BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Julie Abel –JabberDesign, Mike Carey – Del Sol, John Jerome – Butler Pantry, Angela Holmes-Century 21, Fred and Janet Schmidt, Kevin Tringali-Bella Vita Spa & Suites, Jodi White-Macatawa Bank, Bill Smith – Parrot in the Square; Toni Trudell-Park House, and Ben Barton – White House Bistro

ABSENT: Lincoln Brackett, Jodi White and Marilyn Starring

AUDIENCE IN ATTENDANCE: George Waden – Homebodies; Patricia Vanderwall-Vanderwall Financial; Jon Helmrich-IBC TV; Brad Rudich-Brad Rudich Tax and Accounting; Jane VerPlank-City of Saugatuck/Victorian Inn; Joleen Christine-Commercial Record

SECRETARY’S MINUTES: No October meeting/brief meeting held at the Fall Get Together at Fifth Season Ristorante.

Marilyn Starring was unable to attend today’s and minutes were taken via video recording.

Jon Helmrich – View from the Dunes update. Fred and Janet have provided a lot of great information and persons for Jon to interview this last year. ‘View from the Dunes’ show will begin its 4th year – Friday, November 27th @ 9:30 a.m. – shows are being archived - go to WGVU.org click on morning show and then you’ll see ‘View from the Dunes’. Like to promote what’s going on in the business community – don’t be shy would like to interview more business owners. Jon said that he can do remotes from your business as well. Following businesses were featured during this last year: Del Sol/Amazwi/Judy Anthrop/ Red Barn/Good Goods/ Round Barn/Fenn Valley/Butler Pantry/Olive Mill – thanked SABA for their support. Want to participate or have some information for Jon -call 857-3574 or e-mail jon@ibctv.info. Thanked Jon for spotlight he puts on our communities.

Jane VerPlank – City update road construction on Mason Street is done – trees will be planted in next few days. (A lot of static on video -difficult to hear what was said).

Merchant participation needed – Williams and Works looking at all the signage in Saugatuck. City would like someone from SABA (a Butler Street merchant preferably) to volunteer to sit in on this working group.

Christmas lighting will be cut back to $10,000 this year because of budget cuts. Star on top of Baldhead is being repaired this year (Star frame is wood – not metal). Mt. Baldhead stairs are nearing completion – will have 302 steps. Lucy Street – meeting with residents at 6 p.m. next Tuesday to talk about Lucy Street construction next year. There is a problem on Lucy Street with ground contamination that occurred a number of years ago.

Angela Holmes - How many parking spaces did we lose on Mason Street with additional sidewalk/trees? Jane VerPlank – I’m not really sure. Reason parking was changed to parallel was according to M-DOT regulations parking was too close together and against MDOT reg’s. Also, during the winter when streets are plowed the door to the upstairs apartments at the Drug Store would have snow thrown against it and tenants couldn’t get the door open to get out – safety issue. City council discussed at length angle vs. parallel parking on Mason Street. Mike Carey – Were you able to pick up any parking? Jane VerPlank– May have possibly picked up several spots. Angela Holmes– To lose parking when in a parking crunch a lot of people have questioned it. Jane VerPlank – Parking issue was discussed at length. Mike Carey – Asked about businesses that paid for parking on Mason Street - if they would receive a refund. Jane VerPlank – A lot of businesses were already grandfathered in, and no there wouldn’t be any refunds if anyone had paid for parking waivers. Angela Holmes – There will be several meetings held in regards to parking prior to next season. John Jerome – It’s nice to see it done. Kevin Tringali/Mike Carey –The way streets were left on Friday’s were not good – i.e. putting boards down across street so people didn’t have to walk in mud to cross it.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES: Angela asked for any additions or corrections to the minutes. Mike Carey made motion to approve the September minutes. Ben Barton seconded. Motion passed.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Angela Holmes- The board had a budget meeting to pound out the proposed budget. We also have a new board member Toni Trudell from the Park House. Angela Holmes – We have taken $10,000 from reserved fund to balance the budget for this upcoming year. This will deplete all reserved funds that we had in certificate of deposits. (Again, static on DVD and could not hear comments.) Bill Smith - What is Sparkle? Angela Holmes – Holiday lighting organization that provides lighting in parks in for Saugatuck. SABA has agreed to help them and it is a transitional (affiliation) year - next year SABA will take it over and will become Saugatuck/Douglas lighting endeavor. Holiday lighting is a draw to anyone who comes to either town to see us all decorated and lighted for the holidays. Next year, once it (Sparkle) is under the SABA auspice we will cover both towns, and we will even it out – it’s a natural to come under the SABA budget. Motion by Bill Smith to approve SABA 2010 budget. Second by Julie Abel. Motion approved.

