Amador County – The Ione Community Preservation Project was discussed last week at the Ione City Council meeting. City Manager Kim Kerr said a community committee recommended that the city council set up a non-profit organization with a separate elected or appointed board. The committee also wished that “there would be an ex-officio seat on the board for a member of the city council to be on that board.” She said there were 15 people at the meeting, all interested in being involved. The committee met in early June and recommended the city set up its Main Street program as a non-profit organization, Kerr said, with a separate Board of Directors, elected or appointed by the organization’s members. They also recommended that the City Council have the committee create its Articles of Incorporation. In public comment, Jack Brotherton said he thought there would be a non-voting advisory committee that governs the nonprofit organization. Kerr said “there may be one, but it will have to be set up by the non-profit’s board, or they may elect to do something else.” She said the ex-officio seat is a requirement of the city council, to act as a liaison to the board from the city council, as a non-voting member. Brotherton thought the council should have some non-voting membership on the board. Kerr said the ex-officio member would be that. She said there is no organization yet, so the city has given it no money, and there will be no agreement between the 2 bodies until the nonprofit organization is formed. Kerr said the organization’s board will “technically” be a “public meeting,” and would be best run as such. She said staff will bring in an expert to professionally train the board members. Kerr will work with City Attorney Kristen Castanos on guidelines for articles of incorporation, and e-mail those to the committee. The articles would delineate the board make-up, appointments, and how members would be elected. The community preservation program could potentially have a total of $284,775 dollars from two closed 1980s CDBG grants, which the city council may spend as it sees fit. $25,000 could be in the façade program and $75,000 is in the “Main Street Program”, with another $4,775 dollars to set it up. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.