Western
Suppliers Association
March 1, 2006
Association Meeting Minutes
Introductions:
Introductions were made
Chairman’s Report: Torrey Walker of Granberry Supply brought the meeting to order. He explained that since our last meeting Leon
Spencer of D & D Tire stepped down as Co-Chairman and that Warren Whitten
of Rocky Mountain Brake has also stepped down as Secretary. Torrey opened the floor for nominations for
the vacant officer positions. Garrett
Hoisington of Open Loop nominated Terry Haygood of Open Loop for the position
of Co-Chairman. The nomination was
seconded by Torrey and was voted unanimously by the members in attendance. Torrey nominated Brian Borjas of Northern
Nevada Equipment for the position of Secretary.
The nomination was seconded by Keith Rausch of Crown Parts and was voted
unanimously by the members in attendance.
Please welcome your new
officers Terry Haygood and Brian Borjas.
Old Business:
At the last meeting there was discussion on the purchase of Belt Buckles for
the upcoming meeting in
New Business:
The discussion of “Value” was brought up by Brandie Notestine of P&H
MinePro. We all agree that we would like
to get more value out of the Suppliers Meetings. Brandie and Brian have volunteered to be
Co-Chairman of our Safety Committee. They
will bring (3) best practices for Safety to each meeting as well as a
presentation on Safety Awareness for the suppliers. We encourage all of our members to contact
Brandie or Brian if you have any suggestions on topics of safety that you think
would be of importance to the suppliers.
Brian has stepped forward and
volunteered to do a monthly newsletter via e-mail as well as up on the
website. The purpose of the newsletter is
to update the Members of the Western Suppliers on Current, Ongoing and Upcoming
Events. We have all heard too many times
that suppliers have not heard about upcoming events, meetings, etc. We felt that if we put out the newsletter
monthly in between our quarterly meetings then we would be able to keep
everyone up to speed on what is going on in the Industry as well as the
Association. This will also give the
officers feedback for their discussions at officer’s meetings.
Terry brought to the table an outstanding
issue that we all feel gets overlooked sometimes “Etiquette”, this is the most important
part of being a professional.
Unfortunately due to recent events this needs to be brought up to remind
all of us that we are professionals and thus we should conduct ourselves as
such. We need to make sure that when we
are dealing with the Mines or our Customers that we always present ourselves
with the utmost professionalism. Our
actions reflect on not only ourselves but the companies we represent.
It
was discussed by all in attendance that we need to institute By- Laws into our
association. Brandie said that she had a
rough draft of one they were working on awhile back. The officers will get a copy and try and put
the finishing touches on it so that it may be presented by the next meeting for
revisions and/or approval
Torrey brought to the table the new
invoicing software he purchased for invoicing association dues. The program is quite nice and will give us a
better way of tracking monies paid and due as well as aid us in having an
updated member list with contact information.
New Business Cont.: It was discussed that with the price of Gold where it
is and the record number vendors turning out this year for the 2006 Mine Expo
we need to increase our supplier membership.
Brandie thought that we should make up a registration type card to be
put into the vendor packets at the convention center. Everyone agreed that, that would be the
best. Brian will get (3) quotes for
making the cards. The cards would have a
brief description of what the Western Suppliers Association is and the benefits
of being a member. It would also show
the membership dues and the address to which to pay their dues. It would also have the contact information of
our officers. Brian has volunteered to
hang a banner on his company’s booth to represent the Western Suppliers
Association and to answer any questions new members might have.
It was brought to the table by a
member that with new companies coming to Elko they have a hard time getting
onto the mine sites and don’t know who they need to call. Effective immediately the supplier’s will post
the mines and the phone numbers for the security gates on its website.
Torrey asked the association how they
felt about having a 4 x 4 banner made with the following: “Sponsored by the
Western Suppliers Association” to be displayed during the luncheons and
banquets. The association agreed, and
Brian will get (3) quotes for the purchase of the banner to be decided on at
the next officer’s meeting.
Website: Once again the website has become a grave topic. It was decided that with the departure of Mr.
Frayser from the Surface Group we will begin to take control of our website and
make the changes we all would like to see made. Garrett and Terry said that
they would contact the web designer and figure out what needs to be done so
that we can access the site. Once that
is done Garrett has volunteered to maintain the website for us. Please be patient while we work through this
transition, once complete you will be able to send your information to him and
he will place in on the web for you.
Brian brought up that there are
several sections on the site that are not currently being used to the best of
their potential. The featured supplier
will rotate suppliers every (30) days provided that the suppliers get their
information in on time. The same will
apply to the new product section. It was
asked by several members if we could put a quick link on the front page to make
access easier for those looking. That
will be done as soon as the transition of the website is complete. The suppliers link portion will be cleared of
all non – members. The community
projects portion will be used for community projects that members and their
companies are involved with as well as photos from WSA sponsored events, Mine
Expo, Fishing Derby, Luncheons, Banquets, Etc.
Brian has volunteered to photograph WSA
sponsored events and to get them to Garrett to put onto the website. Brian will also contact Eagle Eye Embroidery
to get their logo for a quick link to put on the site for those who wish to
purchase WSA Embroidered and embossed merchandise.
Preliminary
July Agenda
Topics: Western Suppliers Association By-Laws, Banner for
Events, Belt Buckles for
Presentations: Safety Presentation Presented by
Brandie
Notestine of P&H MinePro & Brian Borjas of
Website Report: Terry Haygood & Garrett Hoisington of Open Loop