MIKE Kelly has been re-elected as President of the Muswellbrook Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
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De-anne Douglas continues in her role as Vice President.
The vote for all office bearers took place on Wednesday at the Chamber’s AGM in the Ron Adams Room at the Muswellbrook Workers’ Club.
In accordance with the constitution all Board positions were declared vacant and Muswellbrook Shire Council’s Matt Lysaght conducted the elections.
The Chamber’s Secretary, Treasurer and four directors were also elected unopposed.
Mike Kelly welcomed the new Board members, saying the return of Anglo American’s Matt Frodsham as a director after an absence of 12 months was a positive sign.
“Mr Frodsham served on the board for one year and then he didn’t stand at the last election.
“In his previous term he put a lot of work into the breakfast programs, organising guest speakers and function centres, attendances and registration and he is good at that.
“Mr Frodsham is also a professional community liaison person with the mining industry and I think that gives us a good conduit,” Mr Kelly said.
In his President’s report, Mike Kelly noted the Chamber’s support for the Drayton South Coal Project and told the meeting the MCCI had made submissions to the NSW Department of Planning and the Planning Assessment Commission.
Mr Kelly said the Chamber is considering the employment of a part-time administrative assistant to take some of the workload off directors and to increase the MCCI’s capacity to better communicate with members.
Another change to be implemented by the Chamber is the requirement from next year that all businesses entering the annual MCCI Business Awards be members of the Chamber.
Mr Kelly said the decision to limit entry to members only was taken to increase membership and as a mark of respect and support for entrants who are long-standing members.
“In the past, I think we’ve been generous and lenient in distributing information to a lot of non-members and we’ve had non-members win our Awards.
“Non-members are very supportive and appreciative and we always get excellent feedback with a packed house every year, so we think it’s reasonable now that they be members [to enter the Business Awards],” Mr Kelly said.
The Chamber’s financial reports for 2015 were also tabled at Wednesday’s AGM.
In a difficult economic environment, the MCCI announced a net operating profit of $3979.40 for 2015 compared to last year’s figure of $10,340.67.
However, retained profits at June 30 this year stood at $53,074.53, up eight per cent on last year’s total of $49,095.13.
Income from breakfasts and functions was down 32 per cent to $10,310, while income from memberships remained steady at nearly $17,000 in both 2014 and 2015.
Hosting the annual Business Awards is by far the Chamber’s biggest expense, accounting for 44 per cent of total expenditure.
The Chamber’s balance sheet was extremely strong with no debt and assets totalling $63,150.