2004 Year in Review

Diane Boelkins ends term as Chamber President

Diane Boelkins, retiring president of the Morrison
Chamber of Commerce, at her daytime job at Wells Fargo Bank.

Outgoing Morrison Chamber President, Diane Boelkins of Wells Fargo Bank, acknowledges the Chamber is a group effort. She could not have accomplished anything without the help of the board. There are twelve board members elected with rotating three-year terms. This year five members are being replaced at the February Chamber Annual Meeting. Diane Boelkins, Susan Gomez, Doug Vanderlaan, Sonia Schroeder, and Betty Schutt will finish their terms. The shift of new members will have a large impact on the new board for the beginning year. Boelkins believes the loss will “be difficult for the committee”.

Boelkins believes the future success of the Chamber depends on more membership involvement. “Board members do most of the works. We have lots of ideas but don’t have the time and people to accomplish them.” There are currently 79 members in Morrison Chamber.

In this last term they resurrected a few big projects like Morrison Fest, the Chamber golf outing, and the Halloween Parade. Morrison’s United Way Organization helped put on Morrison Fest. They ran all the carnival games but most organizations weren’t interested in helping. Cottonwood 4-H club also aided in both the Halloween Parade and Morrison Fest. The golf outing was changed to an evening Glo-Ball Golf Outing and was well attended.

Another project for the Chamber is the Christmas Walk. It is a branch of the Chamber and has it’s own committee working on it. Keith Wiersema, also working under the auspice of the Chamber, started a new activity, Soap Box Derby, which was very successful.

Another accomplishment of the Chamber in the last three years were joint meeting between the MADC, MCUD#6, Whiteside County Economic Development, City of Morrison, and the Chamber. They hired a facilitator and there was good conversation but no accomplishment. Boelkins believes these meetings should be continued to establish better communication between the local organizations.

“This was the first year for all the garlands on the downtown light poles at Christmas. We purchased them last year but not all the poles were ready,” Boelkins explained. Another purchase for the Chamber was the downtown Banners. The City loaned them the money but refused payment so the Chamber has money for future banners.

“What the local businesses need from us” is another item that Boelkins said needed to be addressed in the future. They have tried to bring in speakers on subjects that small businesspersons might be interested but found these had low attendance.

Getting people to not only serve but also members to participate is a current problem and could doom the organizations. There were some past issues involving former board members and the downtown that the organization is spending a lot of time trying to bridge. “It is time to re-involve the downtown in the Chamber,” explained Boelkins. She hopes the future will include more community involvement and more businesses represented. “Working with and on the Chamber is not only good for the individual but is also good for their business.”

Diane Boelkins is planning on volunteering with the new administration headed by future president Bob Vaughn.

Morrison Chamber Web site

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
January 12, 2004