Cultural Council

FITCHBURG CITY CLERK Fitchburg Cultural Council Mar 18 10:09 am Monthly Meeting Monday, June 23, 2025 MEETING MINUTES In attendance: Joe Bowen (chair), Shara Osgood (secretary), Liz Murphy (treasurer), Dan Dow (Grant Coordinator), Mike Amedeo, Jen Hemenway, Tamar Russell Brown, Cie Moran, Ricardo Barros, Catherine Healy (view recording for details of meeting) CALL TO ORDER: Joe called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS: Joe spoke: Welcome, mission, public meeting guidelines & protocols Public Comments: No comments. No one is online. NEW MEMBERS: Sarah Beth Wheeler has been submitted for appointment to join in July 2025 VOTE: GRANT REPORT; FY24 Grants have been accounted and year closed. FY25 Grants – 2 grant amendment requests  FY25-LCC-103074 – Substantial changes resulting in an entirely different project – Not approved  FY25-LCC-98280 – Requested change of location due to scheduling conflicts – Approved w/request to confirm venue availability for future applications. 66/73 grantees have submitted paperwork to receive funds 6 submitted final reports Work underway to make the processing of grant payments more efficient for the next season Motion: Jen Second: Ricardo In Favor: 9 Opposed: 0 VOTE: TREASURERS REPORT: 2 items in local funds have new activity – deposits likely related to the Winter Bazaar. Noted that those deposits and others need clarification as they may have been put in the wrong accounts. Liz will follow-up with the Mayor & Treasurer’s office. Councilors speculated on and clarified specific items to contribute to the conversation. Updates to be provided at the next meeting. Grantees continue to submit agreements with 14 new payments processed in May. Several more are in process for payment in June/July. Local funds account balance: $3,993.47 FY22 Grant account balance: $1,085.32 FY23 Grant account balance: $8,441,33 FY24 Grant account balance: $9,184.00 FY25 Grant account balance: $42,270.00 Total of all accounts: $64,974.12 Motion: Mike Second: Catherine In Favor: 9 Opposed: 0 VOTE: MEETING MINUTES – May 30, 2025: Motion: - Liz 2nd: Mike In Favor:9 Opposed: 0 VOTE: FY26 Grant Funding Process The Executive Summary of the new grant review procedure was presented by Ricardo w/supplementary contribution/clarifications from Mike  Discussed the mechanics of the process, not the judging of the value of awards  Ratings: Alignment with FCC mission, guidelines & priorities – rated 1-10 w/10 being fully aligned  An application’s score equals the median score from all individual councilor scores.  Funding: test to determine if all “10” rated applications can be fully funded, with leftover dollars to fully fund the next lowest ratings to the threshold defined by the council. If not, the council will adjust award amounts with the goal of providing a higher percentage of funds to the “10” rated applications and evenly distribute leftover funds to those with lower ratings.  Setting a maximum award, as has been done in prior years, remains an option. This new process allows for funding flexibility. (refer to video for detailed discussion) Vote on scoring system: Motion: Mike Second: Dan In Favor: 9 Opposed: 0 To Adjourn at 5:57PM: Motion: Ricardo Second: Mike In Favor: 9 Opposed: 0 Submitted by Joe Bowen