Halfway Library, 1:30-3:30pm

Present: Ruai Gregory, Bill Schuhle , Bill Shields, Mark Christianson, Steve White, Celinda Miller, Denise Christianson, Larry Miller, Liz McLellan

1. Minutes: the minutes from the Jan. 21 special meeting were read by Ruai and approved by all.

2. Discussion on the election process. According to the bylaws, we need to hold an annual meeting to which all members are invited, at which time accomplishments of the year will be covered and the new board will be elected (of five members). This new board will then elect the three officers from the board. The meeting will take place on Monday, February 25, at 7:30pm, ideally at City Hall. Denise will contact Sheila to set this up. Ruai will email all past and present members and will write an announcement for the HCJ. Liz will place the announcement on the website.

3. Treasurer’s report: no activity in the checking account this month. Bill Schuhle is in dialogue with US Bank regarding the process for donations for the Ski Club to be deposited, as it may be changing. The brokerage acct. made $59.28 in interest (see attached document).

4. Ford Family Foundation Leadership Training: Ruai reported on the Advanced Facilitation training she attended at Kahneeta from Feb. 1-3, and shared materials. She also shared progress on the organization of the proposed leadership training for Halfway (called “Pine Eagle Cohort”) next fall. The first organizational meeting took place last week, with 5 Ford graduates (Lauri Bryan, Andrea Bryan, Ruai Gregory, Spring Bartlett and Denise Cairns) making initial plans and filling out the Ford community cohort application. Lion’s Club has agreed to provide the Hall free of charge for the training, and Stephanie’s Bakery has agreed to cater the training sessions.

5. Website: Liz would like to post blogs on our website about various resources, topics, etc. She will email us her proposed blogs for our input before posting.

6. Projects:

Bandstand: Steve told us about matching grant opportunities, and that Cindy Thayer has agreed to be our grant writer. Bill Shields explained that the total budget, which includes the sound system, now comes to $16,700.00. It was agreed that we would pay Cindy up to $250.00 (approximately $20.00 per hour) to write one grant application. Denise expressed concerns about utilizing the “grant system”, which includes documenting in-kind contributions. Bill Shields and Celinda agreed that it can be seen as a type of wasteful approach, yet necessary if we wish to “play the game” in order to achieve results in the community. In-Kind was explained as a way to document community support. Bill Shields holds planning meetings each Wed. at 10am at Stephanie’s Bakery. All interested people are welcome. The conceptual plan will be  finalized this Wed., Feb. 6. Liz will put up a project page and Facebook page for the bandstand project.

Cross Country Ski Club: Liz reported. She trained as an instructor and worked with some of the children at school. Several classes have met and the “Borrow Ski” day for the community was highly successful. Liz keeps the facebook page updated regarding the state of the various tracks.

Preschool: Ruai reported on the progress made on the two upcoming fund raisers: the trikeathon takes place the Friday before crab feed and the run/walk is the third Sat. in May. Larry suggested we add a “race-walk” category. He could train the judges in what to watch for. Ruai will tell the organizing committee about this.

7. New Business: Larry reported on the group that is looking into accessing spring water from the valley’s west wall. This would be used for emergencies and could also generate electricity. He and Denise also described the city’s ongoing sewage treatment problems.

Larry described the idea of providing “micro-loans” for business startups. These funds could be in a special account at the bank. Liz mentioned groups that are doing this that can be accessed online: Kiva, Prosper and others. She can write up these resources on our web page.

Celinda described the “community regeneration” project material she has researched. Bill Schuhle is scanning the material and will email it to us. The concept of internal and external inputs and resources was described. This can be helpful in guiding our community development mission.

Larry also talked about the idea of developing a list of classes that could be offered in the community which could generate funds in the summer. There would be a framework, and people would attend from other locations. He will bring material about this possible project. With all the talent in the area, there is a lot of potential for this project. Art Camp and Clear Creek Music Festival could be a part of this too. Steve mentioned the discussion around this same concept at the last LIEAP session a few years ago. The issue that always seems to come up around all the great ideas is the lack of a “champion” to organize, delegate, and implement the project. Liz said she can post something about possible classes to offer on the UCP website. Denise described the opportunity available to offer classes at the fairgrounds.

Next meeting: Feb. 25, 7:30pm – for annual meeting and board election.

1:30–3:30pm • Halfway Library

Present: Ruai Gregory, Bill Schuhle, Mark Christianson, Steve White, Bill Shields, Celinda Miller, Bruce Honeyman, Mary Jo St. Clair, Mimi Kauffman, Eric Kauffman.

Absent: Liz McLellan, Larry Miller, Denise Christianson

1. Minutes: approved as amended
2. Treasurer’s Report: see attached
3. Ford Family Foundation Leadership training proposal: Ruai announced that 20-25 participants will be needed for Ford to proceed with the proposed leadership training next fall. She will meet with them here on Jan. 22, and the decision will be made Jan. 31.  She encouraged all to sign up to take the fall training, which will take place over 4 weekends.
4. Project Updates:

Music Festival/Bandstand: Eric, Bruce, Mary Jo and Mimi spoke, representing the Cornucopia Arts Council. They are planning a Sept. 7 Music Festival at the Fairgrounds (the Sat. after the fair) and  3 dates during the summer at the Main St. bandstand, one on July 19 in the evening — Article 15 (Army Reserve Band).  They are applying for an Oregon Arts Commission grant, due Jan. 31, and are talking with Tim Bishop re using Baker County transient room tax funds.   They estimate total cost for all four events to be $9,000 which will include either renting or purchasing sound equipment and the development of a web page.

