MINUTES
April 7, 2010, 6:00 PM –Presentations from Applicants
April 8, 2010, 6:00 PM-Proposed Allocations determined by Committee
Civic Center, Council Chambers,
SERVICES/FINANCE DIRECTOR
BRYN MORRISON, ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVE
MELISSA HUHTALA, ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY
ELECTION OF A CHAIR
Thompson/Lemhouse ms Everson as chair. All Ayes.
STAFF REPORT
Ms. Morrison spoke to the memo regarding the late grant application. The Organization asked to turn in their application late due to oversight of dates. The City’s legal department advised the organization to fill out an appeal. Also given to the Committee was a letter from Martha stating the results of the appeal (see attached). The appeal was granted based on the fact that other late applications have been accepted. At this time resolution 2010-06 does not state that late applications will not be accepted so the Committee will have to make a recommendation to Council to get this resolved for future.
The Committee discussed the deadline. Committee member Voisin stated her concern because she knew of others that would of wanted to submit had they known they could appeal. Committee member Silbiger stated that the deadline is very clear we need to make it clear in future. Thompson stated it would wreak havoc at this point to allow others to appeal. Mr. Tuneberg stated that believes this should be addressed for those that are late and also for those who are incomplete. It is crucial to staff. The Committee had unanimous consent to issue a recommendation to Council to not accept late or incomplete applications in the future.
The Committee decided to give each organization three minutes to present and one minute for questions.
Committee member Thompson serves on the board of directors of the Rogue Symphony and stated she will have no participation in any deliberations concerning Rogue Symphony allocation. Committee member Baldwin serves as board of directors to Siskiyou Singers and will not be participating in deliberations regarding Siskiyou Singers allocation.
Mr. Tuneberg explained that there is a new part in this sustainability which Resolution 2010-06 states that it requires at least $12,500 is granted. When the Committee gets to the point to allocate money based on sustainability it is important to be very specific.
St. Clair Productions-They thanked the City of
Ms. Everson questioned the income exceeding expenses. St. Clair Productions answered that they are projecting an income surplus depending on economy. Ms. Voisin questioned if they had heard from other grants applied to. They answered yes they have received $2500 from the Private Foundation and will not know about the two Tour West grants until June. Mayor Stromberg questioned whether or not they would do the Blues Festival if they do not receive the full $15,000. They answered probably not but will be doing the rest of the season.
The Committee questioned if they are recovering more cost in ticket prices. Tom answered that last year leveled out to the prior year. Next year they will need to look at a ticket price increase. The Ticket prices have stayed the same for several years to keep it affordable. He stated that about 20% budget is from ticket sales.
Ballet Rogue- Bob Cole spoke to Ballet Rogue. He thanked the Committee for supporting them for the last 25 years. They have new artistic director coming on board this year. There are two professional performances a year the Nutcracker and Ballet in park. There will be three performances which are on July 11th, 18th, and 25th starting at 6:00 pm. They generally have from 500-600 viewers.
Mr. Lemhouse questioned if the money that was allocated last year was in fact used for a new floor. They answered yes. Ms. Voisin questioned if they have applied for other grants. They stated that they will be applying for a carpenter grant and that there are supporters that give X number of dollars to do ballet in the park. Ms. Voisin questioned if the board contributes in terms of revenue for the organization. They answered no nothing other then time.
Southern Oregon Permaculture Institute-The Permaculture Institute is an educational demonstration sustainability center. This year they are offering courses on the Permaculture design for the community. The courses they have to offer include how to build and sustain the community, pruning, propagation, seed saving and processing, green home design and self sustaining food gardens. They offer tours internships and workshops. If they put together an ad campaign they will have impressions for 560,000 people for events and education within
Ms. Thompson questioned when they got their 501 c3 and if it was finalized. They answered that it is in for submission and review. Mr. Baldwin questioned the marketing campaign what kind of yield they will get out of it. They answered that in the first year have had many applications Internships and have had many people sign up for classes. They anticipate that they won’t have to come back for grant monies after this year.
Thrive-They would like the city’s support for their economic development programs including the new Buy Local Buy Rogue campaign and their Local Food Guide Book. Their work falls under two categories: community education and outreach, as well as business work to rebuild infrastructure. For now in the economic climate they are committed at keeping cost low their fees are $75 for farms and start ups and $250 for larger businesses. Currently have 106 Rogue Flavor business members and 21 Buy Local Buy Rogue members. The reason they don’t list their activities under the category of sustainability is because Thrives work is to create models for sustainable economic development.
