Central Market Trust public meeting

A week ago, one of those small, innocuous meeting notices appeared in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era on page B5. The notice entitled, Central Market Trust to meet,” was a notice to the public that the “annual public meeting of the Central Market Trust will be held Wednesday (last night) at 6 p.m., in the Southern Market Center, 100 S. Queen Street” (in Lancaster). The article stated that “representatives of the non-profit group, which operates the Lancaster city-owned market, will discuss the five years since its founding and the future of the organization. Following the presentation, there will be some time for questions from the public.”

Because the focus of the market is the shopping Customers and the development of the market’s brand, the Central Market Trust Board of Directors operates Central Market with limited visibility; at its Frequently Asked Questions Web page, readers learn:

Who owns the Central Market Building?

The original open-air market, at least two market sheds and the current 1889 market house have all been owned and maintained by the City of Lancaster.

Who manages the market?

The Central Market Trust, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, was formed in 2005. The Trust is composed of eleven community volunteers and the Market Manager and is charged with the day-to-day and long-range management of the market.

The Trust’s mission statement containg this narrative: “The organization performs the daily management of the Lancaster Central Market in a manner that facilitates the economic health of the standholders’ businesses while remaining consistent with traditional market standards in addition, it protects and operates the Central Market as a historically viable farmers’ market, preserves the unique 1886 building as the centerpeice of a historically urban community and contributes to sustaining the continuing legacy and heritage …”

As a fully transparent, registered non-profit organization, the Central Market Trust complies fully with federal and state guidance concerning non-profit status. Here is the Central Market Trust 990 for 2010. 

Last night, we attended that public forum. The meeting began at 6:00 pm; approximately 45 people (stand holders, Trust members, media and citizens) attended. The first part of the meeting included a Power Point presentation with Trust Board committee overviews by Trust members outlining successes and challenges during the past year. Trust President, Valerie Moul, presided over the meeting and introduced the Board members and standholders. Following the meeting, a public question and answer period followed. The meeting ended around 8:30 pm.

Today’s Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era carries this report of the meeting, “Central Market Trust prepares for streetscape work.”

Columbia’s Market Trust begun

Just recently, Columbia began the a similar process as the Columbia Historic Market House Trust registered its organizational name with the PA Department of State. Columbia’s storied Market House will begin along the path that Lancaster’s Central Market began in 2005.

Other notes from the meeting

• Central Market Trust members must attend 12 meetings each year.
• Central Market Trust members must pledge to volunteer 150 service hours to support the Market.
• Central Market has no stand holder vacancies. During the past year, the Trust received 199 standholder applications and 25 prospects were interviewed. Only 14 were accepted into the Market’s vendor mix. Product mix and the dynamics of matching shopper interests are very important; 25% of the standholders in the Market sell produce while only 12% sell ready-to-eat items.
• The Central Market Trust has virtually “no advertising budget. Trust President Moul and Market Manager, Michael Ervin, stressed the extreme importance of Central Market regular shoppers, its relationship with the City of Lancaster and key community supporters including media,  Friends of the Market and FIG.

Without all the financial resources that Jack Nicholson had in his movie, The Bucket List, we are starting a plastic bucket list … you know, the 99 cent kind of bucket. We begin next week with a cross-country road trip. So for the next several weeks, the daily updates at www.columbianewsandviews.com will be made from somewhere along the road.

We’re not exactly certain where we’ll be when we add posts, but the goal is to provide interesting, topical, relative pictures and articles about the people and things encountered.

We have been trying to attend council and committee meetings, but will miss them for a while. So, if you want to be sure that Columbians get to see what those folks you elected are doing at these meetings, maybe you’ll want to attend the meeting and email your meeting notes to me for posting? Oh, if you want to grab a meeting agenda, scan it and email it, we’ll post that too. Citizens need to have a record of what their “elected” public servants are doing.

Got ideas, suggestions, thoughts, pictures? Send them along to 17512@mail.com.