Historical Commission minutes for March 5, 2019
Present: Tom Ragusa, Celeste Watman, Sonia Morrison, Diane Provenz, Judi Mabee
Called to order at 5:35 pm
Minutes of February meeting approved
East Otis Schoolhouse – Warrant item for May town meeting was submitted to Town Administrator.
We need to budget funds to pay architect for drawings to apply for the 50/50 grant and for future bidding docs. There is money available from the funds voted by the town last year.
St Paul’s Church update: there is a new attorney for the church and title action has been started in land court
Historical District – Bonnie has begun the submission and planning work for the district and submitted bill for maps, pictures and writing summary of history. She advised she will take part in the second open town informational presentation. Vote to pay bill was approved
Knox Trail: Bonnie will interview Tom. He said he has the info and can meet with her when convenient. Diane would like to join in that meeting. The Bidwell House has contacted Tom as well to see if he can create a power point presentation on the trail. We have some money put aside for more trail markers and the solar company may be willing to help also.
Fundraising – discussion about type of entity needed to accept tax free donations. Do we need to set up a separate 501C account for St. Paul’s or can the Otis Historical Society be used to accept donations. Sonia will get copy of bylaws and speak to finance board and town administrator.
Five year plan – Celeste advised that creation of 5 yr plan is very helpful when applying for grants. Discussion tabled till after May town meeting. We should have response ready for building committee meeting on the 21st regarding any space we need for storage and inventory organization. Small room in 2nd floor of Harmony Hall might work well.
New Business: Celeste will be starting her inventory work with the documents in library museum/
Next meeting scheduled for April 9th.
Meeting adjourned 7:20 pm.