Board Meeting: Tuesday, October 22nd 7:30am at Lower Macungie Community Center

Sharon Trexler, Bud Carter, Teri Sorg-McManamon, Christina Price, Tom Capehart, Brian Duvall, Larry Delhagen, Scott Cope, Liesel Gross, Marian Magee, Bryce Ruggieri, Kate Hart-Zayaitz, Gary

Trively, Gary Kline, Jeff McElhaney, Michele McGrath, Francee Fuller, Kristen Campbell, and Ashley Lorah

Welcome & Introductions – Jeff McElhaney

September Minutes – Sent to board ahead of time via email. Motion made to approve by Larry Delhagen. Seconded by Bryce Ruggieri. All in favor.

September Finance Report o We’ve had three expenses and only one event to add revenue to our budget. We are in $188.04 in the

black. We were net positive for ROCKtoberfest so that will positively impact our budget despite a slow start.

o Motion made by Larry Delhagen to approve. Seconded by Kate Hart-Zayaitz. All in favor.

Municipal Reports o Alburtis – Sharon Trexler

Working on their budget and it does not appear that there will be a tax increase this year Their Holiday Festival will be Sunday December 8 Recently all three local fire departments held an open house and it was very successful!

o Emmaus – Teri Sorg-McManamon Recently advocates proposed an Emmaus Creative Arts & Innovation Center in the Borough in

partnership with Phoebe Ministries’ new senior living community, Chestnut Ridge at Rodale. Tentative plans include space for pop-up gallery space, arts instruction, performing arts, culinary arts and more.

Emmaus held their Halloween parade on Saturday October 19 th and it was very successful. Kathy Mintzer, who organizes the parade, celebrated her 23 rd year organizing. There was also a live proposal on TV!

Trick or Treat in the Borough is Friday October 25. MoneyInc.com recently acknowledged Emmaus, PA as one of the top 20 places to live in

Pennsylvania; citing the clean streets, low crime rate, and good school system. The 2020 budget preparation will kick off soon. The workshops have been arranged and are

open to the public. The Borough held their first dumpster day recently, seeing around 550 vehicles. Saturday

October 26 the Borough is hosting Household Hazardous Waste Event from 8am-1pm Emmaus Planning Commission has a Visioning Committee that is looking to gather information

and ideas for how they want the future of the Borough to look. Public Works and Borough Hall staff wear pink on Fridays in October to bring awareness to and

support breast cancer health campaigns and charities. November 5 is election day! The Parks and Rec department are opening a trail study and feasibility study.

o Macungie – Chris Boehm – no reporto Lower Macungie – Bruce Beitel – no reporto Upper Milford – Bud Carter

The budget came in balance and will be publicized November 7. They’re not looking at any tax increases.

Public Works has a new playground installed at Jasper Park.

The fire departments recently held a community day and didn’t get the turnout they wanted. They may be connecting with the Chamber soon for tips and best practices.

o Lehigh County – Virginia Haas (via email) Our local government is looking for census takers and if interested people can visit

2020.census.gov/jobs or contact our regional contact at (610)751-8266 and erin.a.yasenchak@2020census.gov

Penn State Lehigh Valley has general information to the public about Spotted Lantern Fly management. You can find it at their website.

Community Reports o Lehigh County Authority – Liesel Gross

Like everyone else, it is budget season. They’re looking at about a 66% rate increase. This is required for upgrades and preventative maintenance. They went for a full 10 year period without a rate increase so the increases will likely continue over the next few years.

LCA will be initiating their strategic planning for 2020 and are looking to include stakeholders throughout this process.

Keurig Dr Pepper will be moving into the Lehigh Valley and while they’re not within the East Penn Chamber footprint, their presence in the community will affect us by way of using up a significant portion of our remaining sewer capacity.

August and September were dry months so now after a very rainy 2018, they are seeing normal sewer levels again.

o East Penn School District – Kristen Campbell The budget process will begin soon. They are looking at a $159 million operating budget. The district has presented some curriculum changes to the board and community. For example

they will be infusing more STEM, some mobile application development courses, and capstone courses. The district is looking to introduce student-intern-teacher programs. There will be a program geared toward 2019-2020 freshmen, like a school-within-a-school and a more project-based learning community. The district will assess its success and if/how/when to continue and grow the program. The pilot program will work with about 30 students.

Tuesday October 22 was the EPSD Education Foundation Career Exploration event open to students and community members.

The district is also happy to celebrate their outstanding student athletes. Men’s Golf won EPC Championships. Girl’s Volleyball, Girl’s Field Hockey, and Men’s Soccer are all in districts.