Discussion clarified the following topics:

•  Admission fees for festival: planned for $10, to include 4 performances

•  Mark suggested booking another group at the downtown bandstand (at Pat’s Park) for Sept. 6, thereby making it effectively a 2 day festival.  This will satisfy the transient room tax usage.

•  The festival will hopefully use multiple stages.  They will pursue the use of the Lion’s Club’s portable stage, located in the Pavilion.

•  Bill Shields informed us of a large mixing board (for sound system) which is located in and owned by the Pine Baptist Church.  The Arts Council will discuss its potential use with Shawn Thatcher.

•  Celinda asked about the timeline for the festival to become self-sustaining.  The answer was 4-5 years.

•  Eric clarified that it would be best for the Arts Council to own the sound equipment, for keeping inventory and storing properly between events.

•  It was agreed that a full, detailed budget is needed, and that the entire “summer of music and arts” should be included in the grants, applied for by the Arts Council, showing full community collaboration between UCP, Hells Canyon Chamber of Commerce, and the Cornucopia Arts Council.

•  Bill Shields proposed that any leftover funds from the Bandstand building could be applied to costs for booking acts that perform there.

•  The Arts Council will discuss further, then get back with us prior to the next UCP meeting.

1. New Year’s Officer Elections: to be done at the next regular meeting, Feb. 4.  Ruai will locate a full list of members and send out an announcement to them.
2. Special meeting scheduled: (to go over bylaws and history of UCP), 1:30-3, Jan. 21
3. Next regular meeting: Feb. 4, 2013

1:30-3:30pm, Halfway Library

Present: Ruai Gregory, Bill Schuhle, Mark Christianson, Denise Christianson, Linda Collier, Liz McLellan, Bill Shields, Brandie Lincoln, Lauri Bryan, Larry Miller

1. Minutes: Nov. minutes read and approved.
2. Treasurer’s Report: (see attached)
3. Project Updates:

Bandstand: Steve’s letter (see attached); Mark commented on sound systems: need for working with local musicians in researching appropriate components; Bill Shields: Cornucopia Arts Council would like to sponsor at least 3 events.  Community groups are expressing support.  Bill proposed placing the bandstand at a slightly different location at Pat’s Park for clearer visibility. Lauri and Brandie, representing the Chamber of Commerce, mentioned a concern regarding who the “event planner” would be.  It would be very important to have a main person in charge to promote and coordinate events.  Bill Shields reminded them that the proposal includes a budget to pay a person for this job, and would also plan to coordinate a few volunteers too.  Denise agreed that long range sustainability for this project is key, and the hiring of an event planner is a must.  Denise also expressed accessibility concerns regarding Main St. in terms of numbers of elderly who would have to walk several blocks if parking is a problem to attend a downtown event.  Bill Shields addressed this concern from an economic development viewpoint: the benefits to downtown business is the prime concern.  He also said the stage would be built on skids, and therefore moveable to other locations, such as Lion’s Park and the fairgrounds. Liz pointed out the role of online visibility (via our website and facebook page) in publicizing events. Denise spoke as a Baker City business owner regarding declining customers.  Brandie agreed that this is a current issue out here as well.  Discussion ensued regarding various ways to increase customer attraction.  Lauri mentioned the importance of vibrant, attractive additions such as the bandstand.  Ruai shared the success of the latest Ford Family Foundation’s Baker cohort that is moving forward with a project to create a bronzed salt lick sculpture for downtown Baker City.  Denise expressed opposition to the idea of UCP contributing funds to the project, but said she’s in favor of the project.  She provided information on two online classes in grant writing, and felt a better role for UCP, reflecting our mission and vision, is to fund a grant writer.  She also felt that at least 3 other groups in town would like UCP to donate funds to their projects.  Ruai reminded her that the other 3 projects are not on the table. Larry mentioned that there are at least 15-20 events going on each weekend in NE Oregon. The possibility of people traveling from event to event is quite strong.  Brandie and Lauri addressed this concept too, and mentioned Timothy Bishop’s (Marketing Director for Baker County) work in promoting Halfway, along with the rest of Baker County.

Action: among the members present, (with one member, Denise, dissenting) it was agreed to accept the Bandstand proposal and provide $5,000.00 to launch it.

PEEF: Lauri gave an update.  They advocated strongly for the school to hire a new music teacher, which they have done.  Wix Covey will be offering a Friday morning art class for jr. high-high school students beginning in January.  They are still funding after school guitar and fiddle classes.  The group is still awaiting news on their application for nonprofit status.   They will be reapplying for the Braemer grant again through UCP this spring. They have a new website. Liz described the new report form available for each project to use on our UCP website.

Cross Country Ski Group: Linda said they are waiting to hear from the Leo Adler foundation.  They applied for $7,000.00.  They have a room at the school to use for equipment, and are working with the PE teacher.  Now, all they need is snow!

1. Website update: Liz continues work on the website.  She added information on it to Mark’s article he wrote for the Hells Canyon Journal.  Linda took photos of this meeting and will edit the article so that it appears soon in the paper.
2. UCP future plans: Ruai would like to have a meeting soon during which by-laws and vision statement are revisited.
3. Next mtg. date: Jan. 7, 2013, 1:30pm, Halfway Library.