Friends of the Waterville Library Minutes of the Meeting of July 7, 2011

Present: Karen Bauer, Lynne Coleman, Pat Kelm, Cindy Kennedy, Dallas McIntyre, Diane Munson, Sue Neidick, Dennis Woitas. 

Cindy Kennedy called the meeting to order at 4:30 P.M.

 General Discussion: Lynne Coleman updated the Board on her meeting with the Regional Library’s Personnel Committee. The posted job description is Branch Library Supervisor and does not require any specific librarian qualifications or experience. The application period has been extended until the week of July 11th. The Regional Library Board is not interested in continuing the many innovative programs developed under Lynne’s leadership; their primary focus is to just provide the very basic library functions. Lynne did report that based on her presentation of Summer Youth Activities Program to the Waterville City Council, the City reallocated a sum of money to the Horizons Group to fund this program. The Council also allocated funds for this program for non-school days during the Fall/Winter. Dennis Woitas reported he attended the Regional Library Board meeting at the Le Sueur Library on June 13. He stated nothing relative to the Waterville Library situation was discussed.

Treasurer’s Report: Dallas McIntyre submitted the Treasurer’s Report for the month of July. The only activity was receipt of the check from Echoes in the amount of $73.04 representing reimbursement for the FOL expenses incurred for the Silent Auction/Dance in February. Cash on hand at July 7th was $379.60.

New Business: FOL Brochures: The Board recommended getting the FOL brochures out to the private campgrounds. Sue Neidick volunteered to distribute the brochures. Brochures should also be available at the library. Brochures will be available at the Community Connections Table at the Sakatah Arts Experience on Sunday, July 10. Book Sale: The Board also discussed the need to have a table at the Farmer’s Market on Fridays during the month of August. Lynne Coleman volunteered to organize this program and indicated she will work the first Friday in August. Sue Neidick volunteered to work the 2nd Friday in August. Additional volunteers will be needed to fill out the month of August as well as work with Lynne in setting up the table, hauling books, etc. National Night Out – August 2nd: Diane Munson will contact Rachel Androli to ask if FOL can have a table at the Lion’s Park to hand out our brochures, sell books, etc. WEM City-Wide Garage Sale: The Board plans to participate and conduct a book sale during the WEM City-Wide Garage Bike Trail Sale. A volunteer is needed to coordinate this event. (As of today, July 12th, no date has been set for this event. Diane Munson will follow-up with Lisa at Lake Region Life to see when this event will be scheduled.)

 Schedule of Upcoming Events: August 2: National Night Out – Lion’s Park 5:00 P.M. – Dusk Final Details Pending Diane Munson Volunteering August 4: FOL Library Meeting 4:30 P.M. – Library Pat will put new meeting time on Library’s Calendar August 5: Farmer’s Market Book Sale — 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM Lynne Coleman to Coordinate Lynne Coleman Volunteering August 12: Farmer’s Market Book Sale ¬¬¬¬¬ — 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM ¬ Sue Neidick Volunteering August 19: Farmer’s Market Book Sale – 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM Volunteer needed August 26: Farmer’s Market Book Sale – 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM Volunteer needed Date & Time Pending WEM City-Wide Trails Garage Sale Volunteers needed There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted,  Diane Munson

Waterville Horizons Community Connections Steering Committee 7/5/11

 

The Waterville Horizons Community Connections board met at 10:00 a.m. on July 5, at the Singing Hills Coffee Shop in Waterville. Members present were Cindy Kennedy, Jane Cummiskey, Dave Cummiskey, Lynne Coleman, and Karen Bauer. Kim Gossen attended as a representative from the Sakatah Arts Experience.

 

Jane showed us the recent spreadsheet with the group’s financial situation, showing that we have about $4000.00 in our SMIF fund that is not allocated to certain projects.

 

Jane had a list of areas where money was requested to pay expenses for the upcoming Sakatah Arts Experience and other areas. These expenses were previously approved by the WHCC board.

