Residents’ skills needed
to see project through
IN THE CITY
by Chris Beaulieu
This past November, the City Council placed a special advisory referendum question on the ballot for Presque Isle residents. The question, “Do you favor the construction of a new community center to replace the current facility?” was asked in an effort to help gauge the community’s support of such a project. That support proved clear with citizens voting in favor of the project by a 2-to-1 ratio.
With this information, the City Council was able to complete several important next steps. They first approved funding in 2013 to get a professional fund-raising firm on board to assist with the capital campaign. They then created a Community Center Fund-raising Committee (CCFC). This committee, headed by Steve and Lucy Richard, includes Kevin Sipe, AJ Cloukey and Mike Chasse, with Sonja Plummer-Morgan and myself, as ex-officio members. Tasked with raising a minimum of half the estimated $7.5 million total project cost, a great deal needs to be done. The difficult charge of this committee will ultimately decide the fate of this project.
The first of many steps have been taken by the CCFC. A “Request for Qualifications” has been put out seeking a professional fundraising firm to lead the way in this effort. Firms have until the end of the month to submit their information. From there, the Committee will choose a select number of firms to interview, with the plan to have a recommendation to the City Council for their March meeting.
Although currently only a five-person board, the CCFC will grow exponentially as this process moves forward. Dozens of people will be needed to help in a variety of areas as many sub-committees will be created to focus on specific tasks. Potential sub-committees might include Public Relations, Grant Search/Writing, Events, Alumni or Solicitations. Over the next several weeks, the Committee will be reaching out to community members in search of varying skills and interests to help build these sub-committees. “Many hands make light work” a term coined by playwright and poet, John Heywood, rings so true in this situation.
This Community Center project will truly take a community effort to see fruition, achieve our goal, and make this facility a reality for our community. With a professional fund-raising company on board we will begin to put structure and planning in place to guide the city’s fund-raising efforts. The committee hopes to call on many of you in the coming year to help us in our efforts. With your expertise and time we will endeavor to raise the money needed to make a new community center a reality.
For questions, to share your thoughts and/or to help become a part of this project, please contact me at 764-2545 or email at cbeaulieu@presqueisleme.us.
Chris Beaulieu is director of Presque Isle Recreation & Parks.
