Town of Pinetops NORTH CAROLIN A est. 1903 Community Development Advisory Board Meeting Minutes March 22, 2023, 6:00 pm 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:10 pm by Phyllis Arrington, Chair. 2. Attendees The following members were present: Phyllis Arrington, Suzanne Coker Craig, Ben Mayo, Ardean Eason, Ron Pate, Kyle Cecchi, Tierra Norwood. Also present were Fred Ventresco, Town Administrator and guest Darren Sodoski. 3. Minutes The February 22, 2023, meeting minutes were reviewed. Susanne Coker Craig motioned to approve, Tierra Norwood seconded, and all members being in favor the minutes were approved. 4. Strategic Teams Update An update of the three strategic teams' statuses were reviewed. Entrepreneur Initiative (Leaders: Tierra/Ron) There are two additional volunteers for this team: Darren Sodoski, contacted directly by Ron Pate directly, and one additional volunteer found from the form - followup required. Ron Pate agreed to continue reaching out to ABB to present the PCDAB and seek volunteers. Vibrant Community (Leaders: Ben/Susanne) There is one additional volunteer for this team from the form. Followup is required. Active / Inclusive Town (Kyle, Ardean) There is one additional volunteer for this team collected from the form promotion. Follow-up is required. Kyle has been inventorying all the businesses that are in town from a walk/drive through & Google search. Collecting the name of the business, address, contact info, category of business, etc. Will populate data in the Google drive for access. Working on facade improvement initiative. Has the application for the facade/Deautfication grant offered by the town and using flyers to promote to local owners. 5. Pinetops 300 Tractor Pull Event Promotion Fred contacted the event organizer. Need to align on how and what we say about the initiative. A lot of folks will be from out of town, soO many won't be interested in being a volunteer. Max time probably on order of 3 minutes. May consider having folks at each gate to pass out something. The event is the 3rd weekend in May for two nights. Ron is out of state cannot speak. Ben agreed to be the speaker. Ron volunteered to assist with laying out the talking points. Chair - may be a way to gather some funds as well. Would be made payable to Town of Pinetops. This needs further review. 6. Data sharing repository Tierra demonstrated the Google drive and access. Ron will set up a new Google Drive based on the PCDAB Google Drive and will add all with their personal emails as Editors. It will be set as Restricted to have those added by email with permission to access. Ron will upload all content onto the new Google Drive and will organize. Fred provided to Ron the thumb drive with the materials used in training. Kyle suggested there is a Google Chat feature we can also use if needed. Tierra suggested we can also use Google Groups which will group emails, chats, etc. For future collaboration consideration. Guest Darren Sodoski suggested we need to consider carefully security for files and agreed to work with Ron on an updated drive setup. Tierra discussed the Good Call number that was set up for receiving calls and routing. Tierra will send out again the info on the Google setup. 7. Volunteers and Volunteer form Tierra will work with Ron on how to manage the volunteer from going forward. She cannot share response results from online application. There are 3 volunteers. One for Active Inclusive Town, One for Sustainable Small Town Living, One for Destination for Rural Entrepreneurship. Tierra shared application details from online volunteers. 8. Other Business Tierra Norwood resigned from the Board but will remain active in the Entrepreneurial strategy team. The Chair reminded us of the importance of working together and communicating and making contact with each other needs to occur to move things forward. Suggested to review information shared by Bruce Naegelen. Tierra suggested a worksheet be set up with planned schedules for Team meetings. Tierra shared with the board that Phyllis was accepted into a leadership training program. Tierra suggested we may consider allocating some budget for direct mail. Perhaps could be sent out with the light bills. Susanne - perhaps can send out in neighboring community mailings. We have a small budget, approx. $1,000. Any request for donations payable to the Town of Pinetops earmarked for Community Development. Discussed ensuring info is on the website, on the Facebook page, and with remote login about what is being done, when, etc. Ardean will get the new restaurant going in across from Abrams for Kyle to contact. Tierra volunteered to create a flyer for us to use for mail distribution or local distribution or sharing in venues like stores and restaurants. Tierra suggested we create a Canva account under the Pinetops Gmail and we can edit. Ron will review Canva and provide feedback. Fred showed the board the Pinetops webpage. Tierra suggested a photo of the board. 9. Next Meeting The next meeting is scheduled for April 26 at 6:00 pm. 10. Adjournment Being no further business for the workshop Ron Pate motioned to adjourn, Ben Mayo seconded, all agreed, and the meeting adjourned at 7:30 pm.