Before we could decide whether to continue in the Main Street Program we needed to determine the direction our fund raising should take.  If we were to continue in the Main Street Program, we would have to continue to raise the majority of our funds for administrative costs such as the employment of a paid manager and the running of an office which would not leave a lot of money to put back into the community as development.  While spending our money this way in the past made sense because of what we learned from the technical services provided by the Main Street Program, the supporters of our organization had reached the conclusion that we needed to put a larger portion of our funds back into the direct development of the community.  We had reached a point of diminishing returns with the Main Street Program.  We decided to become a volunteer, board run organization and we would not be hiring a paid manager for the organization or for any program in the organization.

Did this mean that we would abandon the Main Street Program?  We didn’t necessarily want to do that but we considered our mission to be more important than any one program in the organization.  Since we had asked for and been granted a three month leave of absence from the Main Street Program without losing our membership, we called Jim Engle, the State Coordinator to see if any compromise could be reached.  One of their main requirements is the hiring of a paid manager and he was pessimistic that any agreement to the contrary could be reached.  Through our discussions, we pointed out that we were not the only small community that is in the same crisis mode with the program right now and most are there for the same reason, lack of funding. 

He stated that he had been in discussion with the higher-ups in the Department of Commerce to see if a Main Street “Lite” program could be developed to address the problem of the smaller communities.  He asked us to extend our leave of absence for another three months to let him see if this program could be developed.  As of this writing we are still in limbo regarding the Main Street Program.  If the “Lite” program can be developed, we will be in, if not, we will be out.  Even if we are out, we will be able to maintain our ties to other Main Street communities and remain a member of the Wisconsin Main Street Alliance.  These ties will continue to help us with downtown development.

Where does our mission statement take us from here?

TO BE CONTINUED

Contact us at revitalizegillett.org or 855-1554/855-1888 with comments or suggestions.