Ponca City Chamber of Commerce Board meeting July 27

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Ponca City Chamber of Commerce Board meeting July 27

Thu, 07/29/2021 - 02:52
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The Ponca City Chamber of Commerce held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 27.

Chamber Chair Garrett Bowers called the meeting to order, and then followed with his chair report.

Less than a month away from the Party at the Palace which the Chamber’s only fundraiser that is held every other year. Final Party at the Palace Planning meeting was on Thursday, July 29.

Wendy Stobbe provided the updated for the Chamber Ambassador Committee.

Committee members were assigned to visit several new chamber members including Preferred Business Systems, Junction West Park and Stay, Rock’N It, and The Splash Company.

A Business After Hours was held on Tuesday, July 27 at RCB Bank’s main branch located at 14th and Highland.

Ribbon cutting ceremonies will be on July 29 for Marland’s Place, July 30 for Rock’N It, and on Aug. 10 for Home Sweet Home Realty.

Stobbe also provided an update for Ponca Politics.

At the previous Ponca Politics meeting Senator Bill Coleman and Representative Ken Luttrell provided a legislative updated and session wrap up.

Upcoming forums include Labor Secretary Leslie Osborn speaking at a Lunch and Learn on Friday, Sept. 17. And on Friday, Oct. 22, Oklahoma State Secretary Randy McDaniel will speak at another Lunch and Learn.

Rick Hancock provided an update on Community Development.

The committee met on July 15 at 10:00 am, and updates were provided by the various members/businesses.

Marland’s Place is having their Family Fun Day on Aug. 7, it is their only fundraiser this year.

Ponca City Business Council’s next Cash Mob event will be held on Monday, Aug. 2, at The Buckle at 11:30 am.

Education and Workforce Development will resume meeting next month.

Rich Cantillon provided a staff report.

Auction items for the Party at the Palace are coming in. The Board is putting together a “Barrel of Booze” for the auction.

Bowers and Cantillon will be doing a tailgate competition representing OSU and OU respectively and see who can raise the most money. This will occur before the live auction at the Party at the Palace.

Leader Orientation will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 11. It will cost $15 and you must RSVP. The New Teacher Luncheon at the

The New Teacher Luncheon at the Ponca City Country Club will be on Thursday, Aug. 12 at 11:30 am. It is $50 for the RSVP and one teacher sponsor, and an additional $30 per additional teacher sponsorship.

A Lunch and Learn on Wednesday, Sept. 8 will feature Liz Leaming on “Internships for Businesses”.

Zach Trantham, Ponca City Chamber Tourism Bureau, provided an update on tourism.

The Chamber hosted the “Party on the Prairie” tour group with Mid-Atlantic Receptive Tours on July 28. They were shown the Marland Mansion, the Pioneer Woman Statue and Museum, The Poncan Theatre, and a dinner/tour of the Grand Home.

Three “Made in Ponca City” baskets were made of Ponca City Development Authority.

The new visitor’s guide won a RedBud State Tourism Award for Best Brochure. B&B Sun ’N’ Fun Recreation also took home an award for Outstanding State Attraction.

The visitor log noted that Ponca City had received visitors from California, Indiana, Louisiana, Texas and all over Oklahoma.

Trantham spoke with Country Travel Tour Group, who is bringing two separate groups to Ponca City in October for a guided tour of Ponca City with stops at the Mansion and possibly Silver Top Farm and Vineyards.

What’s Happening PC? has received over 9,000 views.

A full page ad is the September/October issue of OKToday highlighting Standing Bear Powwow, Cherokee Strip Cook-off and Oktoberfest.

New website has been designed by MyMediaMatters.

Trade shows for 2021-2022 have been selected, they include Irving, McAllen, Wichita Falls, St. Louis, Rodgers, Wichita, and Kansas City.

Ponca Young Employees report was provided by Ashley Peitz.

Their golf tournament at Wentz is coming up after Party at the Palace, looking to finalize prizes. Working on figuring out meeting dates and times.

Lori Henderson provided the Ponca City Development Authority (PCDA) report.

The current official unemployment rate in the Ponca City Labor Market is 3.8%. The same time last year it was 9%. There are still plen ty of jobs available in Ponca City. The labor participation rate for Oklahoma is 60.9%, slightly below the national rate of 61.6%, but well within the margin of error.

Workforce is a large challenge for existing businesses. Talk to eight different companies since the start of the year and in their opinion Ponca City doesn’t have enough workforce for their needs. There is growth in Ponca City, however, with the welcoming of Century Products, the opening of an Amazon Distribution Center in the Industrial Park, and the Starbuck’s opening on along 14th.