 

The items were:

 

1 $300.00 to Rochester International Dance Studio, LLC

 

2. $300.00 to Zach Benson, Tombstone Trio Band

 

3. $300.00 to John Hiscox, Chance Meeting Band

 

4. $300.00 to Krista Wilkowske, Flathead Cats Band

 

5. $400.00 to Dennis Cummiskey, for set-up and use of tents,

 

6. $65.00 to Waterville Chamber of Commerce for Dues,

 

7. $105.70 to Suel Printing Co. for Friends of the Library brochures,

 

8. $128.00 to Lake Region Life,

 

9. $800.00 to Kim Gossen.

 

The purpose of today’s meeting was to find fund raising opportunities for the group’s projects and needs. Some of the proposed items were:

 

*Bring back the New Year’s Eve Luminaries project. Luminaries, bags with sand and candles, are sold to sponsors for a certain amount each, placed around Sakatah Bay, and lit on New Year’s Eve, as a drive-by attraction.

 

*Provide hot chili and muffins to fishermen on the day of Walleye fishing opener in May, with a free will donation.

 

*Apply for SMIF incentive grants.

 

*Explore other grant opportunities.

 

*With future grant or donated funds, hire a full time person as a community development co-ordinator.

 

Other items mentioned:

 

The Minneapolis Foundation, holding the Sakatah Foundation funds.

 

Work with Chamber, meet with them as a group, to encourage community development.

 

Offer a trainer for small towns festivals, possibly through Extension.

 

Have a form available for nonprofits to fill out when proposing fund requests.

 

At our next meeting, Aug. 8, plan for a community forum to be held in Sept, possibly with Extention facilitating it.

 

　

 

Lynne mentioned the need for more summer reading events, as proposed

by Sally Pelant. The proposal will be presented to the City Council this evening. We discussed the fact the city has always provided funds for this at the library, but there has been no request this year due to changes at the library. It would be good to have the funds for the Summer Reading Program channeled through SMIF. This idea was approved by the board, by concensus. There was discussion about using the library during closed hours, using the senior center, Lynne would attempt to talk to Shirley about it.

Meeting adjourned by concensus.

 

Next meeting, Aug. 8, 10 a.m., Singing Hills Coffee Shop.

 

Waterville Horizons Community Connections Downtown Beautification Meeting, Apr. 13, 2011

