Minutes of the Meeting of the Special Library Committee
Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Wehrle at 7:02 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

Roll Call

Members Present: Stuart Harper, Ted Anderson, Kevin Koester (replacing Marge Sherwin as Council representative), Mark Bartels , Mayor Wehrle

Members Absent: Kathy Kolb, Kathy Addison

Staff Present: Scot Simpson, Alan Tollefson

Also Present: LaVon Hall, Lancaster Historical Society, Michael Pluemer, Historic Preservation Commission and David Kurth, Grant County Historical Society; also, briefly: James and Violet Hibbard

Minutes

Following introductions, the minutes of the March 28 meeting were approved as mailed. Motion by Anderson, second by Koester. Carried unanimously.

Follow-Up

Library

Consultant George Lawson was in Lancaster on May 19 and will soon have a draft of the library's portion of the building program statement. The goal is for the Library Board to meet with George to discuss his draft in September and receive the final report in October.

Historic Groups

David Kurth of the Grant County Historical Society reported that the Board answered affirmatively to the three questions posed to them: Yes, the 1,500 square feet proposed so far should be acceptable; yes, the group will participate in fund raising; yes, they will serve as curator for collections and displays.

Notes were distributed on a telephone meeting with representatives of the State Historical Society - refer to a copy of the notes for details. Agreements will have to be fashioned to outline responsibilities and the State can help supply models. Basically, the City will own the facility, the Grant County Historical Society will be curator of exhibits and the Library will be a partner. The City will be responsible for putting together the appropriate agreements.

The Historical Society may receive space in exchange for services or may have to be charged a nominal rent - details to be worked out. There will have to be sub agreements between the Historical Society and other groups who may display items.

Ideally, the capital campaign will provide an operating endowment that might include a part time person to coordinate displays. This will require more time initially, during the set up phase and might level off to 10 or so hours per week.

There was also discussion of using audio and interactive technology in displays and the possibility of using the present Cunningham Museum primarily for storage. LaVon Hall said the Lancaster group would also need storage space somewhere.

Mayor Wehrle questioned whether the 1,500 square feet would be adequate or whether the future addition of 1,500 more square feet shown in the concept drawing should be added immediately. It was noted that in the concept drawing neither office space for the Chamber nor storage space for the band was included.

Music Group

A document from the Community Band was distributed - see that document for details. It appears that the group has adequately spelled out its needs.

Chamber/Visitors Center

A figure of 14 X 24 was put forward as a possible allocation of space for the Chamber. This will need to be refined.

Next Steps

A list of decision points for the project was distributed - see that list for details.

A key question is who will pay for pre-funding design. Scot Simpson pointed out that we have been given some ideas for possible planning grant money, but there is not much available. If groups are unable or unwilling to contribute pre-funding design money, the City Council may have to decide if it will contribute City Funds in order to continue planning for a multi-use facility. If additional funding cannot be gained from somewhere, the project could revert to strictly a library project since the Library Foundation probably has the resources to continue library planning.

David Kurth said the Historical Society has some modest endowment money, but is also "in transition" with turnover among its active participants. The Society has already been considering a paid person for 20 hours per week, but continued funding of such a position in not assured.

Stuart Harper asked if we know the total square feet needed for the project. Pre-funding design costs could be prorated according to each group's space needs. Scot Simpson and Alan Tollefson were assigned the task of coming up with an estimate of total space needs. Two options will be presented: one with 1,500 square feet of museum space and one with 3,000 square feet. We will also include the genealogy group for now.

We will need an updated pre-funding design cost estimate based on the inclusion of groups beyond the library and hope that George Lawson can assist in that regard. The estimates will then be shared with the various groups to get their reactions. The Mayor and City Administrator will ask the Council if it will be willing to participate. It was noted that funding will be a three-stage commitment: (1) Pre-funding design; (2) Fund raising assessment; (3) Fund raising planning and funding campaign.

Kevin Koester asked if it would be useful to have an article in the newspaper and perhaps a poll such as the paper has been conducting on various topics. No resolution was reached.

LaVon Hall said she will continue her inventory of Lancaster artifacts. This should lead to an estimate of display and storage needs from that group.

Next Meeting

The next meeting was set for Tuesday, September 19 at 7:00 at City Hall. An earlier meeting will be called if necessary to go over the pre-funding design cost allocations.

The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

Adjourn

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Alan Tollefson, recorder

Library Expansion Project | Community Minutes | History of Facilities | Historical Society | Needed Assistance | Space Estimate | Process | Band Needs