20/20 Cold Spring Vision Team

Steering Committee Minutes
March 9, 2005

The meeting convened at 8 am with four members present, Mark Grelson, Brigetta Klemek, Carie Tripp and Ken Wendinger9.

Mark gave us a report of the first Community Band performance that was held on Monday, March 7th at the High School Auditorium. The band came all dressed up in Hawaiian shirts and played six or seven songs that all had a beach theme. The approximate attendance was 100-120 people. Mark said they were light years better than he even thought they would be. The Paramount Jazz Orchestra followed and they blew people out of their seats! Standing Ovations were enjoyed by the performers from both groups. This was an excellent first time event and will be played on cable ch. 10. Royce Neis was also recognized for being a major source of support for the event.

The Community Band has voiced a preliminary interest in playing at community events, including a grand opening for the new Lions Park and/or possibly at Hometown Pride among other events.

Carrie Tripp, our IF Liaison, held a rigorous discussion about the committees need to go over our grant applications and prioritize them. They should meet the groups overall goals that were expressed during the community visioning sessions. Goals have to meet overall community wants. Some of the questions to ask are, “Does this project take steps toward community wants and needs?” We need to co-ordinate it. Then if we are funded, we know which ones get funding first. Also identifying them in advance lets a funding source know that it is not just a blanket request. It’s imperative to communicate in the grant who else you are asking money from so they know you are not just depending on one source. It makes your grant request more attractive.

8:30 am Michelle Prow, sitting in for Betty Johnson joined at this time along with Nadine Settler and Duane Kuss.

Carrie continued, the Initiative Foundation won’t fund more than 50% of any one project, and maybe only 20%. You should tell them, "These are our five priorities and we are seeking money from organizations X, Y and Z.”

At his point in the meeting Michelle Prow was introduced. She was matched to the St. Cloud Area community while working for the VISTA program (Volunteers in Service to America). Betty met her thru the Faith in Action program in St. Cloud and she has joined the Social Action Committee.

Discussion was held on the Mosaic Art project. The question was asked as to weather it is a City Led or a 20/20 led project. If it is led by this group, it should have a sponsoring committee and a sub-committee should be formed to forward the project. It was asked that fundraising be halted until a committee picks it up or the city takes it over.




9:10 AM Larry Lahr enters.

At this point the conversation veered toward the financial report that Ken had prepared for the group.

We have voted and approved for reimbursement for all dollars from the IF. We will cross check with the minutes to make sure all expenditures are accounted for and to make sure all have been submitted.

It is decided that another meeting needs to be set to discuss all the grant requests and prioritize them so the grant committee can finish their work and we can submit them to the IF.

The date of March 23rd at 8AM was selected. We will discuss and prioritize the grants, select a new meeting date if necessary and discuss the future of the 20/20 website.

Carrie further spoke on successfully obtaining grants. She said when you are looking at grants work to prove that you have been successful in the past. Previous projects we have received X dollars. They need to see you thought it thru and can fund projects. We are asking the funding source to fund 35% of the project, 10% is coming form the community, 15% is coming from the city and so fourth. We should also leverage projects that the community will financially support and direct grant money to other projects to get more done.

10 AM-Mark Leaves
10:25 AM- Michelle Prow mentions that the Social Action Committee is rebuilding and she and Carrie Tripp exit.

Discussion on the future of the 20/20 website ensues.

Ken moves that we approve $50 for website upkeep for March and to pay the $1,000 we previously approved for the writing of the Chain of Lakes articles. We will hold off on updates to the website until the decision is made with more people present to vote.
Brigetta seconds the motion.

Larry spoke on the Design Standards Committees commitment to revising and creating new zoning districts. We will be turning our efforts over to the Land Use Committee for them to decide the best use for the land. The committee is actively working with a planner and good City Council representation at meeting has been positively noted.

Ken notes that the Land Use committee is just waiting for the Design Standards committee to finish their work.


Duane notes that the work on the Kiosk has begun for the Tourism Committee.

No report from Natural Resources.

The meeting then draws to a close with the reminder of the meeting on March 23rd at 8 am to discuss the future of the website, prioritizing and looking over grant requests and setting a new meeting date possibly.

The April meeting agenda will include planning a possible presentation for the City Council on our grant request so they can see the priorities and give any feed back and gauge their interest in any of the projects. We will also discuss the Mn. Design Team Visit and start making plans for the date. This would include promotion, refreshments, surveys for the date etc. The Mn. Design Team will get back to us about a possible May date.


Recorded and Submitted by Brigetta Klemek