Another major asset that Ponca City is short on is available industrial space. The former Smith building has a new realtor whom PCDA is working with. Ground will be broken in the fall on a new 39,000 square foot spec building north of Cookshack.

One other empty building is the hangar on Waverly owned by PCDA. The building was used for the runway dedication on July 9, an event that saw a large turnout.

PCDA is working with another Ponca City company on an expansion of their facility. Additionally, PCDA purchased a Coordinated Measurement Machine that is housed in the Plan Room at Pioneer Tech and is available, without charge, to any local industrial company.

PCDA has reached an agreement to sell the West Ranch property at Ranch and Highland to a local farmer.

Finally, at their July meeting, PCDA Trustees welcomed their newest member, Eric Pietz. Pietz replaced Steve Hermann who had hit his term limit.

Mayor Homer Nicholson provided the updated for the City of Ponca City. Things are really good, with no major problems.

The City has three marked police cars on order, they’ve put in a bid for four unmarked police cars, but the price came in so low they could buy five. Six garbage trucks on currently on order.

The Commission approved the purchase of a new John Deere 310 Backhoe, which the City needed. Starbuck’s is expected to open the 19th of August.

The City received a new fire truck, Engine #4, and bought a new ambulance to replace the one that rolled while on its way to Tulsa about a month ago.

Brian Hermanson gave the Kay County update.

Lots going on. Court portion of courthouse is closed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to get everyone moved in.

The Annex will open on Aug. 16.moving in from courthouse. Remodel will take a year and a half.

New Election Board Karen Leaming was appointed by Senator Coleman to replace Cheryl Howard.

COVID issue going on up in office at Newkirk. Hasn’t been exposed but wearing masks as a precaution.

The education update was provided by Ponca City Public Schools Superintended Shelley Arrott

School starts on Aug. 18. The school has 61 teachers and only one position to left to fill.

A lot of retirees this year due to the Three-Year Historic Pay Raise. Looking forward to the new school year, with a focus on building positive relationships, school spirit, as well as school and community pride.

Going to rollout the fight song with a new twist after the assemblies for staff. New scoreboard is going up and will be up before the first game this year on Sept. 10. Business Information and Technology class will run the board. The original scoreboard will be taken down for a possible new project.

Rolling out a bond election, a lot of needs around the district, thanks to American Relief they can share the needs for windows, HVAC, to prevent for COVID. Will meet a lot of constitutes, then roll out the campaign.

Numbers are amping up for COVID. Area superintendents met with the Oklahoma State Department of Health on the issue. With the Delta Variant, pediatric hospitalizations are up 150%.

Senate Bill 658 means that the school can strongly encourage wearing masks, but can’t issue a mandate unless the governor declares a State of Emergency. Risk level went up from 3 to 12.3.

Vaccination is the key, the schools had a vaccination clinic at registration. Learned at meeting that students younger than 12 could be eligible for the vaccine as early as late September.

Traci Thorpe provided an update for Pioneer Tech.

Same situation as the public schools with regard to COVID-19. Pioneer Tech has ten new staff members, but are still looking for Kitchen Assistant for Children’s Lab/ Pre-School, and a Custodian/ Bus Driver.

Pioneer Tech is gearing up for CareerTech Summer Conference. This year there is an awards ceremony. Last year they were not able to have the recognition ceremony for Ponca City Fire and Life Safety Council and their efforts to help with new emergency services training center. This year will be able to honor them.

School starts on Aug. 12 and will have back to school night on Aug. 10. Dealing with building project, starting to see some delays with materials and hoping to see completion in September if the weather holds out and looking forward to exciting events in October. Proceeding with COVID protocols minus the mask mandate.

Maci Heppel provided an update for Ponca City Main Street.

Busy due to not having anything in first part of the year due to COVID-19.

Crazy Days will be from Thursday July 29 to Saturday July 31 downtown. Almost 20 merchants have signed up with specials and deals, these merchants were negatively affected by the pandemic.

Street Part at Veteran’s Plaza from 5 pm to 9 pm on Friday, July 30, with band, food truck, and much more.

The Main Street is doing a Lemonade Walk this year. 18,000 people shared and viewed it on Facebook. The Lemonade Walk is going on throughout Crazy Days and will feature lemonade stands set up by children downtown.

The Board Retreat will be on Aug. 12 in Enid so that they can get ideas for future projects. Awards Banquet will be on Sept. 2.

Upcoming events include the Five Under 40 Awards, Brewfest on Sept. 25, and the Fall Mixer on Oct. 7.

The Ponca City Main Street is currently hiring for an Assistant Director.

The next Chamber Board meeting will be on Tuesday, Aug. 24.