Spring Break Edition.

Attendance: Gary Tree, Heidi Kopras, Dana Fager, Bob Johnson, Judy Stienhauer, Peggy Zalucha, Laura Armstrong, Keith White, Russ Christiansen, Steve Salerno, Tracy Diehm, Jorge Sevilla, Elizabeth Grabe

 

Guest: Russ brought his friend Sarah.

 

Tracy and Jorge's Quincinera is in the books. Tracy built a photo booth that was a success.

Dave Reed has adopted a 3-year old rescue dog, Buddy, a Saint Bernard.

Laura is happy to have a deep cleaning to get her home settled after her move here.

Keith was able to celebrate Harrison's 6th birthday with a trip to the UW Geology museum.

Russ is happy for his trip to DC, finished with making maple syrup. He was able to see cherry blossoms. For a live feed of the DC tidal basin go to this link.

 

Tricon: Heidi is thinking about attending this year leaving (Friday am - Saturday night after the speech) Peggy will be attending from lunch Friday to Saturday evening. Gary Tree will be speaking on Friday around 2 pm. Gary encourages us to attend, especially for the networking opportunities, district meetings, and workshops.

 

Steve had visited Talisein this week, and encourages us to join a group (there are 15 spots remaining) on May 10th at 4:00 when the bus leaves to the event. The event benefits the MHHS band trip to London.

 

Wednesday April 2 at 8 a.m. Keith will be presenting at the Chamber's Good Morning Mount Horeb event at Martinson hall (above Buck and Honey's). The presentation will wrap in concepts from the Netflix special, "Join or Die" which goes into detail the work of Robert Putnam who studies social capital in his book, "Bowling Alone".

 

April 30th will be our 5th Wednesday at 5 pm at the Violet Room at Wisconsin Surplus. Club members are asked to finish our survey prior to our board meeting on April 2. Steve Salerno will be hosting the board meeting at Sunn that morning at 7 am if anyone would like to join him prior to the chamber event starting at 8.

 

Guest Speaker Quinn Rowe from Wisconsin Conservation Voters, an organization that supports democracy, clean water, and promoting efficient energy.

 

The presentation went into detail about the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in 2021 with focus on clean energy, energy efficiency, and electric vehicles. These benefits are written into Federal tax code. Benefits have been available from 8/2022-present. Rebates are fully funded. Tax credits for 2024 include:

 

To get information on a home energy audit, consult Focus on Energy to find providers.

Due to older homes having the greatest potential for improvement there is a sliding scale on rebate schedule.

 

Other programs available include HEER Rebate (Home energy electricification and applicance rebate) to help save 50% on the cost of replacing household appliances, or improvements such as heat pumps, induction stoves, improving wiring, improving air sealing. You don't need to wait for a tax rebate on this program.

 

Solar for all rebate program coming soon sponsored by WEDC (Wisconsin Economic Development Council).