Minutes of the Semi-annual meeting of the West Liberty Business Association held on April 10, 2007, at the Liberty Gathering Place at 6:30 PM with Bob Rabenstein as the “Master of Ceremonies”.

There were 17 members present plus Candace Watson the speaker for the evening.

Willie Yoder gave the invocation. Following the invocation a buffet dinner with a choice of steak or chicken, baked potato, green beans & pie was enjoyed by all.

Candace Watson, Director of Logan County Convention & Tourist Bureau gave a very informative presentation about what the Bureau has done and will be doing to attract people from outside of Logan County to visit the various points of interest in Logan County. She described how the various brochures about attractions in Logan County are distributed. She said that West Liberty was one of the top 3 attractions in Logan County along with Zanesfield & the Indian Lake area. She also discussed how much the Honda Homecoming means to Logan County in terms of attracting tourism and dollars and what is being done to ensure the success of that event and encourage its growth. She encouraged us to let them know any time we had an event they could help promote and they would be glad to help.

Bob Rabenstein, Treasurer, gave the financial report covering the period from April 10, 2006, through April 10, 2007. The present balance is $9,867.65. He also talked about a couple of recent expenditures made to maintain the quality appearance of the downtown area. One of which is the purchase of 5 new benches for the next 3 years to add to the present number of benches as well as replace some that have been damaged or missing. It is anticipated that the new benches will cost approximately $200.00 each and they will be aluminum that should better withstand the elements. The present benches were placed downtown about 5 years ago and at that time numbered 15. The other expenditure is the addition of 3 more trash containers downtown at a cost of about $560.00 each. These will be place primarily around the Ice Cream Shoppe on the south west corner of Detroit & Baird Streets. He felt that the Christmas decorations might be good for another year or two. However, the replacement of those decorations will be fairly expensive.

Kathy Lowry reported on the activities of the Promotion Committee. There have been 13,500 West Liberty brochures printed and distributed during the past year and a half. They anticipate a new, up dated brochure to be printed this fall. 2,000 brochures have been distributed in the packets for the Honda Homecoming distributed by the Logan Chamber of Commerce. They will also place brochures at Young’s Dairy Barn and the Depot in Urbana. A supply is available at the Library in West Liberty. All that needs to be done is stop in during Library hours and get a supply and sign the sheet to help them keep track of where the brochures are being used. Several up-coming events are: The Fire Sale on May 19^th. The only Business Association involvement will be furnishing porta-johns and the banner. The Business Association will not sponsor the event. The Paint the Castles and Town will be on June 23^rd. An Ice Cream Social will be held on July 14^th. We will again have the Pork Dinner at the Lions Club Labor Day Weekend celebration and the Autumn Fest will be in October.

Bob Rabenstein noted that the terms on the Board of Directors for Mark Nelson & Steve Mast have expired. However, both are eligible for another 3 year term. He encouraged other nominations from the floor. Failing to get any additional nominations, Mark Nelson & Steve Mast were each elected unanimously to additional 3 year terms.

Jay King from the Historical Society reported on progress for the restoration of the City Hall. They currently are interviewing firms for the completion of a feasibility study to make sure the project is possible considering community support and other financial support that may be available. They would like to expand the number of people working on the project. One of the interesting things is that when this project started it was believed that the town owned half the building and Liberty Township owned a half. However, after an attorney did a search of the records it was discovered that it actually belongs to the people of West Liberty.

James White gave a brief report on Piatt Castle, specifically the stream restoration project. This project was expected to be done this spring but it was discovered that a permit from EPA was required and that it would take several weeks thus missing the “window of opportunity” this spring. However, it is anticipated that this project can be completed in the fall of 2007 or the spring of 2008. He said that even the State of Ohio is looking forward to the completion of this project. Someone asked how the archeological project was coming along. Jim said that it is continuing and they are planning to restore the circle garden in front of the castle this spring.

The meeting ended with the drawing for the 5 plants used as decorations on the tables.

Respectfully,

Stephen H. Mast, Secretary