Troy Mills will serve a second year as president of the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce after he was acclaimed at the annual general meeting on June 12.
Mills offered welcoming remarks to begin the meeting and acknowledged executive director Pattie Pavlov, who will be retiring from her post.
The meeting proceeded with a draft budget presentation and approval before moving into the Year in Review portion.
Mills first presented on advocacy, noting how the chamber had been taking more of an advocacy role and be the voice of small and big businesses alike over the past year.
“I feel that we have had a little bit more engagement from the chamber,” Mills said.
He noted how the chamber had assisted the Forest Park Hotel with winter parking restrictions during his first few weeks on the job.
The chamber also helped push council to drop the tax increase from 16 per cent to less than 10 per cent.
It also worked with Interpretive Guides Association on potential changes that Parks Canada may make to the business licensing processes for guided recreational activities.
“The elephant in the room, so to speak, was transit over the last number of months,” Mills said.
“I know that's something that we've really tried to work with the municipality [on], and we've had some good conversations with CAO Given and some good meetings and just trying to work collaboratively.”
Mills added how the chamber would work to stay on top of concerns and issues coming down the pipeline and be more proactive than reactionary.
Events committee chair Brett Newton then offered a review of events that the chamber hosted, Mills gave a brief update on Robson House and board members Tyler Kernick spoke on how the chamber had improved its website and social media presence.
After the Year in Review wrapped up, there was the election of officers, which saw Mills acclaimed as president.
The rest of the 2024/25 executive and board elect were also acclaimed and include vice president Paul Hardy, secretary-treasurer Aman Gupta and board members Tyler Kernick, Brett Newton, Paula Ferguson, Sonja Dickey and Val Glaves.
There was a brief debate about whether there was a compliance issue since the title of secretary-treasurer wasn’t reflected in the current bylaws.
Pavlov advised that the proper paperwork had been submitted to Ottawa, but the chamber had yet to hear back.
It was decided that the board would deal with the matter at a future special meeting and the election should proceed.
The meeting then concluded with closing remarks from Mills.
