Chamber holds AGM and hosts annual golf tournament

Mayor Turner swore in Alan Otway as a new board member for the Morinville & District Chamber of Commerce Wednesday. – Lucie Roy Photos

by Lucie Roy

The Morinville & District Chamber of Commerce held their AGM on Wednesday at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre.

The option was available to join live or via Zoom to welcome the new board members, listen to Guest Speaker, Mayor Barry Turner and enjoy box lunches while networking in adherence to COVID guidelines.

Mayor Turner swore in Alan Otway as a new board member and Congratulations went to Maxwell Putnam on his appointment to 2nd Vice President.

A welcome back to the board for a second and third term was President Shaun Thompson, Mark Stevens as Vice- President, Leighann Hoetmer, Joel Chevalier and Jasmine Montpetit.

Thompson said that despite COVID the membership number remained steady and they currently have 155 members and have welcomed 13 new members this year.

Thompson provided an overview of the Chamber activities, co-manage the Farmers’ Market in partnership with Festival Society, and to continue to advocate for business and community.

In July they published a Shop Local Coupon Flyer and they plan to do a Christmas Shop local program as well.

The Business Awards Gals was postponed to January 2021 with the exact date to be announced at a later time.

Mayor Turner provided a reflection on COVID-19 and a brief year in review.

In his presentation, Turner said, ” This has been an extraordinarily difficult year for us all. I am proud of our Community and the resiliency that it has shown during these times. Despite all of our planning and forward-thinking prior to, we have all had to pivot and set a new direction. I am very proud of our community, and how we supported each other through this pandemic, and how our business community has also stepped up and provided services in new ways to continue to meet our community’s needs.”

The Regular Meetings of Council and Committee of the Whole Meetings are now held at the MCCC and they have a physically distanced Gallery for those who would like to attend.

Turner spoke of the many initiatives Mayor and Council undertook due to the pandemic and highlighted a few programs supportive of the community.

Turner spoke of the new businesses that opened this year; Boston Pizza, Sturgeon Brewing Company, Uncle Sam’s Cannabis and Design Creative Inc. Vendor Market.

Pet Valu is coming to town and a 13 bay industrial building has recently been approved for the Morinville Industrial Park.

Food trucks are coming to town with a permit recently approved.

Turner mentioned the 2020 census is now complete and our population as of April 1 2020 was 10,578, which represents a 6.9 per cent growth over the last census done in 2016.

The full report on the Census is expected to come to Council on Sept 22.

The Annual Golf Tournament was held the next day.

Golf Tournament Gellery

 

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