Minutes

 

H B A  

Hampden Business Association 

May 4, 2010

Monthly Minutes 

Meeting commenced at 12:10 

Bob Brown of CPA Solutions, LLC gave a presentation on Fraud

  •  
    1. Touched on who is most likely to discover
    2. Who is most likely to commit
    3. What can be done to prevent
    4. Answered various questions from the members
 

Annual Dinner Update

  •  
    1. Scheduled for May 19th at 5:00 (Spectacular Events Center)
    2. So far 8 Platnium and 3 Gold sponsorships
    3. Would like to have all invitations back be next weeks
 

Town Business

  •  
    1. Comp plan is moving accordingly
    2. BEAR program
      1. 70% of business visits have been done
      2. Should be nearing completion within two weeks.
 

Officer Elections

      Motion made by Dana Edwards for Ken White to be President

            Seconded by Keith Bourgoin

            All in favor

      Motion made by Ken White for Keith Bourgoin – Vice President

            Seconded by Dana Edwards

            All were in Favor

      Motion made by Ken White for Josh Howes – Secretary

            Seconded by Dana Edwards

            All were in Favor

      Motion made by Ken White for Dewey Martin – Treasurer

            Seconded by Dana Edwards

            All were in Favor

Next Scheduled meeting will be in September 2010 

Meeting Adjourned at 1:05
 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Hampden Business Association

Minutes of 4/6/2010 meeting at MSFCU, Hampden, ME

Meeting called to order at 7:30am by President Ken White.

Andre Cushing presents today’s guest

Peter Mills – Republican candidate for governor.

      *has been working on bill for years for business development

      *Increasing venture capital investment

      *Eliminate high income tax

    *involve state to create funding agency by borrowing money and investing in various business ventures, conditioning the money to use money that creates jobs invests Maine into the equation by presenting incentives

    *State will guarantee 80% of loss over time to investors

Q/A – Your plans to help small business?

      *Being republican gives power to veto if elected

      *business community is outweighed by special interest groups

      *Vagueness in a lot of bills hinders business process

      *Need balance in government, it is too partisan now

    *Too many educators in government affecting votes on anything affecting education

Biggest Issues?

    *Budget – Medicare – Matching proceeds dropping down to 2/1 in July 2011

    *1 or 2 cents sales tax

    *Pension – 1 cent sale tax in July 2011

He is only candidate w/experience in govt.

Social services is in business of selling services (food stamps, etc..)

Need more business people in government.

Reward for delivering what the tax payers need and want.

Ken White-

Welcome to Hampden Bags update – April 16th goal for supplies.

HBA Dinner – update selection committee has selected Garry Gilpatrick businessperson of the year

      May 19th dinner @ spectacular events center

      Nominations – will email

Dean - Town news

      Bill – BEAR update

      Hand out surveys and meet to talk with business owners

        Participation is helpful for policy development and implementation

Rick – School News

      Phase 1 is just about completed - on schedule

      Phase 2 about to start, optimism is that bid is lower than expected

Meeting was adjourned at 8:36am.

Respectfully Submitted,

Joshua Howes

 - = - = -= - = -

Hampden Business Association

Minutes of 03/03/2010 meeting at Anglers, Hampden, ME 

Meeting called to order at 12noon by President Ken White @ Anglers Restaurant. 

Dan Bennett – Day 1 of Business Retention Program

      Help determine what businesses need to continue to develop

Homeless shelter – homeless hike update  -sponsoring update etc. 

Welcome Bags – up to 100 items by 15th of March

      Current supply is out

      Promo DVD coming about Angeler’s experience w/Hampden 

Renaissance Planning – Bill & Sarah

    *Analyze strengths & weaknesses & develop strategies for continuing to develop business

      *Having 3rd party helps with pressure

    *Door to door surveys to gather information and other methods (website, phone, etc)

      *Communicate results & torn ideas into action steps

    *Retain these into personal plans for business and business take it from them for approval from town.

    *will get word out about HBA in the press etc.

Junior Achievement  - Volunteers working with schools to teach children

      about business, wide range of topics

      *Looking for volunteers for schools

      *Need sponsorship for materials etc.

