November 2021 Meeting Minutes

Freeport Merchants Association
Meeting Minutes
November 18th, 2021

Present:
Chase Barfield. 
Ethan Barfield 
Yolanda Ellis 
Aaron Ellis 
Bill Blanken 
Gabriel Kilgore 
Lori Logue 
Jill Tanner 
Betsy Steinbaum 
Nanci Spears 
Josh Spears 
Keith Miller 

Next meeting: December 16th, 2021, 8:00am, Blount House

1. Announcements 

• Current Membership Total: 70 – Active 52 

• Current account balance: $3859.75

• Expenses:

  • Monthly Membership Works Fee

  • Invoice: Moorhead Law – Legal work

  • QuickBooks Transfer app

    - IRS: Final Approval letter for 501c6 should arrive in the next 2 weeks

  • All Dues will be tax-deductible
    ▪ Members will receive a donation letter at the end of the year

• Events Committee:

  • No December Social due to how busy it is. If someone wants to discuss hosting one, contact Lori Logue

  • January 6th will be hosted by Angie Veno with Puppies to Guppies

  • February 3rd will be host4ed by Gibson Commercial Solutions

  • For March forward, reach out to Lori Logue
    ▪ With hosting, you get to showcase and share about your business – everyone focused on you

    ▪ It’s a great time for members and non-members to socialize outside of business

    ▪ Usually, 2-3 hours with the host providing food and drinks – alcohol is optional

2. General Topics 

Chase: 

• IRS Notifications: Not sure if anyone has received Notifications going out saying your badness taxes are late. IRS is backed up for 2 years. Letters are going out automatically - If you get a notice and you were on time, contact your accountant and CPA as well as your Congressman. Ours is Mat Gates 

Nanci:

• Part of changing to a nonprofit means we have to do our Bylaws to submit to the state and the IRS. With this, we will be doing elections for the Board members and Officers.

  Terms are 2 years for Officers and 3 Years for Board Members.

  The election will be in January – An email will go out with the nominees with a 2-week period for those to respond with objections. If no objections, we will announce the Officers and Board at the January meeting.

  Make sure your Member Profile has “Best Email”