A seemingly innocuous agenda item at Monday night’s Elon town council meeting ended up spawning a half-hour of conversation among council members and town staff over whether the town should allow a non-profit organization, the Alamance County Service League, to plug into the town’s electricity during a proposed May 5K run.
Kristen Ray, president of the Alamance County Service League, got the discussion started when she asked the town to co-sponsor an upcoming 5K race, now scheduled for May 3.
Stressing that she was not seeking a financial contribution, but rather as a part of that sponsorship, Ray hoped the group could access the town’s electrical outlets on a downtown plaza off Williamson Avenue.
Calling the request a “no brainer,” council member Stephanie Bourland pressed town manager Richard Roedner about why the council even needed to consider the request for such a minimal degree of town assistance.
Roedner stressed that the council had just recently indicated that it didn’t want the electrical outlets on the plaza being used for non-town events. Specifically, just in December, the council adopted a policy on downtown facilities use that states: “No amplified music or use of power will be permitted at Downtown Facilities unless the use is during a Town sponsored or Town co-sponsored event.”
Both mayor Emily Sharpe and Bourland continued to press about allowing use of the plaza’s electrical outlets for the 5K event. “We should not be quibbling over using electricity for a good clean family event,” Bourland said, terming the discussion which lasted almost a half hour “silly.”
At one point Sharpe said she would write a check for $10 to cover the minimal amount of electricity that she expected the non-profit group would use on the town’s tab. Similarly, Bourland pulled out a $10 bill to offer to finance the electricity for the group’s 5K.
Sharpe termed the 5K race a “public event,” but Roedner said the 5K run was a “private event,” being put on by a private, non-profit organization. The town’s current policy, as Roedner said he understood to be the council’s intention in December was to preclude the use of the town’s electricity unless the town is a sponsor or cosponsor of the event, which he said is why the organization’s request was placed on the council’s agenda Monday night.
Roedner expressed concern that the council would be “opening up a can of worms” if it allows private groups to have access to the town’s power.
Ultimately, by consensus, the council agreed to have Roedner return to the council next month with a revision to the policy with what Sharpe and Bourland said would be a more precise set of criteria.
Arts Council also seeks expanded participation by the town
Also on the council’s Monday agenda had been another almost half-hour presentation by Tammy Cobb, executive director of Alamance Arts, who wanted to explore various “partnerships,” which she hoped would include funding, for additional art-related projects within the town.
Alamance Arts is physically located in Graham, but Cobb stressed that, for instance, a work of public art valued at $10,000 had been placed in Elon.
Cobb cited an example from Raleigh where the city council has reportedly designated $5 per person to be put toward the arts in the capital city.
Cobb also cited a recent 12-week-long exhibit at the council’s Graham location of the work of Charles Schulz, which she said had increased foot traffic at the arts council by 40 percent. Perhaps, she suggested, it might be feasible that similar future exhibits could be located within Elon’s jurisdiction to provide mutually-beneficial results for the downtown.
Asked by councilman Quinn Ray how much Cobb was wanting the town to contribute, Cobb demurred on providing a specific dollar amount.
Last year, the arts organization began asking local municipalities to include the non-profit organization in their budgets. Most did not, although Burlington and Mebane did.
Sharpe said that the town’s ability to finance any new contributions was limited by the fact that “we do subsidize two large non-profit organizations,” apparently referring to Elon University and the Twin Lakes retirement community, whose large tracts of land are largely exempt from town property taxes.
Mayor pro tem Monti Allison also ascertained from Cobb that both of those non-profit organizations do already contribute to Alamance Arts on their own.
Sharpe also suggested that Cobb make a similar presentation to the town’s Arts Advisory Board. That advisory panel is tasked with selecting works of art and working in cooperation with other town advisory boards to develop a public art program for the town of Elon.
The council took no action on whether, or how, to partner with, or providing any financing to, the Alamance Arts group.
