Yorktown Chamber of Commerce
Monthly Meeting – January 17, 2023
Yorktown Town Hall
9312 W Smith St
Yorktown, IN 47396

INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME: Mark Goodpaster, Kat Blankenbaker, Steve Stroeh, Bonita Ramirez, Brendon Comp, Ed Armantrout, Kristi Ingram, Sarah McCord, Tyler Ewing, Erin Ailstock, Maureen Walby, Keith Gary, Maura Hoff, Chad Ray, Mary Ann Stroeh, Brianne Kelly, Carolyn Grieves, Laura Mickler, Ken Miles, Jennifer Hart, Scott Metzler, Katadyn Connerley, Ryan Vaughn, Matt Driscoll, Debra Rolli, Matt Howell, Kylee Eller

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you make New Year’s Resolutions, and if so, what is it?

TREASURER REPORT: Current balance $40,764.53. Membership was up a little bit over 2021. Civic Green came in above budget in the green. Kristi has talked to Kat about doing a family night with the extra revenue from Civic Green. The Annual Luncheon Awards attendance was up from previous year.

SECRETARY REPORT: Approved as submitted.

TOWN REPORT: Maura Hoff (Yorktown’s Attorney) – Yorktown has 4 new council members. Town is working on the trail by the Players Club. The roundabout at Nebo has been completed. The new Town Manager, Chase Bruton, is in his first week on the job. He looks forward to meeting everyone. He is getting familiar with the budgets, etc. He previously worked for the Town of Plainfield, and is from Bloomington, IN. Other Council information discussed: First town Council meeting of the New Year, January 17, 2023. Everyone is invited to attend. The meetings are usually streamed live on Facebook.

CIVIC GREEN COMMITTEE: Kat Blankenbaker – Reported that Civic Green concerts dates are set and there will be 12 concerts this year. The sponsorship opportunities have been presented to last year’s top sponsors. The top sponsorship is sold to AEP.

LUNCH AND LEARNS: Brendon Comp – Reported that there will be a Lunch and Learn at the end of March. He is still planning it out and will have information for everyone in February. The event will be posted on the website for members to make reservations. It will be similar to the last one that the Chamber had.

PROGRAM: Matt Howell – Farmhouse Creative: Matt reported on the new Yorktown Chamber website. He walked the members through a step by step how to on logging in and changing their member information on the website. At the top of the website, you will click on Member Sign In. If you are a member and don’t recall the email address you used when you joined the Yorktown Chamber, go to the contact tab and send an email. Someone with the Chamber will respond to you with the email address that is on file. Once you receive that information, you can request a password. Once you get in, you are able to change information under these areas: About, Profile, Additional, Deal, and History. In the About section, you can check your business information such as address, phone number, etc. You can make any necessary changes to keep your listing up to date. The Profile section, you can change or add your business logo, delete an image, you can add additional photos of your business, description, and connect to your social media links. Under the Additional section, you can add anyone that works for the business as a contact person. If you want them to receive emails or information from the Chamber, they need to be added. The Deal section isn’t currently being utilized by the Chamber. The Chamber leadership will look into this being an option for members to offer discounts to other Chamber members. Then on the History section, you will see everything that you or your business has participated in with the Chamber. Make sure you hit save and continue if you make any changes to any of the sections. After this is all done, sign out and it takes you back to the sign in screen. All members are now able to use the website to make reservations for events and pay online. Matt is going to look into members being able to add additional names to their reservations. It is currently set up that you can add multiple reservations but it goes under one person’s name. Best practices for your business to utilize your website: it should stay current and fresh, nothing should be stagnant from the time you launched it. Update it with the latest news that is going on in your industry. You can also put information on your Facebook page and link it back to the website to help drive traffic. Matt gave suggestions on how to use websites and social media for events. He said to focus on the pre-event, event, and post-event posts. If there are any suggestions that members have for the website, please go to the contact section and send the information. Someone will get back with you.

NEW CHAMBER WEBSITE: The new Yorktown Chamber website is live.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Ed Armantrout: The Yorktown Kiwanis Club is doing taxes again this year. They did 250 returns last year with the majority of people coming from Delaware and Madison Counties. They will start taking appointments the first week of February. He is looking for any type of coupons, pens, or promotional items that members would like for him to pass out. Deb Rolli: She let everyone know that there is a new organization, SHIFT, which is a group for grieving kid’s grades 3rd-12th. The new group launches March 27th. Katadyn Connerley: She is part of a Women Entrepreneurs Group, it meets on Tuesday’s at 11:00am on BSU Campus. Scott Metzler: He is looking for an Eagle project (Troop 69) for his town in the Yorktown area if anyone has ideas, contact him.

TIP OF THE MONTH: Mark Goodpaster – WD-40 is a product that has multiple uses. He gave us 13 different ways that we can use it: 1) plastic outdoor furniture, brings it back to life; 2) smudge on your vehicle, put it on a rag and rub the smudge, it should take it away; 3) carpet stains; 4) spiders don’t like it, spray it around the web and the spiders will go elsewhere; 5) if you have shoes that you would like to waterproof, spray them with WD-40; 6) if you have birdfeeders that the squirrels won’t stay away from, spray around it and they will leave it alone; 7) if you get super glue on your fingers, use WD-40 to remove it; 8) if your vehicle has left an oil stain on your garage floor, it will take it away; 9) kills weeds; 10) if snow builds up on your shovel or the blades on the snow blower, spray it with WD-40 first; 11) if you get color hair dye on a towel/clothes, spray it, then wash in hot water; 12) it keeps car locks from freezing; 13) it removes grease from your hands.

NEXT MEETING: February 21, 2023 8:00 a.m. at Town Hall located at 9312 W Smith St., Yorktown. The new Chief of Police, Kurt Walthour, will be the speaker.