Historical Commission minutes for June 1, 2021
Present: Sonia Morrison, Thomas Ragusa, Gail Gelburd, Judi Mabee , Diane Provenz
Guests: Geoff Pigman, Lynne Geane
Called to order at 10:30 am
Meeting minutes May minutes approved
Knox Trail Video – Diane reported that Jessica will be meeting with Josh and Ellen. She is 2/3 funded and wants to meet with Tom regarding costumes, hiring for roles etc. Should filming be done in the winter? Sonia advised she has read the script and liked it. Jessica plans to reach out to Chris Keller.
Knox Trail -Tom did the April hike. He also spoke to a new owner of land on trail and homeowner was excited to hear he is on the trail. The snowmobile club has plans for a new bridge on rte 8 over the Farmington River. The town was digging for a storm drain in the area and Tom asked they stop until he could examine the dirt with a metal detector to see if there were any artifacts. He is also planning to research the trail for the Town of Blandford. Diane suggested we ask for $5,000 in next years budget to secure the marker rock with some sort of barrier or fencing. Sonia suggested we have money in our fund to start work on it and have matching funds for some grants, Diane suggested we reach out to Larry regarding a permanent fence. Tom said a 10 x 10 fence would work. Gail remarked that it should be attractive. Sonia said acid rain may be a problem and believes we need a protective cover over it as well. Lynne advised that the Pomeral Foundation has funds for historic markers and WPG.org (William G Pomeroy) has a mission to help communities with same. We should apply to them for help with the markers. Diane asked that we authorize Tom to list items that we need to continue. Discussed available funds in our budget that might be used for this project. Records Management / Consultants was deemed a stretch and Research Applications & Signage is a better fit. Diane believes we should come up with signage and get an invoice to submit. Tom said that anything on private property must have the owners permission. Geoff noted that a heavy clear Lucite enclosure would be good. Sonia noted that we also need something to protect the marker from vehicular traffic. Maybe a short wood fence. It was agreed that we wouldn’t be able to do this within a month. Sonia asked about the solar farm company that mentioned they would help with signage along the trail. Geoff asked if we could hire a company to build it an pay a deposit before the end of the month. Sonia said she would find out if we could do it that way in this fiscal year. Diane spoke about the need for signs at the beginning and end of the trail and suggested we check with other communities to see how they have installed them. Lynne said she will check with Pomeroy Foundation. Lets do main signs and go for a grant. Sonia asked if markers could be made of stone with metal pictures of oxen etc. Can we go to Williams Stone? Lets go back to what we can do in this month and only posted on town/state land. Then, after 30 days we can go back for the grants. All we need now is $5,000 to get started. Geoff and Lynne will check into places that already have them and check with those towns. Geoff noted that BNRC might be a contact to see who made their signs since they are in charge of “Bobs Trail”. Motion to get info and allocate money to explore and order signs was approved. Geoff , Sonia, Tom and Judi will create a sub committee to explore ideas for signs. Lynne will also speak to Karen Amonte.
Vote to allocate $5,000 for signs and $2,000 for Bonny was approved – it was felt that there was no need for money for East Otis historic district project at this time.
Budget- we need computer/scanner/printer. Geoff noted a portable hard-drive can be purchased for around $100.00. We can give a thumb drive to Lynn O’Brien.
St. Paul’s – June 6 Select-board meeting went well. Lynne spoke to Larry Southerd – he is reviewing Clark & Green plans. She gave him the application for the Fitzpatrick grant so he could see concise plan. Diane suggested we sit down with the other select persons to show them the plan as well. Lynne would like to speak to Terry herself since they have know each-other for many years. Diane said Larry Gould and the maintenance department need to help with the upkeep of the property. Lynne also suggested we get help from the public to back us in our work. We need to get info on 501C3 to go forward. Sonia advised per ADA we only need bathrooms if building is not owned by municipality – otherwise its ok to use bathrooms at Harmony Hall. Diane will speak to someone from the Sandisfield Arts Center. Sonia said we need to address the issue of money for architects from OPT to get a drawing now. We have 90K in in our account. Sonia believes we will need around 25K. Maybe we should reconnect with Kirtchdoffer although she is not against using Clark and Green. Gail said the Fitzpatrick grant is beginning July 9th. Sonia told us the structural components to stabilize and exit lights could be $104K. It was suggested we apply for grants – we can do $50K with matching funds or $104K to do it all. Sonia believes we should do it all at once. Per Gail they want it to be all done at once to get certificate of occupancy. Diane advise the $50K from Charles is contingent on naming rights and raising another $100K can include grants to show we have enough. We have 5 years to raise the $100K. Send out another fundraising letter specifying goals. Gail believes since we have a new select-board we should see if Larry S can speak to Larry Gould about what we are doing. Sonia said she told them both already since they took it off the agenda. The 3 reports in question are the Chris Vreeland report, the Diocese report and the Clark and Green report. There is no need to declare the building unsafe. Just because it can’t be open to the public it doesn’t preclude going in to fix it. Someone must do the repairs. If they won’t allow us to do it then its up to the town. Also an architect should supervise the work not the building inspector.
New Business – Auction, Celebrations Committee Antique show fundraiser, More discussion at August OPT meeting. Schoolhouse grant 6/9 must spend money within a year. Must approve money for computer for archivists. Junior Historical Group discussion at next meeting. Native American women speaker. James Sienna donation of land behind church. Bank ready to explore donation but need survey – will town pay for it.
Next meeting Tuesday June 29th at 10am
Meeting adjourned at 12:04 pm