/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Holbrook Chamber of Commerce met on June 25 in the Route 66 Conference Room at the Historic County Courthouse. The names of the new board members were announced, which included Tara Young from the Petrified Forest Museum Association, Paul Ortega from West End Liquor and Atsuo Sakurai from Arizona Sake. July 1 is the official date new board members are expected to start.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
The chamber also welcomed new members from the Painted Desert Quilt Shop, Thai to Go, Navajo County Fair Board, Navajo County Historical Society and the American Legion.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Those present at the meeting included Director Cindy Tafoya, Vice President Daniella Day, Past President Yvonne Larson, Treasurer Tyretta Brown, Secretary Colleen Dawse Marsh, and board members Tany Tafoya and Robin O’Dell Gonzales. Others in attendance included Lavern Vinyard from the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Jo Lamb from the Navajo County Historical Society, Debbie Paulson from North Country Healthcare, Holbrook Councilwoman Francie Payne, Tara Young from Petrified Forest Museum Association, Greg Foreman from the Painted Desert Quilt Shop and Jason Foutz from the City of Holbrook.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Director Tafoya also noted that the chamber will no longer be expected to address the council at each council meeting as they have in the past unless there is a specific topic. In those instances that will be scheduled through City Clerk Cher Reyes to be put on the agenda.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Director Tafoya gave a brief overview of the corrections made to the discrepancies found in the budget. She explained that during a brief transitional period, the temporary accountant assigned to the chamber’s account was miscoding. Tafoya said the issue was solved by another accountant and discrepancies were fixed.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Larson announced that the annual “A Taste of Holbrook” event will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on July 17 at The Hanger. Admission is $10 per person. The chamber’s community awards will also be given out at the event. Categories include, Youth of the Year, Organization of the Year, Business of the Year, Businesswoman of the Year and Businessman of the Year. Nominations and votes will be done by chamber board members.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
The chamber approved the development of a new website that will be managed by a third-party company called Chamber Nation and include a startup fee of $560 and a monthly fee of $117.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
The chamber wants to add Holbrook to the Arizona RV Travel Guide. According to Director Tafoya, the guide is available in most information centers around Arizona and does not have Holbrook in it. After a brief discussion the board approved funding in the amount of $300 for the half page space in the travel guide.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
As part of the efforts to clean up downtown, Larson asked Foutz if the city would do an assessment on how many damaged and mangled flags and poles can be removed. “We have, we went through about a month ago and removed all the mangled, both the banners and the poles that were not working,” Foutz responded. He stated that he believes that new poles have already been ordered but will verify.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
The board approved amending the 2019-2020 budget for saving allocations. This would allow unused funds to be reallocated into a savings, which allows more flexibility for the use instead of rolling funds into the next year.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
The board tabled a decision on using chamber funds to purchase better cell phone for the director to allow more time to seek more cost-effective options.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Tany Tafoya shared that chamber now has an Instagram.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
O’Dell Gonzalez asks the public to help clean up the properties in preparation for the holiday and the Mike Budenholzer event.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
It was noted that a camera was purchased to take and sell old west pictures to help raise money to fix the courthouse roof and that the chamber is seeking grants and volunteers for the beautification of downtown Holbrook.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Young confirmed the continued construction of the RV park at the Petrified Forest.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Upcoming events include Christmas in July: Community Bunco and Auction on Thursday, July 25, and Food Truck and Cornhole Tournament on Saturday, Aug. 10.
/wp:paragraph
