The meeting came to order at 8:35 AM. Present were Bruce Gezelman (chair), Scott McCaskill, Karen Hambleton, and Andrew Pinard. Also present were Maria Storm and Janet Bauer.
The minutes from the previous meeting were approved.
There was a short discussion about some changes Karen had made on the Facilities Use Application Form. All agreed that the changes improved the document.
There was some discussion on the standards for support animals. All agreed that this subject was not appropriate for this committee, rather there should be a town-wide policy, that applies to all town facilities, and that this is for the Select Board to formulate.
There was discussion of rates to be charged for use of the various facilities. It was agreed that the current rates are sufficient and appropriate for one-time use. In the case of long-term renters, alternate rates negotiated with the renter may be more appropriate (e.g. lower rate in return for repeated use). Also, we should not charge if the event is a fund-raiser for the event space itself.
Janet asked how much we need to bring in to offset the costs of the BACC. Karen responded that the building costs about $40K per year, and current leases bring in $12K, so we would need to make up $28K per year, or about $2800 per month.
Andrew gave a quick overview of the results of a poll on uses of the BACC, but there will be a forum on the BACC’s future use on Monday January 20th, similar to what was done with the Masonic Building, and we should wait to see what ideas come out of that.
Andrew left at 8:55.
We continued last meeting’s discussion of a Facilities Manager, without reaching any new conclusions.
Action items for next meeting: We need to produce a bulleted list of recommendations to the Select Board, for discussion and review at the next meeting; we hope to get more suggestions on possible uses at the forum on January 20th, Andrew to lead the forum; and we need to begin advertising the available spaces in local publications (Bridge, Intertown Record, Messenger, &c.).
The meeting adjourned at 9:30am. The next meeting will be held on Thursday January 23rd at 8:30 AM — note that this is a week later than we would otherwise meet, to allow the forum to come first.
Minutes submitted by Scott McCaskill