Business Council report has been corrected to reflect the fact that Realty Works is expanding by opening an additional office in the Chatterley’s Building in New Hartford; Saturday, February 6.
By: Maria Moore
Steering Committee members of the New Hartford Business Council (NHBC) have had so much Council business to handle recently that they have been meeting not only once, but twice a month and will likely continue to do so for a while.
Meeting in the beautiful dining room of Chapin Park Bed and Breakfast and led by co-presidents Bart Baxter and Dawn Whalen, Steering Committee members have focused on a number of agenda items which are priorities for the Council. Following is a report on a few of those items:
1. Redefining the mission of the NHBC: With the help of Ron Miller of Ace Marketing, the Business Council adopted a new mission statement that members felt better reflects the role of the Business Council in the community. The new mission statement reads:
“To create and promote a professional and productive partnership among area businesses, through community functions and social networking, in ways that will foster a positive business environment, thereby creating opportunities for area commerce.”
2. Highlighting the value of NHBC membership: As Ron Miller put it: “Businesses want to know: “What’s in it for me?” ” The Business Council recently partnered up with the Canton Chamber of Commerce and both organizations are offering a reduced membership fee to join each other’s organization. This has given New Hartford businesses access to the events and educational opportunities offered by the larger Canton organization.
Another way of promoting the value in an NHBC membership is for members to display their membership in their business locations. Gardner Graves of Realty Works, whose company is in the process of expanding by opening an additional office in Chatterley’s building in New Hartford, is providing the Business Council with decals of the Council’s logo to be distributed to members.
An M2M program has also been instituted. Ron Miller is collecting a list of Business Council members who are making a special offer available to other NHBC members. In the case of NewHartfordPlus, the M2M offer is 10% OFF all advertising on NewHartfordPlus to NHBC members. This M2M list will be made available to NHBC members when completed. If you are a Business Council member and would like to be added to the M2M list, please contact Ron Miller at ronm331@yahoo.com.
New Hartford Business Council members also have their business information included in the NHBC Members’ Directory section on NewHartfordPlus: a free “yellow page” ad on NewHartfordPlus as part of their NHBC membership fee.
3. Support for Community Events sponsored by Business Council members: This is an area that Steering Committee members feel is an essential part of the Business Council’s role in the community. During the last several months, Business Council members have supported the Holiday Marketplace at the Beekley Library and Light New Hartford. This month, on February 21, the Farmers’ Market ~ a member of the Business Council ~ will be holding its 2nd Frozen Farmers Market and Skating Party on the Green at Chapin Park in Pine Meadow. Steering Committee members are planning to have a stand at the Frozen Farmers’ Market. We will provide more details on this event as soon as more information becomes available, or you may contact Anita Barden at Barden Farm: bardenfarm@aol.com; or Joanne Dahill at MarWin Farm: joanne@marwinfarm.com.
4. Steering Committee future plans: Other agenda items Steering Committee members are pursuing include setting up an NHBC website for its members. NewHartfordPlus has discontinued maintaining a separate NHBC Business Notes section which we had made available free of charge to the Business Council for the past six months; we will add a link to the Business Council website as soon as it is available. As always, we will continue to provide news coverage of the business community and the Business Council in our Business News Updates.
New Hartford Business Council members will also be attending Economic Development Commission (EDC) meetings to work together with that Commission on their common goals of promoting business in New Hartford. NHBC Co-president Dawn Whalen and Gardner Graves will be attending future EDC meetings; EDC Chairman David Childs, who is also a member of the NHBC, has been attending all of the Steering Committee meetings.
The next meeting of the NHBC Steering Committee: is scheduled for Wednesday, February 3 at 8:30 a.m. at Chapin Park Bed and Breakfast, Church Street, in the Pine Meadow section of New Hartford.
For more information on the NHBC Steering Committee: please contact Co-Presidents Bart Baxter: 860-921-7149; or Dawn Whalen: ctce200@ctce.us.
Many Thanks: to Mary Ann Gunning for graciously hosting the NHBC Steering Committee meetings at her Chapin Park Bed and Breakfast.
Business Council Steering Committee members at their January 20 meeting (from right to left) Dawn Whalen, Bart Baxter, David Childs, Mary Ann Gunning, Dotty Craig and Carol Monroe. Photo: Maria Moore
Business Council Steering Committee members (from left to right) Ron Miller, Deb Kuszaj, Gardner Graves, Carol Monroe and Kim Trumbull. Photo: Maria Moore
$weetheart Deal$ Available on NewHartfordPlus
Looking forward to Valentine’s Day, we’ll be making available $weetheart Deal$ to all our readers ~ but we need the help of area business owners to make it happen! Here’s how it works:
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Thanks, Gardner. I had it in my ‘Pending’ to clarify ~ thanks for doing so, Maria
The Realty Works tag line says “Serving and giving back to the area since the turn of the century”, and we are very happy to make a small additional contribution to the NHBC in the form of membership decals, one of which we will proudly display on the window of our new office in New Hartford.
However the announcement in New Hartford PLUS seems to indicate that we are relocating to New Hartford, while the fact is that we are expanding our service area by adding an additional office in New Hartford to compliment our flagship location in Canton/Collinsville. We are excited by this growth opportunity, and looking forward to being a greater part of the New Hartford community.
Now that Dr. Sally Austin-Fitzpatrick has completely relocated her practice across the street to the old library building, we hope to be fully operational in the space she formerly occupied at the corner of Bridge and Main Streets, the Chatterley’s building, by the end of March.
Gardner Graves
Broker/Owner
Realty Works, LLC