Winchester Civic Group asks to collaborate with city
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By Carmen Ensinger
The Winchester Civic Group has new leadership and they are asking to work with the city of Winchester to accomplish their goals.
Jackie Kuchy addressed the Winchester City Council at their April 5 meeting as their new president.
“We would like to have a standing spot on the agenda so myself or someone from our board can be here to make sure we are working as a partners,” Kuchy said. “We feel we can accomplish more projects as a partnership rather than two entities functioning independently.”
Kuchy had several ideas she brought to the council, one of which had to do with the community calendar.
“One thing we have an interest in is sprucing up the community calendar,” she said. “We continue to use Facebook but we feel there is another place to develop that community calendar component. We would like to get that on the city’s website as well.”
Another thing that Kuchy has noticed is there has been people coming to their meetings who are new to the community.
“It is kind of difficult to get acclimated to a new community so we need a page on the city’s website that is for people who have just moved to town,” she said. “This page could have information such has how you get your utilities, numbers for plumbers, numbers for trash service, internet options, rental options, information on housing, food pantry, etcetera. It would be a nice little welcome effort.”
Kuchy then asked if the city had ever considered some sort of marketing campaign.
“We (Civic Group) are discussion how nice it would be to have some kind of short video put together that would identify all the things that Winchester has to offer,” she said. “It would be a tourism concept but also an awareness piece.”
Basically, Kuchy said they need some direction from the city as to what they need to do and what the city plans to do as far as promoting the city.
“We are not sure what is your job and what is our job and where our paths may cross,” she said. “We are in a bit of an identity crisis you might say.”
Mayor Rex McIntire said that the city is working with the Looking for Lincoln group to try and get Winchester as part of their group, but that could take a bit of time.
Kuchy went on to say that the downtown lighting project is moving right along.
“We managed to get 10 to 12 boxes of lights donated to us,” she said. “Now we just have to get them placed on the roofs to make the square more visually appealing. On the topic of murals, which you see in other communities, I’m wondering why we don’t get those yet. I don’t know if that is us or you.
Kuchy said they want to continue to be able to host events so they can maintain their insurance.
“We are currently on a spending freeze because our general fund is below our comfort threshold so we are looking for some fundraising opportunities,” she said. “What does the city see us doing as partners and what are some ways we can contribute as we are trying to redefine ourselves? What is our ultimate purpose and are we really relevant?”
