10-22-97 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 22,1997 the Fire Department. Fahey felt the Council should move forward on the issue and that the voters would hold the Council accountable if they did not agree. In response to Mr. Plisner's comments about the display case at the City Center, Jean Donovan of the Historical Society pointed out that there are a number of artifacts in the display which came from Little Canada. Donovan also pointed out that every Canadian Days for the past 10 years the Historical Society has a booth at which they display artifacts, family histories, City records, eta The Historical Society will be holding the Isiah Gervais family reunion later this week. The Society used to have a program for 3`d and 5°i grade school children, but had to discontinue it because of handicapped accessibility issues at the Old Fire Hall. Donovan also reported that the Historical Society has worked with Scouts, retirement homes, and has had bus tours stop to visit their site. Donovan estimated that they have had over 1,000 visitors to their site in one year's time, but can no longer welcome these visitors due to the accessibility issues with the building. Donovan reported that the Historical Society would like to instill a sense of pride in the students in the community. She further noted that they advertise their existence on Cable TV and welcomes anyone who stops by to visit. Morelan stated that he had a good understanding of what the Historical Society does as do many citizens of the community. Morelan pointed out that the Historical Society started out in someone's garage as did the Little Canada Recreation Association. The Historical Society was ultimately moved to the old fire hall, and Morelan felt would be happy to stay there if it were not for the code deficiencies with that use in that particular building. Morelan noted that all successful organizations start somewhere. Morelan felt that the Historical Society belongs in the City Center so that all citizens can have access to it and be a part of it. Morelan stated that the City has taken the Historical Society's home away from them, and he feels the City is compelled to ~ive them another home. Morelan indicated that the Council and staff has tried to find some lower cost alternatives over the past year and half, but none have been found, and no alternative su~;gestions have been made. Plisner stated that it is his feeling that the $300,000 plus expenditure is not warranted at this time and pointed out that renting space for the Historical Society would be less expensive. Plisner asked what the Historical Society has been doin~ to raise their own funds. Plisner felt it was a bi~ leap to spend $300,000 plus for an organization that has a$2,000 bud~;et. l2