Once again, January marks a month of transition at the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce.
The Jan. 16 directors meeting at the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce was the last for outgoing President Warren Williams in that role. At the end of the meeting, first vice-president Terry Caldwell was presented the gavel by Williams as the new president.
But he did not take over immediately. Instead, Caldwell officially takes over when he is sworn in Jan. 23 at the President’s Banquet at the Dekker Centre, where it is expected the gavel will be presented to him all over again.
In his remarks at the end of Tuesday’s meeting, Caldwell played up the positives about the Battlefords. He pointed to the banquet’s guest speaker, Billy Coles of BCP Group and CCR Hospitality, as someone who could inspire business in the community.
“We are great here. There’s no reason why we’re not the most successful community in the country, and hopefully I can help that along, too,” Caldwell said.
As part of the proceedings Tuesday, the board formally elected Caldwell as president and appointed the rest of its executive for 2018. Dallan Oberg was elected first vice-president, Harris Sutherland as second vice-president, and Derek Schmidt as treasurer. The vote in each case was unanimous.
Outgoing president Williams was appointed to stay on the executive as past-president. Chamber executive director Linda Machniak also sits on the executive.
The final position on the executive is the member at large, to be filled Jan. 30 at the chamber’s annual meeting.
In addition to the slate of officers, the Tuesday meeting was also the first one to include newly elected directors from the most recent December board vote. A motion to formally appoint the new directors was passed at the meeting.
Williams has pledged his “full support” of Caldwell as the new president. He bid farewell with extensive remarks that included acknowledgment of the challenges the chamber faced in 2017, and thanked the existing and outgoing directors for their efforts.
“Any success we may have had going this year is due to your efforts and the staff’s efforts,” Williams said to the board.
He also expressed optimism about the chamber going forward.
“Are we moving in the right direction? My take on that is wholeheartedly yes.”
In other business from Tuesday, it is confirmed the Battlefords Business Excellence Awards will be held in October at Gold Eagle Casino, a switch from its longtime location at the Dekker Centre.
For other events, the Chamber on Tap series is due to return for 2018. North Battleford director of planning and development Jennifer Niesink has been lined up for the first event of the series for 2018, on Feb. 1 at the Blend starting at 5 pm. For more details, contact the Battlefords Chamber.
