Several board members from W.E. Connect (formerly called the Birch Grove Foundation), an arm of the Tofte Township that oversees programs at the Birch Grove Community building, met with Tofte supervisors in a special meeting on Monday, August 22.
“We aren’t here asking for more money,” said Jim King. “We are here to start a conversation about where W.E. Connect is going and how we can best serve the West End.”
W.E. Connect is requesting $12,500 for 2017 from the town of Tofte to manage the facility. For months now W.E. Connect has been meeting with business people in the West End, nonprofits, and the Cook County administrator during a strategic planning process facilitated by a consultant hired by a grant they had received, said Coralyn Koschinska.
One thing discovered, said Koschinska, is that even though the West End shares a geographic identity on a map, “there is not a lot of cohesion between the townships. You [Tofte] own the building. I’m not sure you can count on Lutsen or Schroeder for financial support for the building or programs.”
While W.E. Connect has been in place for about 30 years, it operates without policies or procedures, said Koschinska. “We need to develop goals, a work plan. We also have two main challenges, one is financial and the other is manpower, and I’m not so sure the lack of manpower isn’t as big as the financial challenges. The consultant we hired said we should have 11 people on the board. In January three of us will be going off the board because our terms are up and that will leave five board members.”
And while money wasn’t the main topic, Koschinska said the program had enough funding to operate into the spring, but then added, “We will run out of money then and who knows?”
Towards that end Koschinska said W.E. Connect received $15,000 from the county last year and they would request more this year, but that funding wouldn’t be known until the county board sets its levy.
Last year W.E. Connect, which recieved approximately $18,000 from the township for management of the Birch Grove center, served almost 3,000 people, said King, who listed some of the programs offered: senior lunches, recreational opportunities and fitness classes, a tax aid program, Ruby’s Pantry, computers and Wi-Fi, room rentals for meetings, an ice rink, outdoor wood fired pizza meals offered in the summer, etc.
“You can see we are more than senior lunches, a polling place and pickle ball,” King said.
“What were the reasons given by Lutsen and Schroeder for not wanting to give to W.E. Connect?” Tofte Supervisor Jeanne Larson asked.
“There was some confusion in Lutsen about the difference between the school and W.E. Connect. That needs to be better defined. In Schroeder, if you aren’t putting your money into a culvert or a road, forget it,” said Koschinska.
“What does W.E. Connect want to be when it grows up?” Larson asked.
“We need to know what the township wants. We could disband, the organization,” said King. “We could cut back to three days a week, add membership fees for those who use the facilities that come from outside the township. We are looking for ideas, options and structure.”
One idea is to set up a structure that could operate as a senior/youth center, and that organization could then be funded by Tofte township levy funds. Under the current state laws, Tofte can only give a maximum of $10,000 in total to all of the nonprofits that apply for funding.
“Once you establish a steady flow of funding that you can legally give, then you can hire a director and they can seek grants and other sources of funding,” Koschinska said.
Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA) Director Mary Somnis has offered her support to help the board restructure W.E. Connect, said her daughter, Tofte Supervisor Sarah Somnis.
“The board wants you to know that we will do what we can to make this work, even if that means we disband,” Koschinska said.
Before anything like that happens the Tofte Township supervisors agreed to meet with W.E. Connect board members again on September 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the Tofte Town Hall.
Leave a Reply