Chamber of Commerce hears about important notes in county history

SUPERIOR – During the monthly meeting of the Mineral County Chamber of Commerce, the chamber talked about changes to their operation and plans for the county’s centennial.

The meeting opened with a recasting of votes to confirm Monte and Loie Turner as co-presidents of the chamber. In the January meeting the motion to elect the duo was made by someone who was not a member of the chamber at the time. The mistake was realized after the fact. As a result the votes needed to be cast again under official procedures.

Once a new motion was made the chamber voted. Monte and Loie were confirmed as co-presidents and the meeting continued with Monte in charge.

The group discussed the chamber’s bylaws for most of the meeting. The board had recently begun to rework some of the bylaws and wanted to discuss the changes. Monte suggested they should review them again and make any changes before presenting them to the members.

One of the biggest changes was simple. The name on the bylaws needed to be changed from Superior-area Chamber of Commerce to Mineral County Chamber of Commerce to bring them up to date with what the state had on record.

The most controversial change had to do with the formation of a board of directors and how it would operate. The way board members were appointed was one of the things changed as well as when they met and how special meetings would be arranged.

Monte expressed some concerns about having board members elected. He said there were already difficulties with having chamber members show up for meetings and elections would not be fair if too many people were absent.

“I would like to eliminate that [from the bylaws],” Monte said. “We have not been having a board of directors. I wouldn’t want to add it in now.”

The chamber did not know if they could remove the references of a board of directors from the bylaws. If a board was required as part of the chamber’s status as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, they would need a group to act as one.

Chamber Vice President David Lawrence was able to find information online to support the idea of a board being required. Monte interpreted the information as saying the chamber needed a board but could determine the specifics of it themselves. Monte suggested the board be composed of officers who were already elected, such as the president, vice president, treasurer and secretary.

As the chamber continued to discuss the organization of the board, there were several objections to different opinions. It was decided to shelve the issue until a later time so more business could be attended to.

The guest speaker for the meeting was Glenn Koepke, a board member for a number of county organizations. Koepke presented a list of some of the big anniversaries for the county. These were collected as part of the 100th anniversary of Mineral County becoming a separate body. The Mineral County Historical Society has been organizing a centennial celebration to be held in August.

The list of historical landmarks ranged back to 155 years ago when the Mullan Road was first constructed, the creation of the Montana Territory and the formation of the state itself. The list continued after Mineral County’s formation with the creation of Fish Wildlife and Parks.

“I’ve harped on [FWP] to show up for the travel expo and the fair to promote their 75th anniversary,” Koepke said.

He also noted the anniversary of the St. Regis Community Council, the Montana centennial in St. Regis and the beginning of the Mullan Road Conference.

Koepke also noted the formation of Tricon Timber and the memorial trail in St. Regis.

Koepke suggested a new copy of the county history book be printed. He said there were very few left and the ones still around were out of date. Koepke was not certain when the update would happen as they had lost one of their big supporters of the project.

The condition of the Chamber of Commerce parking lot was another topic of discussion. According to Mary Jo Berry, in recent snowstorms the lot was never plowed, while the streets were. Vehicles were trapped in the snow-filled parking lot and people slipped on icy areas as they crossed the lot.

The chamber was eventually able to get the parking lot plowed but it required hiring a private party at Monte’s personal expense. Berry felt this was not right and wanted Monte to be reimbursed for the cost.

The chamber agreed to pay him back $15 for hiring someone to plow the chamber parking lot. Rosie Schreckendgast, the representative for the Big Sky Motel, noted they could have the people who plow the motel’s parking lot do the parking lot of the chamber as well if needed in the future.

The next meeting of the Chamber of Commerce will be on March 20 at 7 p.m. at the Chamber of Commerce office.

The meeting will feature guest speaker Kevin Chamberlain, the Montana State University extension agent for Mineral County.