Petersburgh And PVMCC Come To Agreement

by Alex Brooks
A Special Meeting was held on January 7 by the Petersburgh Town Board to discuss the Town’s partnership with the PVMCC on running the Veterans Memorial Hall. Jeanne Ferland, Asa Zoesman, Joan Buzerak and Denise Church were there to speak for the PVMCC.
[private]Supervisor Krahforst started by noting the Town’s costs for the building. The Town pays for the heat, which came to about $6,500 in 2012. It pays about $1,100 for electricity and $3,300 for cleaning. With the Water District bill of about $320 and the Security company’s annual monitoring fee of $240, this all comes to about $11,500. In addition to that, the Town is making payments on a bond used to renovate the building a few years ago, which is $21,500 per year.
The PVMCC agreed to pay the Town $2,000 for the first year or two, which they have done. But the expectation was that they would be able to pay the Town more when they were able to get more rentals. Jeanne Ferland, President of the PVMCC, suggested that they pay the $2,000 plus 10% of gross rental income, which this year would give the Town an additional $1,000.
The Board was agreeable to that idea, and the agreement will be renewed pretty much as it was last year except for the increased payment to the Town.
The PVMCC also gave the Board a report on its finances.  The largest piece of the rental income comes from Faith Baptist Church, which paid about $7,300 in 2012 for the use of the Hall. Other private individuals and organizations rented the Hall for a total of about $2,300 over the course of the year.
The PVMCC runs quite a few programs in the Hall, including the Music and Art Café series, teen programs, dances, zumba, yoga and Veterans café. These take in slightly more than they cost so they generate a small amount of additional income. They also get occasional grants or donations. This year they received a $1,000 grant from Stewart’s and a donation of about $1,700 for a new sound system.
The PVMCC’s biggest expense is insurance, which was $3,720 last year. In addition to paying some of the rent over to the Town, they pay for the telephone, $195, and some of the routine maintenance on the building, which last year amounted to about $465. They also advertised for hall rentals in the Eastwick Press for $340 and undertook to replace some of the tables and chairs used in the Hall at a cost of several thousand dollars.
Everyone seemed pleased with the new agreement and were trading ideas for new activities in the Hall and how to improve management of the Hall.[/private]