The Richwood Revitalization Committee decided during its meeting on Thursday not to pursue an option to own the opera house as a private entity, following advice from Union County Historical Society President Bob Parrott.
Committee member Lynne Hall shared information from Parrott, who met with John Warner, a certified public accountant (CPA) in Marysville who assists the Union County Historical Society with bookkeeping.
“If you’re doing the 501(c)(3), you would also apply with the Ohio Secretary of State as a nonprofit corporation. All this would assume that the group wants to be an entity separate from the village council,” Parrott wrote to Hall. “I would only look at this option if the village council wants to sell the building to the group for a dollar, and the group moves forward with doing something with the building on their own.
“John Warner sometimes talks about the 990 returns he has to file. That’s something the group would have to do and make periodical filings with the Ohio Secretary of State. You would probably have to get an EIN number (Employer Identification Number) and open a corporation bank account,” Parrott continued. “The IRS exemption used to be somewhat difficult, however John tells me they have come up with an easy form that can be used in some cases. Even so, the group would have bylaws and some formality in its operation, which is presented to the IRS with the application. I cannot see any advantage to doing that now. The village is already a tax exempt entity. Donations for the opera house already qualify as deductions as long as the donor gets no benefit. The village can apply for many more grants than a private, nonprofit corporation can because they are more available to them.”
Parrott also suggested the committee should only consider becoming a private, nonprofit corporation if the village wants to sell the building to a group.
In addition, the committee agreed to have Chair Reddy Brown contact Michael Hurwitz from Telesolve Company in Reynoldsburg to see if he is available for a feasibility study. He reportedly charges $5,000 for a feasibility study, which is significantly less than what Sarah Barr, of Raising the Barr, quoted for a feasibility study – $12,500.
The committee requested Brown ask Hurwitz what prerequisites he may have prior to conducting the feasibility study.
“His heart is in it, is what I thought,” Brown said, recalling Hurwitz’s presentation to the committee.
Laurie Eliot-Shea, who attended the meeting on Thursday as a visitor but was a member when Hurwitz presented to the committee, agreed.
“I just feel that he is going to be a better fit to the community with the folks here in Richwood that we don’t need or aren’t looking for something as professionally developed as maybe Sarah Barr would offer, and his talking about having in-kind gifts to the opera house would be very important to folks here in Richwood,” she said.
At this time, the opera house roof is stable for the winter. Brown said no further water damage has been incurred that the committee is aware of because he and committee member Donald Ridgeway have barrels with hoses collecting water from the major bell tower leak and smaller roof leaks.
However, the committee needs to decide whether to install the rubber roof with the wood frame despite the north end of the roof not being raised all the way.
“We need to get this thing up because I just think it’s hard to ask people for money if the roof’s not up yet. That’s like trying to sell a car and the motor ain’t running,” Ridgeway said.
It would cost about $15,000 to install the wood frame and rubber roof and remove the antenna without raising the roof. Brown is hesitant to install the wood frame because it will have to be removed in the future.
Eventually, the roof needs to be raised to install a new steel rafter, he said, but the committee is facing obstacles, including finding a roofing company that will raise the roof and raising funds for the repairs.
In other news, the committee:
– Is waiting on funding from a capital grant and book sale proceeds from local historian Dustin Lowe.
– Is expected to discuss changes to the bylaws about membership at the first meeting in November.
– Is considering five architects for the opera house redevelopment project.
– Is establishing a list of interview questions and a list of potential sources to document the history of the opera house. The committee would like to capture stories from different generations as the historical building has had a variety of uses, including a jail, an opera house and a fire station. So far, Tracy Plouck has interviewed GeorgeAnn Charles and Brown has interviewed Dan Anderson. Wilma Ross, the mother of Tom Ross of Tom Ross Automotive, used to work at the opera house and has expressed interest in sharing her stories, said committee member Sue McBride Bails.
– Is waiting to hear if the opera house will be approved by the National Registry of Historic Places.
The next committee meeting date is to be determined. The committee discussed meeting at least once a month on the first Thursday of each month prior to the Village of Richwood Council meeting. The second committee meeting of each month will be up to the discretion of the chair and vice chair at this time.