Chamber seeks new officers

The Odessa Chamber of Commerce met Tuesday, January 8, at Any Occasion Banquet Hall. January is the time for nominating new officers for the organization, and president Marlon Schafer asked members to seek out anyone who might be interested in serving. Current officers Schafer, president; Larissa Zeiler, treasurer; board members Vickie Iverson, Justin Parr and Dejay Buck, Biergarten chairman, have all agreed to run for another term in 2013.

The positions of secretary and vice president, however will be open, as Michelle Melgren and Lindsy Starkel have both announced their intention to resign those positions.

A committee chairperson is also needed for the upcoming Chamber banquet that will be held in March following the election of new officers.

Bike Week

Schafer told the members that plans were moving forward for this year’s Bike Week. The Stumpjumpers Motorcycle Club will again be sponsoring two separate weekends of racing this spring. The Frostbite and White Knuckle races are scheduled for the weekend of March 23-24, with the Desert 100 to follow on the weekend of April 6-7. Easter weekend is sandwiched between the two biking events, so there will be no special activities or trade shows in Odessa itself this year.

Fi-We donation

It was announced that the Heritage Church Fi-We organization has donated $1,000 to the commercial kitchen endeavor being sponsored by the Chamber and headed by Chamber member Lindsy Starkel.

EDC support

Margie Hall, executive director of the Lincoln County Economic Development Council also attended the meeting and said she was pleased to see the progress being made on the commercial kitchen and on the coming meat-processing facility.

Hall said she was hoping for a cluster of associated businesses that would complement and/or help support one another. She also offered the services of Allen Peterson and Keith Meadowcroft for one-on-one consultations with local business leaders regarding steps toward developing or expanding businesses and exporting “made in Odessa” products.