Sheldon, Iowa – The Crossroads Pavilion Board met in regular session Wednesday, December 13th at 6:00 p.m. in the Sherwood Boardroom at the Crossroads Pavilion Event Center. Present were Brittany Behrendsen, Pete Hamill, Marv Van Riesen, Sean Hutchison, Lora Vande Brake, Rob Roozeboom, Peter Wagner, and Tricia Meendering.
Several items were reviewed as old business. The calendar of confirmed bookings is filling up for the upcoming year and beyond. It was decided that the Sheldon Community High School’s 2019 Prom will be allowed to be held at the Pavilion as a reciprocity event on April 27th of 2019. The Pavilion’s payment policy was reviewed. Currently, a 50% deposit is due at the time of booking with the balance due 10 days prior to the event. The board had discussed making final payment due 20 days prior to an event but it was determined that it is more efficient for billing purposes to leave it at 10 days, and since there have been no issues with payment as of yet this was agreed upon as acceptable. However, no dates will be held until the 50% deposit is received and failure to comply will result in forfeiture of the event date. The electrical upgrade has been completed, eliminating any concern about power issues.
Listed as new business on the agenda was an concern about the ice machine’s inadequacy for larger events. Ice is being bagged several times a week prior to big events, and it has still not been able to keep up in some cases. An ice machine was not in original plans for the Pavilion so there was not a great deal of space available in the kitchen to hold one. Currently, there is a double freezer, which could be replaced with a single freezer to allow for more space for a larger ice machine. Cost of the current ice machine and freezer was $2,400 and $2,500 respectively. The could be traded back in for partial credit of $750 and $1,000, and replaced with the proposed new equipment for $4,000 and $1,900, with the new ice machine having three times the capacity of the old one. The question was raised as to if it might be better to have an ice cooler with pre-bagged ice that was delivered, like those at grocery stores, since this would cut down on the energy it would take to have an ice machine constantly running. That option will be investigated and then a determination will be made as to which option will better serve the needs of the Pavilion’s events.
The July 2018 – June 2019 budget was a topic of lengthy discussion. Hutchison stated that he has advised all City departments that there will be no budget increases in the upcoming year so adjustments to current budgets will need to be made to cover operating costs. It was difficult to create a concrete budget given there is no history to base it on as of yet. Hutchison did advise that the budget could be amended as necessary throughout the year, and given the nature of the Center, that will likely be the case. That being said, the current budget for the Pavilion was submitted with $351,019 in expenses and projected revenue of $274,766, leaving the Pavilion $76,253 in the red. A promotions subcommittee was established, with Wager, Hamill, Roozeboom, Behrendsen, and Meendering setting a first meeting date of January 9, 2018 at 1:30 pm.
To help generate additional revenue, the board continued discussion on the topic of creating “Friends of the Pavilion” with different levels with set up based on annual donations. In the more immediate future, Roozeboom reported on research he’s been doing to set up an Accessibility Expo and trying to get area businesses that deal directly with mobility needs involved. He is going to continue to work on that with other board members in an attempt to get an Expo organized in time for Summer 2018. Other events being worked on include the possibility of a murder mystery event, date nights set for the month of February, and classical music evenings.
The next regular meeting of the Crossroads Pavilion Board is set for Wednesday, January 10th, 2018, and will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the Sherwood Boardroom at the Crossroads Pavilion Event Center.
