December 2022 Meeting Minutes

Freeport Merchants Association
Meeting Minutes
December 15th, 2022

Present:
Chase Barfield
Ethan Barfield
Aaron Ellis
Latilda Hughs
Bill Blanken
Amber Williams
Nanci Spears
Josh Spears

Next meeting: January 19th, 2022, 8:00 am, Blount House

1. Announcements

• Current Membership Total: 97 Members

• Current account balance: $9,213.49

• Expenses:

o Snyder, Membership works

Events Committee:

• Night out For Freeport will be April 29th. Location TBD

• January Social will be Hosted b the FMA at the Hammock Bay lake Club

• February Social will be hosted by Lor Logue with Fathom Realty at the Hammock Bay Lake Club on February 23rd

• March Social will be Hosted by Freeport Jujitsu on March 9th at their new location. Flyer coming

  Membership Committee:

• New Member Emerald Coast Title

Anyone in the company of a Member is welcome to come to the morning meetings and Evening Socials – it does not have to be the “Owner”

General Topics:

Chase:

• Results of Charity nominations for the top 3 to be voted on:

o Freeport Angels – helps provide toys for the less fortunate

o Veterans Memorial

• Email to vote will be sent out and the one with the most votes will be the recipient of the

  proceeds for the 2023 Night Out for Freeport.

• We as an organization consciously decided to be the central point to disseminate news and events for Freeport. Amber has been doing an excellent job receiving all the submissions and placing them on our calendar.

• There is a form on our website to submit your events.

• Starting in January, Latilda – city planner for Freeport will be on the agenda to share what’s planned, approved, in process etc. as well as confirm or deny any rumors of what’s coming or not to Freeport.

Open Discussion:

• Northstar Global – Chase’s company is being acquired – in January they will shut down their Freeport Office.

o Chase can no longer be President as he is no longer a merchant in Freeport.
o Josh Spears will move into the President position and Bill Blanken will be our New Vice President.
o Chase will remain on the board

• Latilda:

o The City entered into a development agreement with a group that is developing a property east of Windswept. They want to acquire public sewage – they have public water already. We are working with them to design a sewer main and lift station from Freeport City limits at hwy 20 all the way east to Windswept.

o They will construct a sewer main and lift station that the city designs and they will bear the cost. This will change the game east of town.

o The city is reviewing all development in anticipation of this line happening. o Construction will start mid-2023 and take 6-8 months to complete
o There is NO COSTCO coming to Freeport
o Still in negotiations with Space Florida to bring a company here so stay tunes