of the park. “So far it doesn’t seem to be deterring people too much from visiting what they can at the park and is even encouraging people to loop back through Holbrook to get to the other end. We anticipate that we’ll see that impact a little more like in March when the families start traveling for spring break because they are little more pressed for time,” said Cheney. The construction is expected to be complete by March 31.

Marsh also explained how the chamber is making headway in their mission to find out what businesses could potentially be a benefit to a national park gateway community and not necessarily attached to a franchise.

“One of the first swings we took was comparing ourselves to other national park towns that are similar in size and seeing what they have that we don’t when it comes to small businesses. So, locally owned small businesses, family owned, instead of the larger chain corporations.” Marsh said the information would eventually be turned into a list of suggestions that can be viewed on the chamber website.

It was noted by the board that anyone who would like to attend the chamber’s strategic planning meetings can do so. They will be held at 9 a.m. on the second Thursday of the month and at 5 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of the month before the city council meeting, with the locations to be determined beginning in February.

Gillespie announced that the physician’s clinic at Summit Healthcare Physical Therapy, located at 1401 W Florida St., opened on Jan. 6 and is accepting new patients.

Tafoya announced that she has set up a food booth vendor workshop for Navajo County Public Health Services from 10 a.m. to 12 noon on March 7 at the Machusak Center on Saturday, March 7. Catherine Matheson is the new health inspector and has made some changes to the requirements for food booth setups. There is no cost to attend the workshop. Contact Cindy by email for more information at Holbrookazchamber1@gmail.com.

It was also noted that the chamber’s Instagram account is active @visitholbrook and is geotagged to pop up on a Google search when someone is searching in the area. Tafoya announced that the winner for the 12 Days of Christmas raffle was Michelle Morris.

The chamber approved the financial reports for November and December. The November report showed a balance of $7,569, with seven outstanding checks totaling $645 with an ending balance of $6,923. The December report showed there was a balance of $4,478 with one outstanding check in the amount of $27.45 resulting in an ending balance of $4,451.

The chamber also again addressed street banners showing a prototype by Ray Alley’s shop. Each banner is vinyl and will say something relative to Holbrook with a photo. Each banner was quoted at $20 apiece. It was suggested that banners would be changed out at least three times a year.

Larson said that they are still working on finalizing the details for their Holbrook Ambassadors pilot program, but they will schedule a follow up meeting to discuss it. The goal of the ambassador’s program, according to Larson is to help educate the front-line staff of businesses on what Holbrook has to offer.