The Clear Valley Business Connections (CVBC) organization held officer elections during their annual meeting held at the Lion’s Park Pavilion in Clearwater last week.

 

Lori Johnson from Johnson Materials, Inc. was re-elected president, Leigh Hoffman from Sunset Ridge Ranch was nominated and elected vice president, Jenny Massmann from American Heritage Bank was re-elected secretary, Kaitlyn Vrchota from Clearwater Eye Clinic was re-elected co-secretary and social media specialist, Eron Bordson from Clearwater Family Chiropractic was re-elected treasurer, and Angie Simon from Lake Central Bank was nominated and elected to the open board member position.

 

 

Pete Edmonson, previous Clearwater mayor, updated the group on city happenings, explaining about the recent 4.14% tax levy increase approved by the city council. 

 

The increase was lowered from the originally proposed 9% due to the surplus in the sewer fund, which included a $50,000 disbursement from Local Government Aid. The council pulled the $50,000 from the sewer fund and put it into the general fund, where it can be used to pay for new city signage.

 

Andrea Lawrence, newly-elected Clearwater Mayor, was unable to attend the meeting. Clear Lake Mayor Tim Goenner was also unable to attend.

 

 

Motions carried to hold the third-annual Explore Clearwater/Clear Lake Business Expo in May at the Clearwater American Legion again this year, where traffic from their Sunday breakfast helps bring in visitors.

 

Motions carried allowing committee members to spend up to $500 on advertising, including two banners and print ads in the Citizen-Tribune. A suggestion was made to also supply Coborn’s with bag stuffers prior to the event.

 

A motion carried to cover the Legion’s member dues for hosting the expo for the third year.

 

Businesses that sign up but aren’t able to show up for the event are asked to let the committee know so there aren’t empty tables sitting around.

 

Committee members for this year’s expo are Jenny Massmann, Kaitlyn Vrchota, Shaylnn Reid, Nancy Loidolt and Glenna Soenneker. For questions or more information contact Massmann at JennyM@logbank.com or Vrchota at kaitvrchota@gmail.com.

 

 

Edmonson informed the group he’s stepping down after being one of the lead organizers for Clearwater Heritage Days for a number of years. He provided a volunteer sign-up sheet with a breakdown of different departments needed. A meeting will be held in February.

 

Clearwater Librarian Cyrene Bastian informed the group the library will be holding a community meeting on Jan. 31 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. to brainstorm ideas for the future.

 

Susan Nagorski from the Citizen-Tribune presented information on the annual Clearwater/Clear Lake Community Guide. Along with the opportunity to run individual advertising for their businesses, as paid CVBC members each business can be listed in the full-page CVBC advertisement in the guide. This year’s deadline is May 1.

 

A motion passed to partner with the Citizen-Tribune on the guide and to run a full-page advertisement.

 

The CVBC has a Facebook page that area businesses can connect to.

 

Along with the annual meeting, the CVBC also held their seventh-annual chili cook-off. After votes were tallied, there was a two-way tie between Leigh Hoffman from Sunset Ridge Ranch and Mary Peterson from Clearwater Campground. After guessing the tie-breaker number, Peterson was crowned this year’s champion.

 

The next CVBC meeting will be in April, location to be announced.