Galesburg City Council chambers at City Hall.
Galesburg City Council in a work session Monday discussed potential partnerships involved in a community center.
City Manager Gerald Smith says that the city has been reaching out to non-profits and community groups to meet in the last few months.
Parks and Recreation Director Elizabeth Varner says 34 groups were invited and 21 scheduled meetings.
Some of those groups include Bridgeway, Discovery Depot, Galesburg Art Centers, Community Hygiene Pantry, the YMCA and Salvation Army,
Varner says talking points in the meeting included using space, partnership ideas, and identifying duplication of services.
Almost all organizations they met with would like to at least participate in information sharing in the center.
Examples of this would be having brochures about their organization in the center.
Only four of 21 expressed concern about programming conflicts or duplication.
Classrooms, meeting spaces, community room, auditorium and gym were among the most desired kinds of spaces for groups that met with the city.
Varner says a common theme identified is there is a shortage of daycare in Galesburg.
She says the potential exists to use some of the space intended for demo to be leased to an organization that could provide daycare for the community.
She says additional work from city staff is required to determine the scope of the project.
