Nokomis Chamber holds September meeting

September 23, 2024 95

NOKOMIS — The Greater Nokomis Chamber of Commerce held its monthly meeting on Thursday evening, September 17 inside the city council chambers at Nokomis City Hall.

Minutes from the August 15 meeting, as well as the latest treasurer’s report from Treasurer Ed Chausse, which reflected available funds of $1,900.60 and certificate of deposit balances of $43,037.40, were approved.

An update was presented regarding the upcoming fall citywide rummage sales, which will be on October 4 and 5. Those wishing to participate need to contact coordinator JoAnn Marquess as soon as possible, as the cutoff for inclusion on the map is 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 26.

Updates were presented on the Trunk or Treat event slated for October 26 as well as Snowkomis for December 13 and 14.

There was follow-up discussion on holding a Movie In The Park during the Trunk or Treat event to show a family-friendly Halloween film. An attempt to contact the Eisentraut family, owner of the movie theaters in Pana, Taylorville, and Hillsboro, by Kurt Aumann was not yet answered as of the meeting.

A discussion on licensing was brought up as a part of the Movie In The Park conversation. Jake Leonard volunteered to contact Swank Motion Pictures out of St. Louis to find out what it would take to legally show a film. The matter will be revisited in the October meeting, as the paperwork would need to be filed with Swank to allow enough time for approval, as the event is quickly approaching.

Regarding Snowkomis, the Chamber is once again hosting the vendor show at The Vault in downtown Nokomis, but as demand increases, additional venues (and potentially tents) could come into play. The flier for the vendor show has been posted, so the matter will be monitored closely to plan for additional venues or to set up tents for vendors across the downtown area after The Vault reaches capacity. The potential tent locations are to be determined, however, Chamber President Dr. Scott Doerr did discuss some possible locations with Mayor Dylan Goldsmith. Also confirmed is the return of the carriage rides.

An update was provided on ongoing efforts in merging the Chamber with the Downtown Nokomis Association and the city’s Planning Commission. A meeting was held at Aumann Auctions where members of all three organizations met with attorneys to discuss the requirements in merging the three groups to become a single 501(c)3. Currently, neither the Chamber nor the Downtown Nokomis Association have an active 501(c)3 status.

There are several hurdles that are holding up the expediting of this merger, which includes the legalities (which includes the dissolution of a governmental entity by dissolving the Planning Commission), completion of the paperwork to attain the 501(c)3 status (or re-attain, as the Chamber was the last entity to hold one, but lost its status after numerous years of allegedly not filing tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service), details that still need to be hashed out for the merger, final approval from all three entities to greenlight the merger, the upcoming mapping process being performed by Western Illinois University starting in October, and most importantly, selecting a board of directors for the new group – Newkomis – and finalizing the governing bylaws of the organization.

Trever Loafman from the Downtown Nokomis Association spoke of their previous meeting and have agreed to the possibility of moving forward as one entity.

Aumann motioned for the Chamber to keep moving forward with the steps toward approving the merger.

In open discussion, Secretary Michele Orsborn reported of the most recent Nokomis Community Event Planning meeting on September 11. Nokomis Public Library will be holding a tree planting for former long-time head librarian Debby Lehman on October 26 for her 33 years of service to the library. The planting will be at the library at 10 a.m.

A joint session of the Chamber, Downtown Nokomis Association, and the Planning Commission would immediately follow the Chamber meeting. It ran for roughly two hours.

The next Chamber meeting will be on Tuesday, October 8 at 5 p.m. in the city council meeting room to finalize plans for the Trunk or Treat event. The November meeting date might also change due to planning for any possible November events and for Snowkomis.

In attendance were President Dr. Scott Doerr, Vice President Talon Burton, Secretary Michele Orsborn, Treasurer Ed Chausse, directors Kurt Aumann and JoAnn Keele, Tom and Lola Spears, Trever Loafman, Jack Tosetti, Mayor Dylan Goldsmith, Abby Bugg, Charlie O’Malley, Lisa Casterline, Racheal Ehrhardt, Judy Beaman, and Jake Leonard.

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Jake Leonard

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.