MARKETING COORDINATOR: Janet Schmidt - Fall Fun Fest in its second year with great results. Weather couldn’t have been better. SABA welcomed 350 adults and 125+ children. The free admission charge per activity worked extremely well. Pumpkin Launch and Fire Engine rides ran neck and neck in popularity. Waypoint provided all the food at cost and we now have good numbers to work with for future events. The sponsors both in money and in-kind were thanked personally and in local paid advertising.

Port Huron’s City Manager sent two members of their Recreation Department to “scout” Saugatuck and Douglas (so to speak to see what was being done here – particularly in the off season to attract visitors and keep them occupied. Nancy Windzer and Betty Dunn had lunch on the river at The Annex at Coral Gables, met merchants and local residents and toured the area with Janet on 21 October. They have a “dying” downtown to quote them and their DDA does not sponsor events. It was an interesting and enlightening visit.

The most recent partnership with Sparkle has been a time consuming project, but with a very positive outcome. As of 10 November donations received have amounted to $4,635.00. In addition, ornaments sales are strong and another additional 100 have been ordered. The Sparkle event has been slightly revamped with agreement of the entire committee, time moved up and weather permitting for health reasons among others moved entirely outside. All permits have been filed, Santa’s costume remade and there has been lots of press.

John Jerome will bring you up to date on Holiday Events and the Carriage Rides. The rides will return to both communities simultaneously beginning 21 November. Rides will run Friday’s 7 to 10 p.m. and Saturday’s 2 to 6 p.m. Other than advertising as part of Holiday Events, there is no cost to SABA – we are under contract and classic Carriages LLC is fully insured. Many thanks to former merchant, Nancy Ayers, we have overnight housing for the carriages as needed.

Along with the new members Fred will mentioned in his report, you can add the new tenant at the former Parrot in the Square, Fancy Nancy & Framers Alley to your list – they are located at 35 Center Street. We also hope to welcome and David Michelle Chicelli to a meeting in the near future.

Many members attended the October 14th Big Lake Outfitters & Charter Boat Assn. fish fry – great food and networking that evening.

The long awaited televising of Saugatuck and Douglas on ‘One Big Fish’ is almost here. You need to have digital preferred Comcast cable and our portion will air December 6th from 10 to 10:30 a.m. (Sunday morning). Some of the other nearby interests is Holland on January 10th and Big Rapids on February 14th. We will do a press release prior to the airing so public will have advance notice of the show. We will also have a DVD available for an early 2010 meeting.

In closing, we are getting some amazing responses from the electronic newsletter that is going out mid-month, each month. SABA has its own phone number now – take note 857-1626 – not only does this allow us to streamline SABA calls, but we can leave messages on upcoming events.

OLD BUSINESS:

New Members: Saugatuck Women’s Club, Brad Rudich Accounting, Salt of the Earth, Wishbone Pet Rescue

Membership Renewals: Fiscal year ended October 31st. We have members who have not renewed. Board members now need to make some phone calls to remind membership dues for 2010 are now past due, and we need to pursue if they wish to renew their membership.

Drug Store wall has one open space.

Have two boxes of SABA directories left. If anyone has extra brochures that they will not be using this winter please let Fred Schmidt know so we can use them until the new brochure comes out in the spring.

