West Jefferson Business Association

Minutes from the June 13, 2017 West Jefferson Business Association General Membership Meeting A meeting of the West Jefferson Business Association was held at the West Jefferson town Hall on

June 13, 2017. Members in attendance: Terri Filipski, Gary Brown, Andy Guion, Chris Born, Dale Carlson, Robin Miller, Travis Ritchie, Jane Lonon, Jesse Evans, Sherry Goodman, Wesley Barker, Ron Brown, Ben Cogsdale, Helen Marie Reavis, Marjorie Shinkle, Pam Colby-Ignolfo, (Marjorie and Pam are new members)

Meeting Minutes: Minutes from April and May were approved. Treasurer’s Report: WJBA donated $350 for Project Graduation + $31 in expenses for posters.

Seven WJBA members contributed to Project Graduation and $50 contributions were made in their names: Go Postal, Hotel Tavern, Sustainable Environments, Ashe County Cheese, Boondocks, Lifestore, and Bohemia. We still have $1000 to fund a 2018 sponsorship of the Antiques Fair and are holding $1000 in reserve. This leaves a balance of $2271 to support other projects. The Treasurer’s report was approved.

Old Business Caboose Update: As of this date, we still have not received approval of the Virginia DOT permit.

Until we receive this approval, the caboose cannot be moved out of Virginia. AUTHOR’s NOTE: VA DOT approval was received on 16 June and the caboose was safely moved to West Jefferson on Wednesday, 21 June!

We presented the landscape design (attached as embedded files) and the maintenance agreement to the West Jefferson Board of Alderman. The BOA approved the maintenance agreement which will be implemented once the caboose is turned over to the town of West Jefferson. This will occur once the major restoration is completed and the caboose park is established. The painting contractor has indicated he will donate his entire work on the caboose to the Ashe Historical Society (both materials and labor). Mountain Advantage (landscaping) and Chris Miller (carpentry) indicated they would donate their labor to the project. The Ashe Historical Society would purchase materials for the landscaping and carpentry parts of the project.

A concern was raised that moving the equipment needed by the musicians for Backstreet concerts would be more difficult with the establishment of the caboose park. The attached plan did not contemplate any vehicle traffic in the caboose park and when the BOA approved the caboose park,

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it was not stipulated that any vehicle access was required. A recommendation was made that we table this issue until a resolution be developed off-line.

Terri proposed that the WJBA donate $500 for annual maintenance of the caboose. The motion was revised to reflect a one-time donation of $500 in 2017. Andy motioned, Gary seconded, and the motion was approved. We will revisit whether this is necessary annually, depending on circumstances. Robin Miller also volunteered to speak to the security supervisor at Skyline / Skybest to see if we could get a web camera donated for the caboose / backstreet area.

Wilkes Community College: Laurie Brintle will offer a course entitled: “How to get your business on-line”. The course will be offered in the evening, i.e. 5:30 pm. A request was made to look for later dates in August. The Arts Center is available on 7 and 14 August.

Web Site: Leah, proposed $50 per month for uploading the minutes. Cari, proposed $40 / hour. Since both of these estimates were regarded as being too expensive, Sherry volunteered her Secretary to conduct this monthly maintenance. Sherry will do this until further notice. The WJBA Secretary will provide the final minutes to Sherry (Amber) for these uploads.

New Business: Mountains to Coast Bike Tour: Sponsored by Cycle North Carolina. This event will be held at

Family Central in the area from 29 September to 1 October. There could be up to 1100 cyclists participating in this event. What could we do to bring these people into town? Ashe transit or High Country Tours could be contracted to bring these people into town. Andy will check with ACTA to see what they could do to support this effort. Jane thought that they would have their own transportation. Andy said that the Ashe Chamber Tourism Committee will take up this matter next week.

Ann Rose: Rose Mountain Butcher Shop new hours: Thursday and Friday 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday 10 to 3 pm.

Christmas in July: Footprint is exactly the same. Music will start earlier at 3 PM on Friday. Food vendors will likely open by 4 pm on Friday. Community stage will be only on Saturday. Farmer’s Market will be open on Friday night for produce sales. Farmer’s market will be open for crafts on Saturday. Ashe Mt. Times annual Christmas in July supplement will be published on 22 June.

Signage: Dale inquired if we should take up the issue of signage again, since the cluster box project was tabled until 2018. The issue was discussed, and the consensus was that posting the Walking Guide throughout town was a suitable substitute for actual signage. The Town is looking into purchasing a free standing kiosk for the public restroom area. Gary has indicated he has a space to put up a kiosk. Andy will install one as well at Jefferson & Main. Go Postal paid for enlarging and mounting the kiosk-sized map that is in the kiosk next to Perry’s Gold Mine. A proposal was made to make standard-sized enlarged prints of the WG to offer to the Town and other businesses around town, which they can post in their own kiosks. Terri will get prices for these from Go Postal.

With no further discussion, Terri adjourned meeting.

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