Minutes of the Town Complex Committee Meeting

of March 11, 2008

The meeting was called to order at 6:00pm.

Members of the committee present: Lanny Neider, Elaine Brustad, Bob Oberstar, Ron Pearson, Leslie Hall and Lu Peet. Guest speaker was Tim Kane of the UW-Extension Service. Recording Secretary Pam Toschner was unable to attend. Lu Peet will act as recording secretary. The meeting was held in the clerk’s office due to a conflict with another organization using the main hall.

The minutes of the previous meeting were presented. Motion (Ron Pearson / Lanny Neider) to approve the minutes as given. Call for discussion. Motion carried.

Tim Kane of the UW-Extension Office was introduced to the group. Mr. Kane said that he had previously worked with the town as a consultant to the Comprehensive Land Use Committee. Mr. Kane said that there were three things he would like to present to us.

1. To look and see what grants or funding opportunities are out there?
2. What consultants could we consider?
3. What would his input be on our options?

Kane said that first of all the town needs to make an assessment of the current building. This would include the structural integrity of the current building, maintenance costs, utility costs (heating and cooling) and the amount of space available. An architect should be able to assess this. To do this the town needs to look at several issues to decide what the town’s needs are:

1. Community Center for meetings, organization use, senior meals, craft and other classes and possibly weddings or funerals, etc.
2. Office space for the Clerk / Treasurer and a reception area for this office-Privacy issues and noise levels are a major concern. Also office space for the chairperson, constable, assessor and zoning should be included, as well as some smaller multipurpose conference rooms.
3. Media rooms where townspeople or visitors could go for wi-fi or computer use.
4. Historical exhibits and displays could use space to show the history of our community.
5. A library (not a part of the library system itself) so that townspeople could have access to reference material and other reading material without having to travel to Hayward or Drummond. The library would not compete with the main library system, but be a convenience to the community.
6. Safety factors-The hall is considered a Civil Defense Incident Command Center. Is the current building adequate for this?

Elaine Brustad said that all of this information will be put together for the Town Board to review.

On the funding, Tim Kane said that there are several grants out there that the town could explore:

1. Small Cities Community Block Grants (Tori Hugo had given some information on this at the last meeting). The grants are available to low to moderate income communities and Barnes does qualify in that regard, Kane said. 51% of the populous must meet the criteria. This grant is very competitive and is not easily obtained. The grant maximum is $750,000.00, but most range about $500,000.00. There is also a list of eligible activities that are covered. [Mr. Kane passed out handouts on the grants]. Lanny Neider asked how many of these grants were actually made recently. Kane said he would check on this for us. As an example, he gave the Drummond Senior center as one of the recipients. The town should contact the Department of Commerce to see how the town scores against other applicants. This needs to be done up front to see where the town sits.
2. USDA Community Facility loans or grants-[Mr. Kane handed out a pamphlet on the USDA-Rural Development Housing & Community Facilities Programs]-Susan Larson (Menomonie, WI) is our contact.
3. Commissioner of Public Lands Trust Fund Loan Program-The town has used this loan program in the past. The town can borrow up to 5% of the equalized valuation. The Town of Barnes had an equalized valuation of over $300 million in 2007. The interest rates are good.

There was discussion on what will get the town the best results as far as grants are concerned. There was a question on what agency or group had the best success record. Office space costs would have to be excluded from the amount of footage or costs of the building complex, as this is not an eligible grant expense. There was discussion on what firms do this consulting? Mr. Kane said that there is a list of planning firms and engineers. Kane also recommended contacting the Wisconsin Towns Association for help. SCH has offices in Ashland as well as Eau Claire (Tori Hugo is from SCH). Another good resource is Northwest Regional Planning. The town will need an architectural firm involved as well. They could do a preliminary estimate of the costs of renovating, moving and remodeling the current hall structure and other attributes of the existing building.

There was discussion on the possibility of renovating the existing town hall and what would be involved. Leslie Hall presented some drawings that she had made showing possible changes to the current office space.

1. What is the feasibility of modifying the current building in order to meet the town’s needs in the future?
2. What would be the cost of energy use in a more efficient modern building compared to the cost in the existing facility and what would the cost be to upgrade the current facility?
3. What would be the cost of a new facility be over the cost of remodeling, moving and possible making additions to the existing building? Can the town get by with what we have now?
4. What are the needs for meeting rooms, media uses, etc.? Is the current building adequate for the amount of use that the hall gets now and what about future use? There was discussion that the town is losing organizations that want to use the hall. One example of a recent lose is the Community Health Fair. This had to be relocated to the Barnes Community Church because the town hall did not have the adequate space and privacy for this important community service. This caused concern among residents as many do not want to go to the church for this kind of thing.

There was discussion on what money the town has set aside, if any, for this possible complex and if it had been approved by the people. Elaine Brustad said that it had been approved to go ahead and look into the feasibility of a new complex at the Annual Meeting in April of 2007. There was a resolution at that same meeting to also put the money from town timber sales into a fund specially allocated for the new complex. There was discussion on saving up for the new building. The cost of building is going up much faster than the growth of any money the town could save. It would be better, if the town plans to build the complex, to do it as soon as possible. It won’t get any cheaper to build.

There was a question on “green” grants, that is, grants for having LEED qualities for an environmentally friendly building. Could the town get someone out to talk with them on this issue? Tim Kane said that the town could check with “Focus on Energy” that is funded by the state (www.focusonenergy.com). This “green” building is the coming thing and Barnes could be a front runner it this. There was more discussion on the civil defense needs. There would not be a basement as this would add considerably to the costs and is not necessary. Bob Oberstar commented on the possibility of the Barnes Area Historical Association (BAHA) having some space for rotating displays, etc. Kane said that there are grants for this type of thing. The town should talk to Jim Crandall, the clerk from Drummond, to see how they did this.

Mr. Kane left at 7:08pm to let the committee work on its final proposal to the town board.

The committee then went over all of the information that had been gathered over the past several months. The committee went over each section individually and came up with a directive to present to the board at the March Town Meeting. [See attached Town Community Center Complex Committee Findings].

Motion (Lu Peet / Elaine Brustad) to adjourn the meeting. Call for discussion. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Lu Peet-Acting Recording Secretary

Dated March 20, 2008