Hosting the meeting the newly elected chairperson of the Chamber of Commerce Jill McLeod welcomed the 30 who attended, including the guest speaker for the evening manager of E-Commerce for the Tallaganda Shire Council Debbie Ferguson, and Robert Van Ells from the Queanbeyan Business Centre.
A representative from each group gave a brief history, aims and objectives for each of the three groups represented. Gill Bourke spoke of the personalised format of the Business Women’s Breakfast Group, its realistic approach to information gathering and exchange, and its purposeful focus on Braidwood. Michael Jefferies spoke of Tourism Tallaganda’s structural framework, its emphasis on the Visitors Information Centre, its reliance on volunteers, and the importance of the Tourism Tallaganda and the Tallaganda Shire web sites.
Jill McLeod listed the aims and ideals of the Chamber, and then called on Phil Shoemark and Lydia Lees to launch their newest venture the Excellence in Business Award.
The Excellence in Business Award will be sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, and presented every three months at the Chambers meeting, commencing on September 30. The award is open to all businesses in Braidwood and the Tallaganda Shire, there will be points allocated for external, and internal appearance staff presentation and ‘that something special’. Winning the award will allow the business to display the award plaque for the next three months.
Manager of E-Council for the Tallaganda Shire Debbie Ferguson, spoke on the progress of the setting up of the E-Council portals. The Community portal for the council meeting minutes, newsletters, community calendar, and community events; the Internal portal for council staff access, for conferencing, documentation exchange etc; and the Business portal for the payment of rates etc, applications for certificates and all other council transactions.
Ms Ferguson explained that even though all information was stored off-site, in fact at Bernie in Tasmania, that all information belonged to council and that it was secure under Tallaganda Shire’s authorisation, as business in confidence.
A ‘brainstorming’ exercise raised the conflicting prices for bottle gas paid by the various businesses in town, and it was decided to act upon this. Michael Jefferies gave a brief report on the Economic Development Plan, and Phil Shoemark reported on the Main Street issue which the Traffic Committee and the RTA are endeavouring to resolve. Phil reported that the RTA were planning to resurface the middle of the pavement down Wallace Street before Christmas. Traffic calming devices such as pedestrian blisters and a roundabout at the southern end of Wallace Street seem also to be on the agenda.
All present were pleased with the exchange of ideas.
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