The Amherstburg Chamber of Commerce (ACOC) held its annual general meeting last week and took a look back at its most recent year.
The meeting was held at the Hole in the Wall last Wednesday evening with the executive acclaimed for new terms and a review of what was done in 2024-25. The election of the executive saw Dan Gemus return as president while Ron Bondy is the vice president. Sarah Seguin remains as secretary while Rob Carr stays as the ACOC treasurer. Those terms end March 2028.
Directors that were elected last Wednesday night included Tammy Affleck, Brad Bondy, Jeremie Jones, Anna Marano, Wally McNeilly and Derek Roy.
“We have 123 paid members in Amherstburg and Windsor-Essex County,” Gemus told the group. “We welcomed 13 new businesses since our last AGM.”
New businesses that joined include the Acai Shack, Allen Provost Professional Corporation, the Amherstburg Art Crawl, the Blonde Coach Bar, Bryerswood Youth Camp Optimist Club, CKBG 107.9 FM, Hogarth Hermiston Severs LLP, Hotel STRY, the new ownership of Mealtime Express, Next Step Counselling, Old Town Pharmacy, Remax realtor RuthAnn Osborne and SD Family Dentistry.
Gemus outlined the events hosted over the past year, with those including a new member welcome, holiday networking events, grand openings with upcoming events including the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) AGM and policy convention.
The ACOC is hosting the convention in partnership with Windsor and Leamington chambers, noted ACOC general manager Anne Creery. She acknowledged the bulk of the events will be in Windsor, but stated the area “could not be in a better location because of what is going on with Mr. Trump,” in reference to tariff threats from the U.S. president.
The 19th annual Business Excellence Awards were held last year at the McGregor Columbian Club, with this year’s awards banquet returning to that location May 8.
Creery added the ACOC will continue to monitor what is happening at the municipal level as well as provincial and federal levels as well. Municipal level issues the ACOC has provided input on is the business licensing issue, the transportation master plan and temporary encroachments for patios. Other issues at higher levels of government have included inter-provincial tariffs, policy resolutions with Windsor-Essex regarding matters like small business property tax subclasses and enhancing landlord-tenant relationships.
The local Chamber added it was involved in the OCC Ontario economic report survey and letters of support through Ontario and Canadian Chambers regarding CBSA and Canada Post strikes.
The ACOC touted membership programs such as Chamber group insurance, Elavon payment processing, member-to-member discount programs, online directory listing, social media support, grand opening and special event support and more.
Members were allowed to discuss issues and what they are up to, with House Youth Centre program director Morghan Shearon pointing out their recent Amherstburg’s Coldest Night of the Year initiative. She stated they are getting closer to their $50,000 goal. Other events The House has planned include a “Road Rally” in May, a cornhole tournament in June and their annual golf tournament in July.
“There’s a lot of ways to get involved with The House,” she said.
ACOC holds AGM, reviews its previous year
By Ron Giofu
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