The group met at the Waterville cafe at 11:30. Several members were unable to attend, but there were 7 of us, and we enjoyed lunch as we met. Here are some meeting notes and editorial comments by 4River.
Thanks to all the people that have been keeping up with our projects and plans, we are grateful for the help.
Jane had an agenda printed up for us to refer to for matters for discussion. She also had copies of our final Fiscal Report from 2010, and the budget so far in 2011. The report was updated with columns for all our projects and programs. We still have money available in the SMIF account, and will be looking for more funding soon, with many needs coming up.
Committee and area reports:
The WHCC Blog page is up and running on a new site that will hopefully protect it from spam and trackbacks to Karen’s personal email. Many thanks to Bjorn Arneson of the U of M Extension service for his help setting up a new page here on WordPress and migrating older messages to the new site. Comments and pictures are always welcome. Karen also gave a short report on the advisory committee meeting held the previous Monday.
The Sakatah Arts Experience has been awarded an Arts and Cultural Heritage grant from the PLRAC (Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council) for this year’s festival. Kim Gossen wrote a successful grant application, and she planned to attend a training meeting in Mankato on Apr. 12. They have also received funds from other groups and from SMIF.
Barrels of Hope has been awarded $400.00 by WCC, paid to Xcel, to fund electric expenses at their location in the basement of the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Waterville. Bev is open for donations and for “free shopping” on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. There are no financial requirements to shop and donations are appreciated. I have shopped there and found some nice clothing and other items that I can wear or recycle into usable and decorative items. She has furniture, clothing, food and household items and cleaning supplies. Free will offerings are also accepted.
The Ride Around Town has not been used during the late winter, and we are hoping to revive it soon. We also discussed the Meals on Wheels and Senior Dining, which have also dwindled. Hoping to have more usage, before funding is dropped completely.
Jane is enthusiastic about the Community Garden at Good Samaritan, and feels other areas could be developed around town. She will see to the area being tilled up, and we’ll look for folks who want to use the plot for their own garden experience. She will further plan and work on this project. She noted that some of the folks at Phillipson’s campground expressed interest in the garden.
Downtown Plants have been ordered, and have been planted by River Street Nursery, and if it ever warms up, will be displayed downtown. It’s still early, so it may be a month yet before we see them. The hanging planters will be filled with ivy geraniums and diamond frost euphorbia, those pretty white plants with the tiny flowers, so there will be little deadheading of the hanging plants. The Chamber of Commerce has put out a call for donations for the 22 baskets. Anyone can sponsor a memorial basket and a sign will be put in the plant with the names of the persons involved. Baskets are $37.00 each and will be lovingly maintained by the ladies and gents from the Downtown Beautification group. The barrels will hold a variety of plants like last year. The charge for the plants and planting will be the same as last year. Arlis and Jo had talked to Teresa Hill at the City office, and we are hoping to have a watering cart for our use, and for a hired city worker to water during the summer. We will be responsible for watering on Tuesdays and on weekends. The plan is for frequent fertilizing to encourage the plants to fill in and have less need for deadheading. The wood planters and benches should be cleaned with a high pressure sprayer, and then have a sealing finish applied to them. There will be further discussion on this item. The map of bench and planter locations was reviewed. Plants are emerging in the Community Patio, and there was a suggestion that consumers from Potential Unlimited volunteer to help keep this area clean and weeded.
Welcome to Waterville sign, phase 1, is all paid for, and any further expenses in later phases will be financed by the Chamber and other groups. We discussed the possibility of having low shrubs and plants around the sign.
Val Vail sent a signup sheet for helping to plant 4500 plants by the Sakatah Bay on Fri. May 20, and Sat. May 21, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Waterville Parks Board and LeSueur County have the plants, and the area will be prepped, so all that is needed is volunteers to set the plants. This is another area where beautification and conservation will be used to enhance the appearance of our city. There is also a park cleanup day scheduled for May 7, 9 to noon. There will also be several days of brush chipping by the city shop from May to Oct. These notices were also sent out in residents’ water bill statements.
After a long, cold, snowy winter and now a cool wet spring, we are ready for some color and sunshine. Hopefully that will be here soon, and our projects will take off and we’ll have a fun and busy summer. 4River.

Waterville Horizons Community Connections board April, 2011

The Waterville Horizons Community Connections board met at the Singing Hills Coffee Shop in Waterville on Mon., April 11th at 10 a.m. Present were Cindy Kennedy, facilitator; Karen Bauer, blog recorder; Diane Munson, Friends of the Waterville Library rep; Bev Brown, Barrels of Hope rep.
There was discussion on several matters, including: flower watering; need for youth community center; need for alternate areas for library activities; area for a firepit for youth, possibly by the Episcopal church; it’s use by boy and girl scouts. No action was taken on these ideas.
We discussed Bullhead Days, coming up in June. Cindy has talked to Jay Schneider, and we will have an area to set up on the corner of Main and 3rd St. S., same area as last year. We would like to have all our committees represented there, with posters, pictures, and information. Cindy has a canopy we can set up to provide shade, and we will have tables and chairs there for workers.
(For further discussion: We will have to set up a work schedule so someone is at the “booth” during the 3 day weekend. We should have donation containers for WCC, Library, and the Barrels of Hope. Books for sale from the library, as well as brochures, that are in the works, for the FOL. How about a suggestion box for ideas for projects in the city and area? We should also have some giveaways for kids, or a sign up box for donated prizes. Sign up sheets for people interested in helping with downtown flowers and for membership or interest in the WCC projects. Possibly members could have some prizes, purchased or “white elephant” items from home or business. Suggestions: a book from the library, an item from “Barrels”, a gift certificate donated by a member of WCC, etc. This all needs to be co-ordinated and set up to look nice and make us look neat, busy and helpful….Just some mind streaming here by the blogger.)
Community garden, not much info, but later I talked to Jane Cummiskey and she is willing to help keep this project going. We were wondering what our vision is for the garden, renting out spaces, doing all the work and donating the produce? We will discuss this further at the next downtown beautification meeting.
We discussed general fund raising, and there are grants available from SMIF that Jane mentioned in an email to us, so we will pursue that at the Downtown Beautification meeting later this week. There are grants for economic development and early childhood development. We agreed there is a need in the economic development area here and had ideas for business ventures.
Meeting concluded.

