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MINUTES OF THE
<br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING
<br />Monday, June 8, 2020
<br />6:00 o’clock p.m.
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<br />Page 3 of 21
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<br />Jeanne Brustad, past-President of the Gillespie Center, noted Mindy Anderson is the Gillespie Center’s
<br />full-time Director and has been with them over 13 years. Greg Sletten has many roles including Rental
<br />Coordinator, Cook, and Chief Custodian. The Center has provided a variety of meals for several years.
<br />Currently they serve a hearty noon meal for $5 every Wednesday for anyone in the community, although
<br />they have been closed since March. On June 17 they will have take-out dinners available every
<br />Wednesday. They have the usual activities senior centers have, including card games and exercise groups.
<br />They also take trips to various places in the community and surrounding areas. She noted the reason for a
<br />senior center is to give retired community members, as well as other members, a place to gather and keep
<br />active. She stated Gillespie Center would not survive without volunteers. Volunteer opportunities include
<br />sitting at the front desk, which is basically the face of the Center, as they sign up visitors for various
<br />programs, answer the phone, and help with questions visitors may have. Volunteers are also able to move
<br />tables, chairs, and equipment required for various activities. She noted some volunteers are from the
<br />Westonka School’s Honor Society, DECA, and sports kids who help serve food or help with Santa’s
<br />Hidden Treasures. Activities include: author talks, defensive driving class, Happy Feet Footcare visits, a
<br />ukulele group, movie time, monthly casino trips, estate planning assistance, and weekly square dancing.
<br />They also go out in the community in a variety of ways such as the Gillespie Singers, who go to various
<br />nursing homes. Every third Wednesday, 6-12 musicians from all over the state come to the Gillespie
<br />Center and jam during lunch, using both their voices and instruments. As far as attendance on those
<br />Wednesdays, it can range from 65-150 people. There are several fundraisers throughout the year
<br />including the Holiday Boutique, where shoppers from all over the area can do their Christmas shopping. It
<br />is managed completely by volunteers and counts for 6-8% of the Center’s total yearly income. Hidden
<br />Treasures is housed in the lower level of the building and is similar to a garage sale. The crochet, knitting,
<br />and other craft groups also meet in that area. Santa’s Hidden Treasures is held once a year, where
<br />parents/grandparents bring kids to the Center, the kids take a picture with Santa, and then can go shopping
<br />with 50-cent coupons. The kids can buy things for their parents, grandparents, and siblings as gifts.
<br />School kids are involved in that activity as far as shopping, wrapping gifts, etc. Several times each year
<br />they host large family dinners with entertainment and sometimes dancing. They have other funding such
<br />as volunteers picking up day-old bread and sweets at Cub Foods and having it on display for community
<br />members with a suggested donation. Since the shutdown, it has been operating as a drive-thru every
<br />morning, and leftovers are taken to the food shelf in Mound. That activity generally provides between 10-
<br />12% of fundraising monies. She stated most senior centers are funded by the cities they serve in
<br />Minnesota. The City either houses them in their building, as in Minnetonka, or provides another building.
<br />No city provides their support, as they are a unique community comprised of several cities. The Gillespie
<br />Center has no mortgage since the building was built in 2001, due to community fundraising efforts and a
<br />matching grant by Bill Gillespie. She gave a brief history regarding Center funding. She said the members
<br />of the Center were tired of always fundraising to pay for everything. Members were looking for a way to
<br />not constantly worry about paying the light bill. In 2011, an endowment fund was created. Thanks to the
<br />Cities of Mound, Spring Park, and Minnetrista, there is a 10-year contract with them; and they have just
<br />completed year eight of that contract. Because of that contract, the Center has $1,157, 371.60 as of April
<br />30, 2020, in the Charles Schwab Endowment Fund. Those funds are not touched. According to the way it
<br />is set up, the Center is able to use 4% of the funds/income each year to help with the running of the
<br />facility. There are no plans to use that until the contract is over and hopefully not until that 4% will
<br />completely fund the facility. The way the contract works is that the Center fundraises and is required to
<br />make income of over $110,000 each year to put into the endowment fund. They have done so for eight
<br />years. The three cities provide the Center with $105,000, which is the cost to run the building every year,
<br />based on the number they established in the beginning of the contract. That money is used to pay
<br />expenses which includes salary, heating/cooling of the building, snow-plowing, garbage pickup,
<br />maintenance and other building expenses, which add up to about $105,000 yearly. She stated the situation
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