Bangor Leadership Board Meeting Minutes
December 19, 2007
In Attendance:
Laura McLain Slate Belt Chamber of Commerce/Bangor Business Association
Mark Hartney Borough Business Revitalization Program
Angela Battaglia Bangor Main Street Program Chair/Merchants Naitonal Bank
Brian Witmer Bangor Business Association Chair/Business Owner
David Ceraul Business Owner
Anthony Biondi Merchants National Bank
John Reinhart Bangor School District Supervisor
Alicia Karner State Senator Boscola’s Office
Becky Long Business Owner – Art & Music Emporium
John Gisolfi Business Owner – Raymond James
Janet Miller Bangor Business and Resident
Todd Miller Bangor Developer
Rep. Richard Grucela State Representative for Bangor District
A meeting of the Bangor Leadership Board began approximately 8:00 AM in the boardroom of Merchant's National Bank. Board Members and invited guest leaders were in attendance.
Mr. Biondi, spokesman for the Bangor Leadership Task Force, thanked everyone for coming and summarized the progress to date. The first order of business was to elect an administrative chairman of the Board. Mr. Biondi then asked for nominations to be considered. Mr. Hartney nominated Mr. Biondi and Mr. Biondi then nominated Mr. Hartney. However, Mr. Hartney declined the nomination because he felt it was in conflict with his duties and responsibilities as Bangor Borough Business Manager. There being no further nominations, there was a unanimous consensus that Mr. Biondi be elected as Chairman.
Mr. Biondi quickly reviewed the handouts he downloaded from the mainstreet.org site, which better defined the four point Main Street approach. He noted that he had ordered 10 director handbooks and 5 handbooks for the committee members at the expense of Merchants National Bank. He will distribute the handbooks when he receives them.
Mr. Hartney then reviewed an opportunity, whereby; the Pennsylvania Downtown Center (“PDC”) can provide technical assistance in the development of a five-year vision plan at a cost of $10,000. Mr. Hartney felt that that the plan could be underwritten for 75% with grants provided through the office of Northampton County and the balance funded by grants available through the Lehigh Valley Chamber. Mr. Hartney felt that the PDC would be available to start the five-year plan development sometime in February or March of ’08. All agreed that the Organization Committee, with the cooperation of Mr. Hartney, should proceed with the project and contact the PDC. State Representative Grucela suggested that there are other opportunities for grants and subsidies through many of the state and local governments and offered his support in seeking these grants in the future. Mr. Grucela asked to be on the Economic Restructuring Committee to lend his assistance and experience. Todd Miller also indicated a preference to join the Economic Restructuring Committee.
The Board also approved the designation of Mr. Hartney to be the Bangor Leadership spokesman and point of contact. Mr. Hartney will direct any inquires to the appropriate individuals or committees as necessary.
Mr. Gisolfi volunteered to manage the development of a website for the new organization to be generously underwritten by himself and Mr. Ceraul. The Board thanked them for their generosity.
Committees were then assigned action task to be completed by the next Board Meeting. Committee chairs were asked to arrange meetings and report back to the Board on the following task:
Promotional Committee:
· In cooperation with the Design Committee, recommend a name for the leadership group. The name should also be part of the proposed website name.
· The committee is to meet and assist Mr. Gisolfi in the design and development of the website.
· Identify and approach candidates to be a Leadership Organization photographer(s) and to be a member(s) of the Promotional and/or Design committee(s).
Design Committee:
· Recommend a clean-up project for the borough and a designated area. The project should be scheduled as quickly as possible to generate interest and awareness of the Bangor Leadership Organization.
· Review the current Bangor Main Street logo and determine if it should be adopted as the new Bangor Leadership Organization logo.
Economic Restructuring Committee:
· Identify financial resource organizations to help in financing of revitalization efforts in Bangor.
· Recommend a single Economic Redevelopment Structure and/or Organization that will be the lead in providing information, assistance and financial resources for redevelopment projects.
Organizational Committee:
· Review application for Main Street 501 c-3 filing.
· Contact Randy Stokes of VF Corp. (formerly Majestic) to determine in what ways VF Corp will participate in Bangor’s revitalization program.
· Plan a meeting to review potential for financial assistance from government, service and business contributors to help fund the operating cost and programs associated with Bangor revitalization. Eventually, arrange a meeting of primary contacts of these organizations and those who can assist in the procurement of grants and subsidy financing.
The Board discussed the timing for meeting with the Borough Council to update them on the Revitalization progress and plans. The Board felt it appropriate to schedule a presentation meeting to the Borough Council at their February meeting.
All chairs were encouraged to continue to develop a list of volunteers that should be approached to serve on their committees and present the list to the Board at the next meeting.
Mr. Biondi suggested that the Board should meet again during the last week of January ’08 and review the progress of the committees. The next meeting will be hosted at Merchants National Bank.
The meeting was then concluded.
Respectively Submitted,
Anthony Biondi
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