Imagine Project-The Imagine Project is an Ashland Historical audio tour. There are Historical sights all over town and at the moment there are no ways to share this with the public. The Imagine project created tours for the people. Each tour is about an hour. By using the navigator people can go at their own speed. You can pick up a tour at Ashland Springs Hotel. This is a non-profit organization.
Ms. Jackson questioned what the charge is for the tour. Currently the charge is $7 dollars and they will have a special family service and off season rates. The small charge can keep the program going and will cover reprinting and updating tours. Mr. Baldwin questioned the response to the tours. There has been a very good response. They have evaluation forms and they were very well received by the 150 people that have taken a tour.
ScienceWorks-In the past 8 years ScienceWorks has entertained and educated 300,000 visitors from all 50 states. In 2009, 8000 visits were from tourists coming from beyond 50 miles. They serve infants to 99 year olds; they design and build exhibits that are sold all over the world. Science intrigues children before entering middle school. They stated that without city grant assistance ScienceWorks would be a lesser experience. Last year they cut expenses by $130,000 but rallied and did more with less, their attendance increased they created new programs and ended the year in the black. City funds helped them to host NASA to record attendance, create a preschool family network which now has 250 families participating, develop a girls after school engineering club and host earth week which is a 6 day even.
Ms. Voisin questioned where their contributed income of $188,000 comes from. It comes from a combination of individual and private donations. Ms. Voisin asked if they spend money to raise money. They have staff and volunteers that go out and help with the grant process and do private fund raising. The board contributes anywhere from $25,000-$50,000.
Mayor Stromberg questioned the only revenue listed as CDBG funds. It was just listed wrong. Mr. Silbiger stated that for next year for applicants to be aware that revenues are not supposed to be listed in the CDBG fund.
Dancing People Company-They are a local homegrown professional dance company, the only professional dance company in
This year they are applying for the Winter Solstice Program which has grown every year. Last year ticket revenues were up by 20% for the Winter Solstice. A total of 800 people saw the show.
Ms. Jackson questioned if the $15 ticket price for the Winter Solstice is for the whole series or one of the dates. It is for one of the dates, and they also have a $13 matinee. Ms. Voisin questioned if they applied for other grants. Yes, for Winter Solstice they applied to the Oregon Arts Commission and received $3,200. For the salon they applied to NEA for $10,000 which is pending.
Mr. Lemhouse questioned that they have not applied from the City before. No, they are a fairly new non profit. Ms. Voisin questioned how much of the contributions and gifts in their income come from the board. The board contributes 50%. Ms. Thompson questioned why the amount they are requesting is more then their total income last year and questioned what their plans are to sustain the museum outside the support of the City of
Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon (YSSO) -They thanked the City of
Mayor Stromberg questioned the category in revenue for tuition and partial scholarships. He questioned if these categories meant they charge students for to play in the Youth Symphony. The policy of YSSO is that all qualified students may participate. They have an entry level group, intermediate level ensemble orchestra, and an advanced symphony. If a student is unable to pay tuition or partial tuition they are still allowed to participate but they do charge tuition for the whole year. They also seek funding from private organizations.
Ms. Voisin questioned what other grants they have applied for. They have applied for Avista, Carpenter Funding Foundation, US Bank Foundation, Ashland Rotary Community Support Foundation as well as a whole list for the fall. This year they are very successful in receiving grants this year.
Siskiyou Singers-They have been
Ms. Thompson questioned the fees that are charged to singers. Amateur groups are charged $35 a term a term is 6 months two terms per year one in the fall and one in the spring. The fee went up $5 a term last fall.
Mr. Lemhouse questioned how many events are in
RV Symphony Association- They spoke to being in a time of transition. The final concert of this season will be at the end of April. After this last serious they plan to meet the first week of May to go through each of the finalists to choose a conductor. Two projects being worked on; one is a free concert in
Peace House-They are looking to put on a Bike Town Camp. The focus is to find ways to help children to understand complexity of life. They want to teach kids capture creativity and understand whole system. The model that best shows whole system is permaculture which is principles based on observing nature. Bikes would be great for kids because they learn best when having fun. They want to create a camp where they can explore, have fun and learn about re-localization. A way to create whole systems lenses kids can look through. The plan is to have the kids build a bike town using recycled materials, studying how to design bikes and look at how this impacts their life.
Ms. Jackson questioned how many students are expected and how long. Its one week pilot program with 20 kids maximum.
Transition Town
Mr. Baldwin questioned how many grants they expect to have. They would give between 3-8 grants giving a couple thousand dollars for each.
