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Volunteer group Illuminate Isanti seeks city help with lights festival; offers donations and volunteer labor
Summary
A new volunteer group, Isanti Together (Illuminate Isanti), proposed a multi‑year community lights festival and requested city support for heavy lifts, storage, and limited public‑works assistance; the group reported $3,400 in promissory donations and estimated minimum annual operating costs of $20,000.
Carla Anderla, a founding member of the group Isanti Together, presented a proposal to hold an annual community lights festival called Illuminate Isanti and asked the city to partner on logistics and limited services.
Anderla said the group intends to become a 501(c)(3) and requested city assistance with tasks that require specialized equipment — for example, using the city’s boom/lift for placing lights on tall trees and the amphitheater roof, transport and storage of large display containers, and limited public‑works labor for setup and teardown. She said the volunteer group would take responsibility for solicitation, donations, volunteer coordination, teardown, most repairs, and decorations that do not require a lift.
The group said it had collected about $3,400 in promissory donations in four days and estimated a minimum first‑year operating cost of roughly $20,000; it also proposed recruiting 50–60 volunteers to reduce public‑works hours. Public Works staff member Matt estimated that decorating large displays and trees required the most time and suggested a minimum of two weeks of crew time (three to four people) when Public Works handled the work, which he estimated as about 320 hours in prior efforts. City staff and council discussed alternatives to reduce public‑works load, such as using floodlights to illuminate trees or pre‑untangling and testing lights by volunteers before public‑works crews deploy them.
City staff said the city would carry liability insurance for events and suggested the organizers follow the special event permit process; the finance director said she would need to review whether the city could act as a pass‑through for donations this year while the group establishes nonprofit status. Staff also suggested the group could obtain event insurance naming the city as additional insured and that equipment rental (e.g., lifts) might be an option if volunteers or businesses can contribute equipment or time.
Council members expressed general support for partnership but asked the group to refine hours, costs, and a formal agreement. The committee agreed to place the proposal on the next city council agenda for further discussion; staff will examine insurance, special event permits, public‑works hour limits, equipment access, and whether a pass‑through is feasible while the group pursues 501(c)(3) status.
No funding commitment was made at this meeting; staff and the group will continue planning and return with details.