WCC Steering committee meeting, Mar. 14, 2011

The Waterville Horizons Community Connections board met at the Singing Hills Coffee Shop in Waterville on Mon., March 14th at 10 a.m. Present were Cindy Kennedy, facilitator; Karen Bauer, blog recorder; David Cummiskey, Jobs Committee and fiscal representative; Jo Snyder and Arlis Wallace, Beautification and Ride Around Town representatives; Diane Munson, Friends of the Waterville Librarary rep; Dallas McIntyre, FOWL treasurer; Bev Brown and Joyce Crow, Barrels of Hope reps. Jane Cummiskey was unable to attend.

Cindy opened the meeting with a call for committee reports.

Dave passed out copies of the cash report from the end of 2010, and the first 3 mo. of 2011. A column has been added for the Friends of the Waterville Library, and one will be added for the Barrels of Hope project when funds are added or paid out.

Arlis has money donated in the past by riders from the Ride Around Town project. There have not been many riders during the winter, and at the present, an employee at Traditions has been taking those people when they need a ride. The money was originally going to be used for entertainment and treats for the people who attended “Senior Dining”, but when that was moved out of the Parkside Apts. it ended. It is hoped that senior dining could be resumed somewhere, but for now it is all handled with “Meals on Wheels”, so the money has not been used. A motion was made by Dave and seconded by Arlis to put $300.00 of the ride money into the beautification project and keep the remainder in petty cash, motion passed. Notice could be made to the public that this is how the money collected will be used.

Dave reported little activity with the Jobs committee, but Jane has been looking into finding helpers through MVAC, and is watching for opportunities for employment for them. He reported that SMIF is suggesting having a store for the selling of local products. It was suggested that Bev from the Barrels of Hope may hear of people who may need help with finding jobs.

Dallas reported on the Friends of the Waterville Library fundraiser that was held in Waseca on Fri., Feb. 25. Close to 1300.00 in profits were collected from donations and silent auction bids. The FOWL will decide on disbursement of the money when it is decided what is needed by the library. Ideas for use of the money include, developing a youth area in the library, computers, a tv. Students would earn tv time by reading. Motion was made by Diane and seconded by Karen, that $1500.00 of the money be moved to the SMIF fund, and the remainder be kept for petty cash in the FOWL checking acct., motion passed.

A funding request motion was made by Bev, seconded by Diane, for funds in the amount of $400.00 for paying the electricity bill for the Barrels of Hope project, housed at the Episcopal Church in Waterville. Motion passed. This is a collection point for clothing, household items, food and cleaning supplies that will be distributed free to anyone in need, regardless of their income. Hours of operation are Mon., 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Xcel will be paid out of the general fund. The acct. number and a copy of the minutes verifying the request are needed for the request to be sent to SMIF.

