Carlisle-Nicholas County Chamber of Commerce

Chamber hosts first Business Property Owner meeting

Printed in The Carlisle Courier on Sept. 1, 2010

The Carlisle-Nicholas County Chamber of Commerce hosted its first meeting with Carlisle business property owners at the Neal Welcome Center at noon on Saturday, Aug. 26. Building owners in attendance were:

    Rose Marie Farah – 105 E. Main St.
    Bob Garvin – N. Locust St.
    Carlton Jones – 132 W. Main St.
    Gary & Amanda Jones – Hall Apartments
    Alex Kazunas – Cole Building
    Janet Tamaren – 200 W. Main St.
    Jan Taylor – 106 & 232 E. Main St.
    Sherry Uptegraft – 204 W. Main St.

Chamber representatives were: Sue and Jock Conley, Ed Taylor and Steve Scalf. After a lunch provided by the Chamber of Commerce, the property owners introduced themselves, shared their plans for their properties and discussed some of the challenges they face. Some of the common problems identified were lack of funds for building improvements, and limited opportunities and or vision and planning for more profitable uses of the property. The Chamber members asked what they could do to assist the property owners and received a number of positive comments:

  • Bring in a consultant or hire an employee with experience in locating and obtaining property/economic development grants
  • Host a workshop with an accountant or legal expert to explain what programs are available to owners of historic building
  • The Chamber could be a source where property owners come and get copies of the paperwork to apply for programs
  • The Chamber could administer the Main Street Program
  • Provide legal help and explain the tax benefits of gifting or lending property to the city, county , or a non-profit organization
  • Continue to provide a forum where property owners can come together to exchange ideas, references about contractors, to pool resources (such as sharing costs on renting bucket lifts), and to develop opportunities to help all businesses become more successful.
  • Help the city and county work in cooperation to draft an economic development plan.
  • Discuss with the city and county the possibility of revising the charter of the Industrial Development Board and expand its function to economic development, rather than simply managing the existing properties. Examine the possibility of the Industrial Development Board extending grants or low-interest loans to businesses for improvements or hiring a grant-writer to help local businesses.

Property owners felt the meeting was worthwhile and are looking forward to broader participation in the future as the Chamber responds to the comments and works to bring in further cooperation and assistance from civic and business organizations throughout the county.