November 21 is the Annual East Penn Community luncheon for Senior Citizens.o Wildlands Conservancy - Scott Cope

Previously the Wildlands hosted the Annual Green Gala. The attendance and revenue has been decreasing so they’ve decided to switch things up. This year they will be hosting Cocktails & Conservation on Friday November 22 at Gather from 6-830pm. Tickets are available on the website. Heavy hors d’ouvres will be served and there will be an open bar.

o Emmaus Main Street Partners – Ashley Lorah We recently celebrated the grand opening and re-opening of two local businesses in Emmaus:

Green Earth Marketplace and Lehigh Fine Foods. Thank you Tom for being at both to support! We caught wind from the IronPigs that they’re giving out grant money to local nonprofits with

preference to those projects that serve kids education and recreation. We are toying with the idea of submitting a project proposal but have also shared it with our member nonprofits for them to look into as well.

Small Business Saturday is a nationwide movement to kickoff the holiday season, busiest shopping season of the year. In an effort to encourage communities to support local, small businesses Small Business Saturday is celebrated each Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year will be Saturday November 30.

Emmaus’s Old Fashioned Christmas will be Saturday December 7, 2019. Our group in conjunction with Emmaus Historical Society and Emmaus Borough is working to

develop ‘Our Town Heroes’ banner project. More info to come later. Committee Reports

o Programs/Events Committee We had to cancel the Dorney Park event from this past Friday due to low registration. Dorney

agreed that we could reschedule it for sometime in the Spring but that date is yet to be determined. We reimbursed attendees and Dorney provided free passes to those who registered, free parking passes, and coupons to purchase discounted tickets for family and friends.

2020 Census Luncheon | Nov 13 | 1130am-1pm | New Tripoli Bank Buckeye Rd Holiday Luncheon | Dec 18 | 1130am-130pm | Brookside Country Club

We ask each board member to bring at least one basket for the raffle which benefits our community grant fund

Smooth-On Tour | April 15 | 1130am-1pm | 5600 Lower Macungie Rd Other: Amazon, FedEx, and Mack Trucks

o Membership – Marian Magee The committee has not yet received a membership report in October for September. The

committee plans to meet every other month and has started by reaching out to new members who joined. Once they find a rhythm they’ll make a plan to engage current members.

o Scholarship – Kate Hart Zayaitz In this season, we’re just looking to raise money to bulk the scholarship funds. Thank you to the

ROCKtoberfest committee and volunteers for working hard to donate it to the fund. On November 14 we’ll be hosting a dine and donate fundraiser at the Move Tavern in which a

portion of food and drink purchases in their dining area will go towards the scholarship fund between 6-830pm. We’re also selling discounted movie tavern tickets for $10. These tickets are good for any time (except special events) and a portion of the ticket sales will go towards the scholarship fund as well!

Every year at the holiday luncheon, we raise funds through a basket raffle. We’re asking each board member to donate a basket and help soliciting donations; we’d also like to recruit committee members and anyone else interested to reach out to member businesses to assist Ashley in soliciting donations.

o Restaurant Week – Larry Delhagen Larry confirmed that last year’s committee members have agreed to serve on the committee

again this year: Larry, Tom, Michele, and Bryce. The committee will look to schedule a planning meeting for November. Restaurant Week will be March 1-7, 2020.

o Nominating Committee – Tom Capehart Ballots were handed out to board members today and will be sent to membership within the

week. On the ballot are new board members, Christina Price, Brian Duvall, Marian Magee, and Gary Kline. These board members have already been voted on by the board but will retroactively be sent out for a vote to general membership per our by-laws.

o ROCKtoberfest – Jeff McElhaney Thank you to those board members for their support and attendance at the event! Willow Lane Elementary showed up and brought a huge crowd which padded the attendance. The venue was perfect and the park was great to work with and a good partner. What started as an adult, drinking event seemingly turned into a family event, which is maybe

the direction we’ll take it in the future.

Chamber Reports o Public Policy – Michele McGrath

The committee has started to send out monthly newsletters with general information. Ashley and Michele will work together to publicize that with the committee.

o Ambassador Report – Jane Schiff – no reporto Board of Governors – Jeff McElhaney

The next meeting is Monday October 28.o Liaison Report – Ashley Lorah

Recently the Greater Chamber hosted two ribbon cuttings within our footprint: AFC Urgent Care and Notch.

With a lot of overlap and community crossover, we wanted to inform the board that Western Lehigh board member Bill Erdman will be receiving the Volunteer of the Year award at the Chamber’s Annual Meeting on November 7.

New/Old Business

Adjourn

Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 26th @ Lower Macungie Community Center