RALPHO TOWNSHIP BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

MEETING MINUTES

January 15, 2026

 

Election of Officers 2026

· Nominees:

President-Frank Berger

Vice President-Dave Latorre

Treasurer-Carole Swank

Secretary- Jodi Berry

· Frank made a motion to accept all nominees, Dave 2nd the motion. Accepted by all.

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Old Business

• November 20th meeting minutes-Meeting minutes reviewed. Frank motioned to accept, Dave2nd motion. Accepted by all.

• Financial Report-Will be reviewed at the February 2026 meeting.

• Christmas Tree Pick up

 o $376 in donations

 o Food/drink costs-$81

 o Note from president: Christmas tree pick for 2026 was once again a challenging fun day. Our total tree count seems down from 2025. Our 2026 crew were greeted with great weather and trees with no snow on them. The outstanding team of volunteers from the association and the community started out full of enthusiasm and vigor with the help of Grif’s high octane coffee and plenty of donuts. Sadly, as the morning progressed and tree counts and donations were starting to be tallied, it was clear a lot of people continued to take this work for granted. This core of folks below gets it done year after year and they even have a little fun talking about all the people we know that always put out their trees and never put out any monies year after year after year. It all gets done for the community and RTBA collects the donations that go directly to the RTBA scholarship fund and Food Pantries.

The weather again this year was on our side, and nobody wants to jinx it for 2027. It was nice not to fight the ice and snow. Thanks to the young guys that pitched in getting things done, they made it look easy moving those trees around. Many thanks to all the folks at Vought’s Equipment Rental who put two trucks and trailers on the road and provided the chipper again this year. With Bill Griffith driving, he had two of his grandsons hanging on the back. William and crew worked hard loading those trailers. Jason Zimmerman drove the dump truck with Matthew tossing trees. These guys got into the tight spaces around town and got those trees. Mr. Joe Stone does our banking and again this year sorted out the donations that were turned in. Blair Faust from Knoebel’s Lumber continues to support this effort with a lift truck and two volunteers. Rick and Xavier (from Knoebel’s) worked very hard and fit right into the crew. Running out to Overlook was Frank Berger, trailer and navigator Dave Latorre. Working the chipper at the Alliance Church were several church members that enjoyed the donuts and good weather.

Chief Chowka continues to provide a patrol escort for the Market St and Penn Ave pick-ups, keeping that pick-up crew safe.

MANY, MANY thanks to all these dedicated folks that gave their time, equipment and effort to make this happen for our community.

• Santa’s Mailbox

o Thank you to Damian Beagle and AJ Goodlunas from the street department for putting up and taking down the mailbox

o 123 letters received

o Thank you to Brenda Heitzman for responding to every letter and making the letters personalized.

o Thank you to M&T Bank for all their efforts to support the RTBA

 · Maps- Currently being printed. Will be delivered in a few weeks

· Donations-We will review list of organizations that we are currently donating and will discuss schedule and amount of donations at our February meeting

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New Business

· File Tax return-Joe Springer to complete

o Frank to reach out

· Calendar review-Carole will have calendar for February meeting

· Food Pantry-Thank you notes sent out from Dave.

o Carole to send Dave the recent donors

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Committee Reports

• Membership Drive

o Thank you to Chris Davies for all your efforts!

• Scholarship- letters are out

o March 11th-pick up essays

o Awards-We will discuss award night later.

• FBLA-nothing to update

 

Frank motioned to adjourn, Jodi 2nd motion.

Next meeting February 19th, 8am

 

Respectfully Submitted

Jodi Berry

Secretary