      *they do fundraising etc. as well 

Others – Maine Restaurant Week – 3 course meal. $20.10 $1.00 goes to HAMA March 1st – 10th 

Little league sponsors - $350.00 a year 2 year commitment.  

Meeting was adjourned at 1:15 PM 

Respectfully Submitted,

Joshua Howes

 - = - = -= - = -

Hampden Business Association

Minutes of 02/02/2010 meeting at MSFCU, Hampden, ME

Meeting called to order at 7:30am by President Ken White.

Meeting called at 7:30am – introductions:

*HBA Updates:

      Welcome to Hampden Bags

      HBA Dinner

      Town News

      School News

      Other News and Notes  

*Andre Cushing introduced guest speaker Steve Abbott, Republican Candidate for Governor

      *Governor should understand Eastern Maine’s problems

      *Restatement between the two “Maine’s” Southern vs. Rest of State

      1. Run government better, 2. Consolidate size of government,

      3. Articulate vision for future

Steps:

  1. Bring in good people to work with
  2. Review laws that affect business
  3. top out bottom audit for state spending
  4. Change way of budgeting(zero-based budgeting) evaluate programs & support programs that are working
  5. Line item veto. Currently can be override by majority vote

                *A real one can knock out parts of bills.

    Maine Vision 2020: 10 year look ahead instead of typical 2 year vision

          *Leverage assets we have for future endowers

          *East/west highway for future Canadian shipments 

    Q/A: Potential Markets – Indoor Agriculture

          *Energy – Canadian Energy should be part of solution, but need to    increase ability for local energy (wind, etc)

                *Solar can be a piece, as well as tidal

                *Bio diesel could be very important

                *need variety

          *Education – Prefers not to cut education but make more efficient

                *Need good higher education programs

                *Social services – room for cuts, benefits well above national    average.

          *Medical school – good idea for partnership w/ larger area school.

                      - may help with attracting specialists, etc.

          *Welfare Problems – promoting generational welfare

                      *push people back into workplace

                      *welfare on day 1 not good

          *Economic – starts at home, protect existing businesses, then create environment for new business to start 
     

    Updates 

    Welcome to Hampden Bags: Need items

    HAS Dinner: Nomination for coming soon

    Town News: BEAR program vote coming soon for consultant (topic for March Meeting)

          *Reinvest in Cold Brook Rd.

          *Look at BEAR and what it means to your business

          *ordinates, zoning nest phase after business

    School News: Welcomed two teachers with national certification

          *Phase 1 of new school site almost complete

          *seeking bids for Phase 2, could be over 20 bids

          *442,000 going to be lost in state subsidy

          *collective bargaining agreement reached (no bare increase in pay)

          *Disadvantage because other contracts are going up 

    Other News:

    HAMA – Event raise 2,000 for trip

    Blood Drive – 1st event 78 pints and 2nd 43 pints, last event 52 pints

          Next one sometime in April

    BAHS Walt Couples – Shortage of housing

          Budget being out quite a bit, Hamden Academy helping a lot

    April 10th is the hike

    HBA for help?

    Need concert in Orono for hike 

Meeting was adjourned at 8:45am.

Respectfully Submitted,

Joshua Howes

 - = - = -= - = -

Hampden Business Association

Minutes of 12/01/2009 meeting at Maine Savings FCU, Hampden, ME 

Meeting called to order at 7:30 AM by President Ken White. 
 

Brainstorming for new events

*Winter Carnival

*Discount Cards 

Question – What is the goal for HBA?

*Advertisements

*Annual meeting & welcome bags are implemented already. (needs more people)

*Put a list of businesses into bag.

*Getting them out en lieu

*Go to new residents

*connect with realtors about giving them out at closings.

*increase business referrals 

January – welcome to Hampden Days (get it started again)

*community maps - revamping maps and starting again.

*e-mail list of businesses.

*Getting bags to realtors to distribute purchase & sales agreement. 

How to get people that already live here?

*Ads in Edge

*Put notice in tax bills

*Put HBA or MSFCU site 

Next Meeting first Tuesday in January – 5th @ Anglers 12 p.m. 

