President's Report

Happy Spring to All,


Well, I can only hope that things get better in 2009. Last year, like many of you, we had a surge of business when the oil prices skyrocketed, only to stop just as quickly when they went down. My busy season was good, but it dropped off as well as soon as the end of the year came. Like most of you (I hope) I put away a few bucks to help us get through the dry times, and I'm happy to say that since my company is incorporated, Dan is an employee of the company and entitled to unemployment benefits. If anyone has had any thoughts about incorporating, there are a lot of pros to this and I highly recommend it, but I know it's not for everyone.
But on to 2009. As of today, I have only one more Board of Directors meeting and then the final General Membership meeting in June before my 5 years as President of this Guild comes to an end. Elections are once again around the corner. We have two people running for President. David O'Shea, of All About Chimneys was first to take a nomination right from the beginning, and then we received a last minute nomination for Charles Koubek of Eurosweep Chimney. Good luck to both of you. The Treasurer's position is unopposed, but we received 6 nominations for 3 Board seats. It was really great to see a little bit more enthusiasm in regard to positions on the Board. As I have said many times in the past (and probably not for the last time either), since I have been a member of this Guild I have seen the same faces on the Board and as Directors. All we seem to do is rotate. From time to time a new face comes along, but they haven't taken the commitment to the position seriously and have left.
You need to take the position seriously if you accept a nomination. We have several Board meetings a year, and four General Membership meetings. These meetings are held every couple of months and require only a few hours of your time. This Guild is a non-profit organization that runs with the help of volunteers and we can always use help. Even if you do not take a position on the Board, you can come to a meeting and see if there's a committee you can help with. Anything you can do is greatly appreciated.
Since my last report, Dan and I did attend the National Convention in Winston-Salem NC. Despite a pretty bumpy ride home due to the storm, we had a great time and a specific report is forthcoming in this newsletter. Dan also attended a great ladder safety seminar at Lynn Ladder on March 7th. Other than that it's been a pretty quiet winter, and with SPRING only hours away as I speak, I am about to send out my Forward Scheduling reminder cards in hopes to jump start the second quarter of the year.
So here are a few things that you need to SAVE THE DATE for;


Wednesday, May 20th is the next Board of Directors meeting here at my house in Kingston.


Saturday, June 20th is when the Annual Meeting AND Summer Picnic will take place. It will be held here at my home as it has been in previous years. I requested this due to fact that it will be my last day as President and we usually have a pretty good turn out when they are held here by the pool. I am hoping to have a clam bake, but I am only in the preliminary stages.


But once again, I highly recommend you attend Sweepsfest in Newmarket NH. This is being held the last weekend in June. The Sootprints will be playing again, and from the looks of the agenda I see that we are in for some great seminars! The following month, again in the last weekend of July, will be the New York State Guild Annual Workshop. I will bring you more details as they become available, but please SAVE THESE DATES so you don't miss out!!! Also, we are developing some really great seminars so look for those notices in the mail as well on the website/blog.


Until then, have a wonderful Easter and Happy Spring to All!!


Jean Jacobson, President