Friends of Laurel Park Board Meeting

The board will meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month.

 

Minutes of the January 14, 2025 board meeting (Revised 1/28/25)

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm at the Town Hall conference room by President Ed Mattern.  Other members present were:  Ann McFadden, Jim Wilson, Myra Watkins, and Mike Erwin.  Town liaison Deb Bridges also attended, while Susan Hileman was absent.  Brandy Curry was a guest, invited by Ann McFadden.

 

Guest Presentation:  Ms. Curry had expressed interest since 2024 in having involvement with the FLP and had attended a JOR concert and the Trunk or Treat event.  She has a strong background in event planning, especially weddings, in the LA area.  She feels she could contribute to both existing events as well as developing new ideas.  She had met in 2024 with Ann McFadden and Susan Hileman to discuss ideas and to review the results of the survey form that was sent to residents last summer.  She expressed particular interest in finding ways to reach more residents and to get them more involved in the town activities and FLP events.  Having the town’s Centennial in 2025 offers many opportunities to elevate enthusiasm among residents with the large number of events during the year.

   During Ms. Curry’s presentation, members discussed a number of ideas ranging from newsletters, Save the Date cards (and sizes), ways to improve the town’s website, how to build on the Blackboard Connect network, use of “Constant Contact “ (Deb Bridges) prospects,  etc.  

    Ann suggested the board have a separate off-site meeting to dive more deeply into the marketing and planning ideas.  A tentative date of January 31 seemed to be agreed upon by the board.

 

President’s Message:  Ed complimented the Board for work over the past year.  

 

Secretary’s Report:  The minutes from the November 2024 meeting were approved.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  Approved.  Jim was complimented on the quality of the report.  He raised a question about the unspent $607 from the Trails gift from Ms. Lilly.  This has not been used for a few years.  The idea of transferring the funds to the Parks and Greenways Board was mentioned.  Ed said he would talk with Gary Anderson, the former Chair of the Board.  Jim mentioned that this should also be approved by Ms. Lilly as the donor.

 

• Review of 2025 budget draft:   Sponsorships are down a large amount for unknown reasons. Also, the large HCTDA grant we have enjoyed the past few years is unlikely to continue this year.  Thus, expected income of ca. $4 – 4.5 K might need to be omitted from the balance sheet.  Some good news is an expected income from the sale of a Downtown Bear auction this year.  The Town will sponsor a downtown bear in 2025 and has identified FLP as the nonprofit beneficiary when the bear is auctioned in late 2025.  The average auction price in 2024 was approximately $6,000.  Assuming a similar level of bidding this year, and given the way auction proceeds are divided, it is possible FLP could receive as much as $4500, however, that is an estimate. 

The FLP contributed $10 K to the town for the Centennial last year.  As far as a contribution to the Ecusta Trail, it is still premature to determine an amount as the type and cost of amenities is undetermined.  Defer this discussion until the summer.

     The draft suggests that, for 2025, we may have an income of ca. $22.5 K versus a total of ca. $32-37 K, a significant shortfall.  Sources of new revenue need attention.

 

Donors:   There have been 6 donors since November to Dec. 31, 2024.

 

Volunteers:  There was some discussion of this when Brandy gave her presentation.  Ann suggested this topic be addressed by the Board at a separate meeting.  The tentative date was Jan. 31 at town hall.

 

Winter Concerts:  No January concert.  At Echo Mt. Inn, Helfand and Perkins will perform on Feb. 19, 630-800.  On March 15, also at the Inn, Kapt. Kirk and Crew will perform.  Wine and beer will be available at a cash bar.

 

Event Cards:  The consensus was that 3 cards should be sent this year, and the 5 X 7 card size was agreed upon. Ann indicated the cost was $703. First, Jan. to April, will need to be delayed until an April slot is filled for a music event at Laurel Green Park.  Two ideas emerged:  a new music group Highway 52 (5 members) was suggested.  They will perform Sunday Jan. 19 at 1 pm at Southern Appalachian Brewery on Locust and board members were urged to attend.  Also, Myra suggested perhaps a local choir since it is a weekend of Passover and Palm Sunday.  Mike said he would check with his wife, a member of the FCC choir, to see if there was interest in having a subset of singers.

 

Summer 2025 concerts:  Four of these are already set.  Food trucks still need to be lined up for each of them.

 

Other 2025 events:  Mike mentioned an Earth Day naturalist event with Eric Young at (probably) Laurel Green Park.  The plan would be to have it be intergenerational.

 

Next Meeting:  February 11

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:58.

Submitted by Acting Secretary

Mike Erwin