The Hastings City Council voted Monday, Dec. 5 to approve adoption of an ordinance that will set up an Arts & Culture Commission.

The new commission came out of work of an Arts Task Force in the past year. The commission will be funded at a level of 1 percent of the city capital improvement budget, with $20,000 funded in the proposed 2023 budget for arts projects, with an additional $5,383 needed for staff support for the commission.

The commission will consist of seven regular members and one youth member. The initial ordinance creates the commission through 2024, and the council would have to extend the life of the commission prior to that time or it would end.

A first reading of the ordinance was approved as part of the city council’s unanimous consent agenda Nov. 21, with the second reading Dec. 5.

The city will start to solicit interest for prospective commission members and conduct interviews, with appointments possible by January. A job description also needs to be developed for a part-time staff member to work with the commission.

“On a temporary basis, existing staff could cover this support role until somebody is hired,” City Administrator Dan Wietecha wrote in a memo to the city council.

The proposed ordinance states the purpose of the Arts and Culture Commission “shall be to assist Hastings in becoming a community in which arts and cultural activites:

•Are recognized as vital components of community life that are worthy of investment and support from the public, private and nonprofit sectors.

•Are valued and promoted for their economic benefits and development potential throughout the city.

•Include Hastings’ historic, existing and emerging cultural groups identity and sense of community.

•Support the goals of Hastings’ arts education and programs for young people.

•Engage the talents and involvement of retirees and senior citizens.

•Enhance the public perception of Hastings’ identity and quality of life in the community itself, the surrounding region, and beyond.

•Achieve a strong sense of place through beautification and the creative activation of arts and culture.”

As part of the city public art and culture program, “The Commission will advise the City Council on the commissioning placement and maintenance of works of art that have been purchased or accepted by the city, or which are owned by the city because they have been produced or created with public funds.” The commission will also advise the city on arts-related capital investments.

The ordinance states, “To encourage broad community participation in the Public Art and Culture Program and to ensure artwork of the highest quality, the Commission may solicit the pro-bono participation of community representatives and professionals in the visual arts and design fields as part of the artist and artwork selection process for particular public art projects in accordance with the size and complexity of the public art projects. These advisors may assist the Commission in the selection of artists, public art project oversight and other related purposes, but shall have no vote on matters coming before the Arts and Culture Commission. No funds may be expended without prior Council approval.”

The commission will also work with city departments and “may develop and advocate design standards for City facilities, roadways, public areas, and private development, in order to advance a coherent image of Hastings as a place of unique aesthetic, architectural, and cultural identity.”

Appointments to the commission will be “made with an effort to include a diversity in age, gender identity and race,” the ordinance states, with representatives from local arts organizations, schools, the business community, artists and the community at large. Appointments will be for either one or two years initially to create a staggered cycle. Future appointments will be for two-year terms.