December 4, 2017
The Kingaroy Chamber Of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) re-elected their 2017 management team at their Annual General Meeting last week, along with two new board members.
Rob Fitz-Herbert from Kingaroy TAFE was re-elected President; Brett Irwin from Ollies Mowers was re-elected as Vice President; and Paula Greenwood from Greenwood Mobile Book-Keeping was re-elected as Secretary-Treasurer.
The KCCI’s 2017 executive committee members Nina Temperton (CTC), Chrys McDuffie (Downer), Tonia Gilbert (Jobmatch), Todd Fiedler (Fiedler Brothers Plumbing), Darrin Kefford (Kingaroy Joinery) and Kirstie Schumacher (Stanwell Corporation) will be joined in 2018 by Jacqui Trace (Bill Hull Car Centre) and James Eckart (Cyonic).
The election of office bearers was overseen by South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell, who congratulated all the nominees on their election.
“The KCCI has become an important organisation in Council’s eyes, and the attendance numbers at its meetings shows how Kingaroy businesses can assist this town,” the Mayor said.
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In his President’s Report, Mr Fitz-Herbert said the KCCI was particularly proud of several accomplishments.
One was that average attendances at the group’s six-weekly Meet’n’Greets had grown by between 10 and 15 per cent over the past year.
Another was that for the second year running, the KCCI had sponsored two $1000 bursaries for students undertaking business, economics, legal or community services studies at Kingaroy State High School and St Mary’s Catholic College.
The KCCI had also supported a “Think Digital” workshop in conjunction with BIEDO to show local businesses the latest digital technologies they could use to promote their businesses.
It had also supported an RV tourism information session in conjunction with the South Burnett Regional Council to look at ways South Burnett businesses could foster and benefit from increased RV tourism.
In addition to evening Meet’n’Greets, the group had also held a breakfast meeting at Kingaroy TAFE this year; and members had attended a state conference for Chambers Of Commerce in Brisbane where they discovered the South Burnett’s problems are not unique.
In addition, the KCCI had turned a profit of $5448 to apply towards future projects.
“I think the South Burnett in general – and Kingaroy in particular – is on the cusp of significant development,” Mr Fitz-Herbert told the crowd of 50 who attended the meeting.
“We can look to the future with confidence.”
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The AGM was hosted at Fiedler Brothers Plumbing’s premises at Alford Street East, and Todd Fielder was the evening’s guest speaker.
He told guests that he’d been born in Kumbia and had gone on to do his plumbing apprenticeship with Kingaroy Plumbing Works, before taking up a position with Chaseling Plumbing for seven years.
When Greg Chaseling decided to retire, he offered him the business on a generous three-year financing deal, and Todd had leapt at the idea of owning his own business.
But several months later, he began to realise that running a business wasn’t as simple as he’d at first thought.
While the business name was changed to Fielder Brothers Plumbing a year after he’d taken over, Todd said things were “fairly touch-and-go” for the first few years until he decided to hire a business coach.
This decision had turned around his outlook on business, he said, and today the firm employs six tradesmen, three apprentices, a storeman and two office staff, as well as himself.
“I think we really came into our own in the past two years,” Todd said, “and I think our business coach had a lot to do with that.”
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Mayor Keith Campbell also spoke to the meeting, providing an update on the South Burnett Council’s recent activities.
The Mayor said he recently held a meeting with KCCI executive members about the proposed Kingaroy streetscaping project, and said Council welcomed the KCCI’s interest in the project and its determination to have a say in the end result.
He also congratulated Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington on winning her seat a third time with another positive swing, but also welcomed the Palaszczuk Government’s re-election for a second term because it would mean that Works For Queensland funding would continue.
“We have received $8.5 million from this program and it has allowed us to tackle a large number of repair and maintenance issues we didn’t have the funds to carry out before,” he said.
The Mayor said his major areas of the focus since the last Meet’n’Greet had been continuing to progress the idea of “waterproofing” the South Burnett to ensure there was sufficient water for current and potential future irrigators; and progressing tourism.
“Tourism is looking really schmick at the moment,” the Mayor said.
“We held a ‘South Burnett Unpacked’ function for local tourism operators recently and we intend to run these quarterly from now on.”
The Mayor also confirmed that the Council will be taking a tougher approach to overdue rates in the future, with the aim of reducing the level of rate arrears from its current 10 per cent down to three per cent.
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The AGM was the KCCI’s final Meet’n’Greet for 2017, and the date and venue for the first Meet’n’Greet of 2018 has yet to be decided, but will be announced on the KCCI’s website in due course.
The six-weekly meetings are open to all South Burnett businesses – whether they’re KCCI members or not – and are held at a different local business each time.
A $10 meeting fee applies to cover the cost of drinks and nibbles.
Business people who would like more information about the KCCI can visit the KCCI website or email KCCI Secretary Paula Greenwood
