THE Home Hill Chamber of Commerce has increased the size of its Executive Committee at its recent Annual General Meeting, with the appointment of another person, a much-needed female, to join its numbers.
Accepting the invitation to join the existing members, President David Jackson, Vice President Uli Liessmann, Secretary Robert Antoniazzi and Treasurer John Clarke will be Meghan Wilson, an employee representative on the Chamber for Wilmar Sugar, who has taken on the new role. President, David Jackson thanked Ms Wilson for accepting the position, commenting that she would add a younger voice to their committee discussions, while also providing a female view, which the executive have been trying to get for some time.
A small number of members attended the annual meeting, including State Member for Burdekin, Dale Last, who took over from the President to carry out the election of officers for the ensuing year.
That election resulted in the only change being the election to the executive of Ms Wilson. The Executive for the 2023-24 year will consist of – President David Jackson, Vice President Uli Liessmann, Secretary: Robert Antoniazzi; Treasurer: John Clarke and executive member, Meghan Wilson.
In presenting his annual report, Mr Jackson described the past year as one of change with the Executive Committee making decisions resulting in the monthly meetings becoming more informative for attendees, with the introduction of a guest speaker every month to encourage more members to attend and without having normal meeting procedure taking place.
He said The Chamber continued to benefit from the ongoing success of the publication of the town’s newsletter, The Home Hill News, with a regular income coming from the advertisers, who support the newsletter and an increasing readership, both through the sale of hard copies through various venues and free copies offered through the Chamber’s website.
Mr Jackson told the meeting that the Chamber was continuing to look after the interests of Home Hill and watched for issues that were detrimental or for areas where benefits can be obtained.
“The latter includes seeking grants that will help move the town forward, such as adding to the 4806 sign in the centre of the Central Business District, which should attract the interest of tourists”.
However, he said their efforts to upgrade the gradient of the drainage gutters in the CBD had not been successful, with support from Member for Burdekin, Dale Last.
“Hopefully, at some time in the future, something positive will come from the efforts to improve the parking along the eastern side of the CBD,” Mr Jackson said.
He said it was pleasing to see announced developments in the town, including the change of the BP Service Station to the United Brand, with the start of improvements to that business now taking place; the possibility of another Service Station being built on the land now occupied by the former Home Hill Co-Operative Traders; and new businesses such as the Prawn Shop, the new Laundry in the town and Giovanna’s Cucina, while work is proceeding on improvements to the Commercial Hotel.
Overall, the Chamber President said they had a good working group on the executive with Vice President, Uli Liessmann, Secretary Robert Antoniazzi and Treasurer John Clarke.
“My sincere thanks go to them all for their dedicated contributions to the future of the Chamber and the town of Home Hill as a whole,” he concluded.
The meeting decided to leave membership fees at $100 for the 2024-25 year – the same as for the coming year.