There was no report from the Sakatah Arts Experience, but Kim has told us thru email that “Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council (PLRAC) board will meet March 24th in Mankato to decide about funding for the Arts and Cultural Heritage funds we applied for. They say they have 86% of the money requested by applicants, which I think bodes very well for us given that ours was a very modest request. Also, the Waterville City Council met last night and I am pleased to say that they granted the request I made on behalf of SAE for $1,100 in matching funds. Thanks to Teresa for help on various aspects of grant-seeking this year. This means that if we receive the PLRAC grant, we will be fully funded according to our proposed budget. With the matching funds from Waterville Community Connections/WCFF and the City, all proceeds from the festival can go toward attracting matching funds for next year.”
Jo Snyder said that a bill for $900.00 was received from the city of Waterville, for watering downtown plants for 2010. There was discussion about the fact we did say we’d pay for watering, but this is the first bill we’ve received. She gave a report on the plants that have been ordered. The barrels will have a variety of plants again, but the hanging planters will have only euphorbia and ivy geraniums, which will require much less maintainance. The smaller planters will have only coral colored geraniums. Jo and Arlis will be meeting with Teresa Hill from the city offices on Mar. 24, in regard to watering for 2011, and for assistance in finding a vehicle that could be used to water plants on the 3 days a week that the city does not do the watering. It should be owned by the city, and used by whoever waters plants.

The community gardens project needs someone to coordinate the project, and get started soonIt is still not known what the project would entail, and if there is enough interest by people who may want their own plot to plant. In some areas the produce is sold at the farmer’s market, or given to the food shelf. Cindy will talk to Lynne in regard to the project.

Cindy will talk to Sue Myers in regard to Bullhead Days. The WCC should have a couple tables downtown and display projects sponsored, such as, Downtown Beautification, Friends of the Waterville Library, Sakatah Arts Experience, Barrels of Hope, etc. We could also have a “traveling” display of volunteers in the area who have helped out with the various projects, individuals and organizations. This will be displayed at events in the city during the year. Karen will collect pictures and organize a display of them to be shown, and will take pictures of various areas where we are involved in the community. Cindy will be collecting names of volunteers to be listed on the display, so if you have someone you want recognized as a community volunteer, let her know.

Jane attended a “Voices of Rural Minn.” event last year, and there will be more events this year.

Dave and Karen will monitor the internet for fundraising and grant opportunities.

Our next meeting will be on Apr. 11, same place. Meeting adjourned

Waterville Horizons Community Connections Blog is open!

This is my first posting on our new blog site. We’re starting a new year of activities, and they will be documented here, and I will insert photos of our accomplishments.
Plans are being made for spring and summer beautification of the city, and for events like Bullhead Days in June, and the Sakatah Arts Experience in July. We have the Friends of the Waterville Library group, and the Barrels of Hope for the World added to our foundation list. It should be an active and fun year for the WHCC group. 4river.

November steering committee meeting

The Waterville Community Connections/Horizons steering committee met on Nov. 9 at the Cummiskey Law Office for our November meeting. Jane had an agenda prepared and we discussed several items on that list. We decided to have a meeting of the “beautification group” on Dec. 1 at the cafe, at 11 a.m., to wrap up the year and discuss plans for the future. There has not been much activity by the jobs or youth workteams. It is still hoped there can be a youth advisory group to work in that area. The Welcome to Waterville sign fund raising is still ongoing. I recently was told that the Waterville Lakes Association has donated $500.00 to the project. Thanks to them and all the other groups that gave money for the sign.
Jane will go to the Voices of Rural Minnesota training on Dec. 8 & 9. There was discussion in regard to the Community Gardens project, and this should be discussed early in the new year, March into April, to design, organize, advertise the fact we have a garden and want help and gardeners to use it. There are other areas besides the Good Samaritan site that could be used. We will also plan a volunteer appreciation for April, and make plans for our presence at Bullhead Days in June. Jane has a great agenda planned for the Dec. 1 meeting, and we have many items to discuss. That meeting will be reported on here on the blog, and will give us a guideline for our activities next year. We will also review all the accomplishments of this past year, including beautification, ride around town, and all the volunteer work that was done. Our group started the painting and cleaning and flower care, extending from downtown, all the way to the many parks in town, and we’d like to think our start encouraged other businesses to spruce up and make the town more appealing to visitors as well as permanent residents.
Our next steering committee meeting will be on Dec. 14 at the law office. We hope to have other people from the community and organizations at the meeting, to give us information and ideas for areas we can add to our future work around town. Karen/4River