Chair Demaree called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. All members were present, including the Administrative Manager; members of the public in attendance included (but not limited to) the following: Pat Baltzley, Randy Russell, Joseph Gross, Schalene Darr, Geoff Darr, Mary Kay Woodin, Jenni Burr, Sarah Haas, Zondra Skertich, Becky Smith, Shelby Detro, Laura Williams, Jenny Golding, Anne Foster, Mike Tercek, Linda Thurston, Nathan Varley, David Sheerin, Doug MacCartney and Bob Kopeland.
Secretary/Treasurer Parks moved to approve the October meeting minutes. Director Laubach seconded the motion. No discussion was needed; all voted in favor; none opposed. Motion passed.
Admin Manager Bush presented the financial statements for the month, including a Recent Transaction List and a Profit/Loss Statement and all outstanding expenses. Secretary/Treasurer Parks moved to approve the financial reports and all outstanding expenses. Director Dawson seconded the motion. No discussion was needed; all voted in favor; none opposed. Motion passed.
Chair Demaree welcomed all members of the public to the meeting, giving a short background of the Resort District’s history to date and a legal update, stating that all lawsuits have been settled and paid in full. Chair Demaree explained the question-answer session for the meeting. The public was encouraged to make comments either at the meeting or through email messages as the public’s opinion is very important to all members of the Board. Chair Demaree explained that one application (the 5th grade Expedition Yellowstone project) was disqualified due to the project taking place outside of the District.
Director Dawson and Vice-Chair Dalling asked to recuse themselves from voting on the Gardiner Public Schools’ application, stating a conflict of interest with this application.
Secretary/Treasurer Parks explained the District ordinance and how money is partially appropriated by the ordinance and that two accounts, the Capital Improvement and the Community Service accounts are the money the Board appropriates. Secretary/Treasurer Parks said that this appropriation cycle would have approximately $466,902.00 available for projects. Chair Demaree reminded the Board of the GGCC request to roll-over funds from their Grant Writer project from 2016F, in the amount of $12,000.00 which is NOT included in this cycle’s amount.
Each application was announced and the representing members were given a chance to explain their request and to answer any questions from the Board and/or members of the public. Groups requesting more than one project were asked to prioritize their requests and were asked if they had any additional methods of funding. EPAC listed their project requests in this order of priority: Youth Initiative, Ukulele Initiative – performance is priority over equipment if partial, Shakespeare in theParks and finally the Opportunity Fund. The Gardiner Chamber of Commerce stated it was hard to prioritize projects for the public versus projects “in house” so to speak for the Chamber office but indicated that the Visitor Center carpet was their priority.
After the question/answer session was concluded, Chair Demaree called for any additional public comment. Questions were directed to Gardiner School representatives Pat Baltzley and Randy Russell concerning the school’s budget, strategic planning and fund availability. Laura Williams asked the Board what portion of the available funds was due to the settled lawsuits and thus wouldn’t be available in future years. Director Laubach moved to adjourn the meeting. Vice-Chair Dalling seconded the motion. No discussion was needed; all voted in favor. Motion passed. Meeting was adjourned at 8:13 PM. The next meeting will be held on December 11th, a Monday, at 7:00PM at the Gardiner Visitor Center.
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