SBG Minutes

February 13, 2006

Present:  Don Brown, Lisa Shambaugh, Ted Adriance, Paula Kuehn, Nan Russell, Sue Davies, Lois Carmody, Diane Johnson, Don Sutton, Phil Strother, Derek Marshall, Michael Zellweger. Tim Miner

Discussion items as follows:

• Brochure

• May have more businesses interested, however, several businesses may not participate this year.  Not quite sure of the net change at this point.  Don and Lois are trying to get that finalized.  We set March 5^th as the deadline for businesses to commit to being in the brochure.
• Janina can do minor changes in March, but anything major will have to be in April.  It was agreed to keep the design similar to last year.  However, we would like to have a different picture on the front that looks better in a two tone brochure.
• Cost -  Don said to expect about a 40% increase to go to an 8 panel brochure.  However if enough new businesses participate, the cost per business will be about the same as last year.  We won’t know for sure until the number of businesses and the scope of changes is determined.
• A topic for the next meeting will be to determine the number to be printed.  We will also look at distribution needs.

• Website

• Sandwichbusinessgroup.com will be the new website for the SBG.  Discoversandwich.com will be the public site.  Michael is going to donate the domain names to the SBG and take care of the paperwork to switch ownership.
• Michael discussed several possibilities for the public website, but further discussion was needed.  The group decided to have a subcommittee look at the design and discuss potential policies.  Lisa, Derek, Sue Davies all volunteered to be on the committee with Michael.  They will have a meeting prior to the next SBG meeting.

• Three Tier Plan

• Don had heard from 14 businesses.   Nine of the 14 were interested in the upper tier.  Lois had also made contacts.  They will compare notes and have the results for the group at the next meeting.
• There was some discussion as to whether there should be a non profit membership available.  This will be an agenda item for the next meeting.
• Also to be discussed at the next meeting is what standard should be used for a simple listing.

• Marketing

• Community Guide – Salmon press – should hear more about this in March
• Heart of NH – have not heard anything from them.  The magazine is no longer free.
• Weekly advertising is still available under the Discover Sandwich umbrella.
• Laker – nothing yet
• Sandwich Fair – the deadline for this is March.  Since it was not included in one of the three tiers, we talked about treating it similar to what we do with Salmon press, i.e use Discover Sandwich as an umbrella and those wanting to participate can do so individually

• Sandwich Housing

• Time Miner talked briefly about a group being formed to look at affordable housing needs in Sandwich.  He was interested in getting feedback from the businesses in town relative to any impact we see from the lack of affordable housing.  A survey will be available at a number of places throughout the town.  The group meets on the third Thursday of the month at 7PM in the town hall.

Next Meeting – Monday, March 6^th – 8:30AM at the Corner House

[2.13.06]