After a couple of months hiatus, the Highlands Chamber of Commerce met last week.
It was a productive meeting — with the members present voting to continue the popular Military Tribute Banner program in 2020; to move ahead with planning for ArtWalk 2020; and to continue to maintain supplies of the Town of Highlands tourist brochure and map, and even update it in the year ahead if necessary.
President Jim Modlin ran the meeting which featured a presentation from Olga Anderson, the chairperson of the town’s Environmental Advisory Committee.
“Many thanks to Olga on her very informative talk about the Environmental Advisory Committee,” Modlin said after the meeting.
Anderson spoke of the mission of the committee, calling it a group of “citizen advocates who want to help”. She said the committee has grown to include West Point’s Lt. Col. Mindy Kimball who works in the Department of Environmental Studies, Ed Nugent, Cindy Modlin, Lynn Edsall, Chevy Wanamaker, Mimi Schmidt and Rich Sullivan. It has recently worked with the Town Board to apply for a grant for the town.
The committee is also planning community-related activities pertaining to the environment, including some public information sessions. The first one will possibly be held in September and relate to New York State’s upcoming ban on plastic bags, with future sessions possibly dedicated to heating and cooling methods and costs, and clean energy in both businesses and residences.
Another upcoming event will be an April 2020 50th anniversary celebration of Earth Day (“I want to go big,” Anderson said) and a fall event based around National Drive Electric Week, September 14-22. That’s a nationwide celebration to heighten awareness of today’s widespread availability of plug-in vehicles and highlight the benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more.
In other matters from last Thursday’s meeting, members of the Chamber who participated in West Point’s recent Community Fair spoke of the value of that, both as individual businesses and as a Chamber and community as a whole.
Back to the Military Tribute banners: it was noted that the town and village will be asked to straighten up a couple of the banners currently displayed throughout Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery as needed. It was also noted that a luncheon to honor those on the banners and the families who purchased them will be held in mid-December, with details announced soon.
And, back to the tourism map, it was noted that all Chamber businesses are on the map, and that other businesses have asked if they can be on it too — they simply need to join the Chamber, Modlin said, and can be included on the next version of the map. The Chamber holds a membership drive every January.
For more information on Chamber programs, visit https://highlandschamberofcommerce.com/.