Events Update: John Jerome – Janet covered a lot in her report. Santa will be in both towns visiting. Haven’t gotten a lot of forms back from Douglas in regards to store participation for the Holiday Preview. Bill Smith said he would follow up. There are 25 participating stores in Saugatuck.

Fred Schmidt – if any members need another copy of their invoice or a copy of their renewal information please let Fred know and he will get the member the information that they need. Fred will be going out and getting ads in the brochure – will approach people who had ads in last year’s brochure first to see if they wish to renew.

Winterfest – Same weekend as last year – Valentine’s weekend and President’s Day weekend since it is going to be a long weekend.

Harbor Planning Committee – No update.

Community Leaders Lunch – Went to a lunch awhile ago –it’s facilitated by the school - with new superintendent and retirement of Sandy Brooks sort of took a back seat, but is back on schedule again – nothing huge going on.

NEW BUSINESS: Contract Renewals: We have three (3) contracts that come up for renewal this time of year Web Site Maintenance (Julie Abel), Marketing Coordinator (Janet) and SABA Administrator (Fred). Janet’s contract did change somewhat - we added more paid hours to Janet’s contract. Rest of the contracts remained virtually the same.

Workshop Date – None

Events Meeting – Follow up – possibly afterwards do a wrap up. John Jerome will schedule one.

Janet Schmidt – We need a chair and/or co-chairs for Winterfest. Angela Holmes will chair Winterfest. Janet and Fred will be out of town that weekend.

SABA Bucks – Angela Holmes – We need to put a push for holiday - the perfect holiday gift – Janet will you place an ad? Fred Schmidt – Since we started we have given out $4,000 worth of SABA Bucks – 50% for gifts/events prizes and 50% have been purchased. Only about ½ have been redeemed. Is this good? Kevin Tringali - Yes, it’s about average for redemption. John Jerome – is there an expiration date on them? Yes, one year. There are some inn’s that put a program together and include SABA Bucks in their packages. Angela Holmes – Tracking is better than what it has been in the past. Fred Schmidt – put business size ad in our brochure that promotes SABA Bucks. Janet Schmidt – codes the SABA Bucks to see when they are being redeemed. Julie Abel – explanation on SABAmembers.com that explains to SABA members on how to redeem SABA Bucks. Fred Schmidt - Seems like SABA Bucks education process is pretty much over. Kevin Tringali – hand brochure along with SABA Bucks so consumer knows where they can be redeemed.

Fred Schmidt – SABA started an Events Planning Calendar. It’s a web based calendar -15 organizations that will be submitting and using this calendar. Angela Holmes – came about because of conflict in events with different organizations on same evening.

Holiday Party – December 10th – requests out where we are going to have.

UPCOMING DATES:

November 21st – Holiday Preview Noon to 9 a.m. – with carriage rides. Will have trolley going back and forth between towns.

Sparkle & Carriage Rides – November 27th and continuing to 19th of December

Next SABA board meeting – December 2nd, 2009 at Saugatuck City Hall.

Comments from the Public: Brad Rudich - Congregational Church will be featuring Chicago Classic Brass concert – December 11th 7:30 p.m. concert – would like to put it on the events calendar.

Bill Smith - Parking issues – tried to get trolley service on weekends in June/July and August that would help stabilize parking issues in both cities. It is hard to find a funding source for this project -been looking at grants. Angela Holmes - Julie Abel and Matt Balmer spent a lot of time meeting with Sherrie from Interurban, and found lack of funding to be the biggest obstacle. Angela – we don’t have anywhere to pull any more money from - majority of businesses are SABA members. May have to look at writing grants in the future to obtain funding for projects we wish to do.

Fred Schmidt – we are not a 501 3c. A joint grant between city of Saugatuck and Douglas may be a better avenue for writing a grant than what we are.

Angela Holmes –Need to place this on impending conversations on parking.

Angela Holmes – Board that is sitting will continue for the next fiscal year.

Meeting adjourned.