By Collin Anderson
On March 13, the Pioche Chamber of Commerce gathered for its regularly scheduled meeting.
In the first few minutes of the meeting, the board was presented with an unsettling fax; according to this message, the board owed a certain government entity a considerable amount of money. The board was positive that it did not owe anything, which was an accurate assumption since the fax was signed by someone whom the board had worked with for many years, and who had also passed away almost a year ago. This fax was a scam, and served as a stark reminder to the board (and anyone dealing with money) that these kinds of entities exist, and that it?s important to keep a close eye on finances. Needless to say, the ?debt? was not paid.
After this came the committee reports, starting with the Thompson?s Opera House. The Red Rock Ramblers will be holding a concert in the historic building in April, and there are quite a few more concerts planned for this year: a country band will be visiting in July. On Labor Day, the Opera House is expecting Kristin Lloyd, and in November they?ll hear from Junie Fisher, a popular country western singer. The Opera House is also planning on opening to spring visitors since last year, groups of tourists showed an increased interest in the venue.
Next up was a report from the grants committee stating that it had been unable to secure advertising in the Review Journal, then a report from the membership committee saying that its last billing cycle had been poor, so it will contact everyone on the list once more.
Following this was a report from the beautification committee. The committee is still waiting on the town board to give its approval and for the citations to be affirmed, but in the meantime, fifteen properties are making Pioche look terrible, the committee told the chamber. It stated that the necessary information has been provided to various public figures including county officials. Also according to the committee, a pile of construction equipment and materials left on the side of Main Street should have been taken care of months ago.
The new business for the board began with a request; there are a few people working on a booklet about Boot Hill and its dearly departed inhabitants. This booklet will have information about Pioche and will be for sale on Amazon. The authors want the chamber to purchase some booklets to help promote the town. But the board had various questions including how big the booklet will be, how many it was expected to purchase, and what the contents would include. Due to these unknown factors, the chamber tabled the offer until these questions are answered.
Last but not least, the chamber talked about the benches on Main Street and how they?re starting to look decrepit. The chamber plans on removing and replacing them. It hopes to spend as little as possible while maintaining the quality of the original benches, but since maintenance of the benches is an issue, the chamber intends to keep the benches inside during the winter months.
With this, the chamber came to a close, planning the next meeting for April 10.