Meeting was adjourned at 8:44AM by President White 
 

Respectfully Submitted, 

Joshua Howes

- = - = -= - = -

Hampden Business Association

Minutes of 11/03/2009 meeting at Fresh Ginger, Hampden, ME 

Meeting called to order at 12:00 PM by President Ken White. 

Presentation of Past President’s Plaque 

President White started our meeting off with a presentation of the Past President’s plaque to previous President Perry Speaker. 

Tom Gallant: Swine Flu preparation for businesses. 

Tom Gallant from Eastern Maine Development Corporation was at our HBA meeting discussing the H1N1, or Swine Flu and the steps businesses should be doing to prepare for a possible outbreak within a business.   

Key notes of this discussion were protecting workers, using common sense with covering sneezes and coughs, and staying home if sick.  Businesses should plan ahead for shortages, be more flexible with sick policies, hiring temporary workers, and cross training to plan ahead.   

President White concluded the meeting with some quick updates that school construction is underway, and having future discussions on the HBA’s involvement with businesses in Hampden. 
 

Meeting was adjourned at 1:25 PM. 
 

Respectfully Submitted, 

Joshua Howes

- = - = - = - = -

Hampden Business Association

Minutes of 10/6/2009 meeting at Maine Savings FCU, Hampden 

Meeting called to order at 7:30 AM by President Ken White. 

Legislative Update-Rep. Andre Cushing 

Rep. Cushing was gracious enough to give us a representative update, including the fallouts of the economy in our area, stressing how obligations, and spending are outweighing revenue, and the need to restructure priorities and spending.  The new election will make a huge impact on the direction of the economy. 

Rep. Cushing and Senator Plowman both went on to discuss the upcoming ballot questions this November, with a preview of each question and it’s implications on our community.  Highlights include the possible $600,000 loss in revenue with a YES on Question 2, and that Question 6 is a budget-friendly amount of money for our Department of Transportation improvements, and will prevent larger-scale problems with roads, etc. in the future.  Cushing concluded, praising Hampden’s school system, and the fact that we have about 6 months of reserves in case of further economic troubles down the road. 

Town News-Dean Bennett 

Dean Bennett gave us a quick town update, noting that Eastern Maine Development Corps will be conducting surveys on regional development, and not to confuse it with Hampden’s own town development that will be ongoing. 

President White concluded with other news, including a flu clinic at Edward’s, and a Halloween Party hosted by Public Safety.  The next meeting was announced to be on target for election day, November 3rd @ Angler’s restaurant.   

Meeting was adjourned at 9:01 AM. 
 

Respectfully Submitted, 

Joshua Howes

- = - = -= - = -

Hampden Business Association

Minutes of 9/1/2009 meeting at Fresh Ginger 

Meeting called to order at 12:05 PM by President Ken White. 

President White reminded everyone of the HBA website www.hampdenbusinessassociation.com, and to sign up and link their business, and also the possibility of adding the HBA to such social networking sites as facebook, twitter, etc.   

It was mentioned that the Hampden Business Association were looking for a new nominee for HBA Secretary.  It was passed that Josh Howes would serve as new HBA Secretary. 

Dean Bennett gave us an update on town news, including the preparations for the town plan to be done this fall and presented to the HBA by December for feedback on it’s impact on business, and any issues or obstacles noted.  He also noted goals for the town include economic development, business retention, and keeping jobs and business open by increasing competitiveness with other towns. 

Emil Genest gave us an update on school news.  Enrollment is up, and September 9th will be the upcoming groundbreaking for new school to be completed by September 2012, and that Hampden was 1 of 4 “High Performing” schools in Maine.  Also mentioned was the possibilities of merging Newburgh into the SAD 22 system, as well as Frankfort, which would boost the school system financially. 

President White concluded with his thanks and support, and mentioned an HBA plaque for the past president would be introduced in the future. 

Meeting was adjourned at 1:15 PM 
 
 

Respectrully Submitted, 

Joshua Howes 
Hampden Business Association
P.O. Box 155
Hampden, ME 04444
Contact Us

HOW DO I ...
Join the HBA?
Find a local business?
View meeting minutes?
Enter the essay contest?
Become a guest speaker?

Minutes
History
Bylaws