Calling it the “elephant in the room that we have avoided talking about for too long,” Tofte Supervisor Paul James said maybe it was time for the Birch Grove Community School to pay its fair share for the space it leases from the Town of Tofte.
“I’m probably going to receive about 100 phone calls for saying that, but it needs to be said. I want people to know that I have always supported the school and always voted to back the school and I sent my kids to Birch Grove and they got an excellent education, but something needs to be done. The bills keep going up and money gets tighter and tighter. We have to figure out a better way or different way to do things to pay the bills other than going out and always asking the residents of Tofte for more money,” James said.
James’s comments came on the heels of a report given by Birch Grove Foundation (BGF) director Patty Nordahl.
Nordahl came before the board on Thursday, July 11, 2013 to give an update on the activities at Birch Grove Community Center and to tell the board about the financial struggles the foundation is having.
The Foundation, Nordahl said, has cut expenses to the bone, but the profit and loss overview she presented to the board from July 2012 through June 2013 showed a loss of $12,880.16.
Nordahl presented some short-term solutions ranging from having Tofte take over more of the expenses to having Tofte be the landlord, receiving lease income and paying the foundation to act as building manager—instead of the current arrangement in which the foundation pays the township $12,000 annually to Tofte to lease the building. One option considered was ramping up revenue from the youth hostel operated at the community center.
Long-term solutions, said Nordahl, include, “increasing the use of the facility. This is dependent on space constraints and shared use agreement with the school. Currently we have very limited space.”
Future greenhouse rentals and sales of products, along with community garden rentals also should bring in more income, said Nordahl.
The senior apartments that might be built on a second story would also benefit the foundation and school, Nordahl said.
“The concept of senior housing on a second floor was based on the idea that the entire facility could benefit. We need to think about how to fix the deteriorating heating system, alarm system, plumbing etc. concurrently with any planning for an addition. We need to think about how to reorganize the first floor space into separate school and community space for security and boundary reasons.
“Please involve us and the school in the planning process if it [building the senior housing above the school] ends up going to the next step,” Nordahl said to the board.
Supervisor James noted that the school uses about 80 percent of the Birch Grove building space and “pays about 33 cents a foot.”
James said, “ You [the BG Foundation] don’t have enough space left to lease to make money. The problem is that they [the school] have about 30 kids and they need 50 to break even. And right now there are very few kids from Tofte at Birch Grove. But, and I want to stress this, I don’t dislike the school. I want the school to succeed. We just need to figure out how to pay for it.”
Nordahl at no time said that the school was a problem, but said that if the Birch Grove Foundation finances didn’t get better, “We might have to become a volunteer foundation.”
Don Fehr, an audience member, said he had been asked to attend the meeting by absent Tofte supervisor Jim King. He said, “I’ve spent 37 years in property management. I started in Pine County and ended my career in Scott County. If I’m an expert in anything—and I’m not saying that I’m an expert in anything—it would be in leases. You have to get paid a fair value for your space. I might be able to assist the Birch Grove Foundation if they want my help.”
Nordahl said she would be glad to get assistance from Fehr.
Several days after the township meeting Judy Motschenbacher, one of the founding members of the Birch Grove Charter School and the Birch Grove Foundation told the Cook County News-Herald that the school was solid through grades 1, 2, and 3, but has struggled with keeping enough kids in grades 4 and 5.
“We have 20 kids in preschool and these kids come ready for kindergarten. We are on good standing financially with the state of Minnesota and Tofte has always been a strong supporter of the school. The school pays $36,000 a year for its lease. I’m not sure how the Birch Grove Foundation would make that up if the school went away.
“Right now there are growing pains. We have new people on the foundation and the school board but they are good people. If we want young families to continue to come and live here we have to have the school. I truly believe there is room for everybody. We need both the school and the foundation to succeed,” said Motschenbacher.
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