April 9th Meeting Minutes

Sorry this is late everyone! Been very busy at the library! ~~Lori

SOUTH BENTON LIBRARY PROJECT

MEETING 4/9/07

MINUTES

Meeting convened at 7:00 pm in the Fire Station meeting room. There were 14 attending.

The moving of the depot was discussed. The County is taking responsibility for securing the building. We will arrange for a sign or banner to be placed on it telling folks it is going to be a new Monroe Library. We adopted the slogan- “Linking the Past with the Future”. Mayor Thayer graciously agreed to use a contact with a sign maker in Junction City to see what price we can get on the sign. It was explained for new folks attending that the depot will only be a part of the library- in and of itself it is not large enough. It will either stand alone and connect to the library or be incorporated into the library itself. It’s historical nature may make it more attractive for historical preservation funding. It is structurally sound but needs a lot of cosmetic work.

Mayor Thayer also mentioned that he believes the City holds a 99 year lease with option to buy on the property as a result of negotiations about 10-12 years ago to obtain the rail right of way on the south side near the school. The City mows that property, has planted trees and deposited rock there. They would not have done these things if they did not have a claim on it. They are combing the archives looking for printed documentation.

We did receive a proposal from the same architect who did the site study to do a full architectural design. We feel this is needed in order to attract potential donors as having something concrete to show is much easier to sell.

We were turned down for a Spirit Mountain grant but were encourage to reapply when we are ready to begin construction. Teresa mentioned they are working on some complications related to qualifying for CDBG funding but is hopeful. There is another possible source of funding which she is pursuing but is not at liberty to discuss at this time. Hopefully she will hear something in the next couple of weeks.

We do have a bank account at Sterling Bank in town. Donations can be brought to the bank and they will deposit them and give us the names of who donated. Or, they can be given to Lori at the Library. We are going to explore getting a post office box. If that does not work then donations can be sent to Craig Pelkey at his home address which we will publish once we know we are not getting a PO Box. Janet Begg agreed to explore the PO Box idea. To date we have $500 from the Friends of the Library for seed money and $205 that will be transferred from the Library Foundation which has been holding money received in the name of the Monroe Library. A $100 donation from some folks in Alsea has been used to pay for a copy of QuickBooks.

We discussed designing a logo and printing letterhead. The name of a local printer was mentioned, Jim McGillivray and John Norrena is going to see if his wife, who is a graphic artist, will be able to design a logo for us.

Teresa discussed her attendance at a joint meeting of the boards of the Alpine Community Center and South Benton Community Enhancement. Everyone agreed there is a place for both the community center in Alpine and a new library in Monroe and that we need to look for ways to cooperate. We agreed to keep each other apprised of foundations to which we apply.

We heard about a button making machine that was a joint purchase by the Museum, SBCE, the Alpine Community Center and us.

We then passed around a sign up sheet for committees: publicity, fund raising and steering. After some discussion, Randy George and Dena Elliot agreed to co- chair. A final roster of who signed up for what will be available soon.

NEXT MEETING: MONDAY MAY 14 AT 7 PM IN THE FIREHOUSE

(tentatively set the 2^nd Monday of the month as a regular meeting time)