The Tofte Town Board and members of the Birch Grove Foundation and Birch Grove Community School met on Thursday, October 3 to discuss changing the way the Birch Grove Community Center will be run in the near future.
Under the current agreement with the township of Tofte, which owns the facility, the Foundation manages programs and businesses renting space at the center while the Birch Grove School Board manages the school. When shortfalls in funding occur, as happened last year, the township has been asked to help make up the difference. That constant tug for more money and ongoing decisions about who is responsible when problems arise was the driving force for the October 3 meeting.
Concerning the current contract, Supervisor Paul James said, “The original contract has been worked and reworked so many times that it needs to be scrapped and now we need to make an agreement that works for everyone.”
Shrinking student population at Birch Grove Community School has led to budget problems for the entire facility. Currently the charter school has 22 students but needs 30 or more to be self-sufficient, said Judy Motschenbacher, a longtime supporter and board member of the Birch Grove School.
“If we had more students, we wouldn’t be here. But without the school, we won’t get young families to stay here. We (the community) need to commit to building better jobs and making housing affordable for young families,” Motschenbacher said, describing a Catch-22 experienced by many small communities throughout the country.
Last year there was a $10,243.17 shortfall in the budget and Tofte supervisors said they felt as if the township was being asked to make up for the shortage.
Currently, funding the community center has been a collaborative effort. Besides rent paid by the school, the town of Tofte pays for heat, garbage removal, snowplowing, lawn care and other major maintenance needs. The township of Schroeder supports the senior program and the health program, while the township of Lutsen supports programming and facility needs and Cook County pays for the senior lunch cook, and also helps pay for programming and facility needs. Donations and lease payments make up the rest of the revenues.
James read a statement outlining the township wishes: “It is the desire of the Tofte Town Board of Supervisors to enter into an agreement with the Birch Grove Foundation to act on behalf of the town board to manage and oversee all rentals, activities, programs, maintenance and ongoing improvements at the Birch Grove Community Center.”
The Birch Grove Foundation had come to a similar conclusion and in its statement they asked to become managers of “the Birch Grove Community Center and Grounds as the acting agent for Tofte Township.”
Under the Foundation’s proposal, it would look at balancing the budget with increased use of the hostel, kitchen, community room and other shared spaces; expand community gardens; build a greenhouse with a business plan; and hire a part-time director and part- to full-time hostel/ greenhouse staff. This would be part of a three-year strategic plan that calls for increasing senior programs, expanding the clinic use, increasing the outdoor recreation facilities and finding space for mental health, social services, etc., and adding online classes at the center, among other things.
Attorneys for both the foundation and the township will meet in two weeks and make recommendations for a permanent agreement between the two parties and the school.
As far as Birch Grove Community Center’s importance to the growth and health of the community, all parties agreed it was the hub of the West End and needed to be maintained and improved.
Last year the Senior Lunch program served about 1,200 meals, with an average of 24 seniors taking part at each meal. The foundation also hosted two boot hockey tournaments and held a grand opening with 150 people attending to celebrate completion of projects funded by the countywide 1 percent recreation and infrastructure tax such as the new tennis court, hockey rink and playground equipment at Birch Grove. About 200 people attended this fall’s Okee Dokee Brothers concert. About 33 children and 48 people attended the Winter Wonderland festivities and more than 400 pizzas were served over the course of the summer on Wednesday nights. T’ai Chi Chi and Zumba classes were also held at the center. In addition, space was leased (or loaned) to operate the youth hostel, Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, higher education, AARP driver safety and tax service, Bible club, parties, Bluefin Bay daycare, public meetings and open gym.
Tofte Supervisor Jim King said, “We need to start over. Look at it this way: if we were going to plan a community center and a school, how would we build it and what would it look like? There needs to be short-term and long-term vision. The township needs to step back and let the school and the foundation work it out.”
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