SUPPORT SOUGHT FOR “FOUNDING FATHERS”

WAITSBURG - At last week's City Council meeting city administrator Randy Hinchliffe requested the council award artist Jeffrey Hill $20,000 - an amount he anticipates will repaid through grants and community donations -- to allow Hill to start on his "Founding Fathers" sculpture. That motion was made, but died after failing to receive a second. Instead, council passed and approved a motion to support fundraising efforts to secure the piece contingent upon cash payments being paid from additional funds only, and not the city budget.

"Because we had appointed an Arts Commission and defined a process I felt I had to squelch my personal opinion and honor that process unless we had a very, very good reason not to," said councilman Kuykendall. Kuykendall said that though he is a "vehement supporter" of fundraising for the third piece and will be pitching in himself, he was not comfortable spending out of budget, a position echoed by councilman House.

"It's going to take a lot of little things to make this work," said Hinchliffe. Hill needed at least $15,000 by the end of the month to start the sculpture to meet the May Celebration Days deadline. Hinchliffe thinks a combination of raffle ticket sales, donations and outstanding verbal commitments, along with a $3,000 grant from Pacific Power will put the total collected very close to that amount.

Hichliffe plans to request a $30,000 Community Facility Grant next month and is looking into the possibility of qualifying for state tourism dollars. Artist Jeffrey Hill is actively involved in the fundraising efforts and joined Hinchliffe in selling raffle tickets at Sunday's Pioneer Fall Festival. Hinchliffe said the community will need to step forward with financial support in order to keep the project on track.