Rogue Farm Corps-They are a small educational non-profit with a mission of training the next generation of farmers. They have a program called Farms Next which is an internship training program for beginning farmers. The interns live and work on a host farm. 2-3 times a month rogue farm core organizes a class and tour on each of those farms. It is a 30 module training curriculum that they conduct over the course over 15 class days. Classes are taught by farmers and other agricultural professionals. It is important to grow new farmers the average farmer today is 57 years old.
Ms. Jackson- Questioned the relationship with the OSU program. They work in collaboration with OSU as a peer relationship. They have programs that are designed for existing farmers but Rogue Farm Corps is a more geared towards young people with zero experience. Ms. Voisin questioned how many internships they have. For this season 16 people have already signed up and are expecting 5-6 more. They are paid interns. The grant money funds would be used to help with expansion.
Rogue Opera-Stated how fortunate they are to have the City support them over the last few years. They are asking for grant money to continue the opera in the school program which is over 20 years old and they have served 240,000 students in the program during that time. This coming year they will support another 8000 students in Southern Oregon and hope $3000 of the grant money will provide between 4-6 schools in the City of
Siskiyou Violins-Absent.
Lithia Arts Guild- Innovation begins with the creative process. Through festivals and events they are able to serve every aspect of the community while highlighting the broad spectrum of creative pursuits the Art Wing supports. Art wing residents and local non profits provide projects for the kids local musicians and enrich the sprits of the festival. Events are a life line for the Art Wing and the
Mr. Lemhouse questioned what the $6000 that was allotted last year used for. It was used for festivals that they do, primarily entertainment directly into the festivals. Ms. Everson questioned if they are a 501 c3. They answered yes.
Web Spirit Community Foundation – They are an Internet system with information management systems. They discussed the importance of learning on the internet. Comprehensive resource database system is an online localized resource and communication hub which increases efficiency and decreases redundancy.
Ms. Jackson questioned how the information they develop will connect into the current emergency response systems. They will link in other organizations that do emergency response systems.
Disabled United in Direct Empowerment (DUDE) - This is their first application to the city for a grant. DUDE is the only advocacy group in this area that represents people with disabilities (seniors as well) stats show that 4000 to 5000 people with disabilities are residents of
Mr. Lemhouse questioned if they applied for a social grant. No.
TBL 21 (Triple Bottom Line for 21st Century) TBL stands for social equity, environmental health and economic prosperity. There are three proposed programs that would greatly enhance the sustainability of
Ms. Thompson questioned if they are a 501 c. Yes.
Klamath Bird Observatory-They want to use birds as a central component of their proposed outreach campaign to build social capital for local stewardship efforts, to diversify tourism opportunities, and to teach the community about the fundamentals of sustainability. Birding is the fastest growing reaction activity in the Country and it is growing. Their outreach campaign will be based on sustainability education. They will use birds to consider the three E’s of sustainability the triple bottom line. The grant will support further development of the yet to be completed Rogue Umpqua Oregon Birding Trail. The funds will also be used to develop two
Ms. Voisin questioned what the proposed $35000 will be used for. It will be used for campaigns, brochures, public presentations and online presentations and also to contribute to Umpqua Trail.
Ms. Jackson questioned if the money would go towards laboratory costs or to staff. Both, they have volunteer interest but the testing is expensive it is $40 for e coli test and up to $1000 a test to determine if it’s human or animal.
Much of the budget would be for testing and printing materials.
The
DISCUSSION
The Committee discussed the differences in requests by the organizations. Some base their funding on their own personal assessments on need and merit. Some felt uncomfortable funding for capacity and others had problems funding organizations for start up. The focus changes each year with the make up of the Committee. The Committee discussed the appropriateness of funding organizations salaries in the allocation process. By funding an organization’s salaries the City is putting itself in a long term commitment which is difficult since this is a yearly process. Some felt they are more comfortable paying for things not people. Some felt that organizations don’t need things they need people.
The Committee stated that it is important to keep in mind that the money being allocated is not “their” money and in terms of the allocations its best to think about where the money would be best invested to the right organization.
The Committee discussed the process for allocations tomorrow night. Each member of the Committee is to submit their recommendations to staff via email and a spreadsheet is prepared showing each Committee members allocations and shows the average. The Committee will then discuss the allocations.
The Committee questioned making changes to proposals in terms of how much money goes into each category. Mr. Tuneberg responded that the Committee could make a change but would need to contact the organization prior.
This meeting will be continued on April 8, 2010.
ADJOURNMENT
This meeting was adjourned at 9:10 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
Melissa Huhtala