Parks and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

Hi. Hi. Welcome, everybody. We're just getting seated. It is May 1, 2026, and we'll kick off our Historical Museum Commissioner's meeting today, and we'll begin with our Pledge of Allegiance. So with my hand of God, please.

And Doctor. Salva, sit down.

Thank you, everybody. Good to be here, as always, with everyone. I'll say first that I think in our last meeting, we were just preparing for the presentation to the Board of Supervisors, and that took place also. I just wanna say my thanks. Many of you were able to be there.

It was also impossible to be there for some, too, with work and the other, but the turnout was really, really good, and my sense was that the presentation was well received and really does portray the enormous influence that access to the museum, and the museum certainly itself has on the community, and the draw that it has to bring in individuals not only within our community who are certainly our target, but increasingly people from all over the local region. I can't quite claim that we're quite living up to another topic where that we'll talk about today, is the vision, which includes it will be a nationally recognized center of excellence, I'll say, right, for all things Goldrush and El Dorado County and free narrative culture as well, but we're getting there. Certainly, I see a lot to be proud of. And the work that, I'll say, broadly, the administration is doing for the museum, the library team, and with the support of the supervisors, felt very evident to me, at least in that presentation, after that presentation as well. So here we are getting back together again for our next monthly meeting now today on May 1, and we have a reasonable agenda before us today.

I think we'll kick off first with our consent calendar. Does anybody have, which is item which includes the approval of our minutes, twenty six zero seven seven six and twenty six zero seven seven nine, which includes several items. I'll read them out. I if everybody's had a chance to review that in advance, that's great.

It saves us a lot

of time. However, please know as a commissioner, you always have the ability to pull an item. If there's additional conversation warranted or just because you'd like to, that's quite okay as well. We have a two piece square dancing outfit and silver cut trophy, belonging to Ursula Bush, Burgess. We have clothing owned by Lou Belle Cook. We have the Philip Lee donation, assorted donations, a nineteenth century handmade leather shoes,

a

pair several two pairs of them, and an EverReady flashlight display case. Some of these are accessioned. Some of the art recommended by the review community to be accessioned. Some of them are not. We can move to adopt this. Does anybody have and if we do, but before we do that, does anybody have any desire to pull any of these items for further consideration or conversation? Okay. Then I will hear a motion if there is one.

I so move we accept it as presented.

We have one motion to push forward the consent calendar. Do I have a second?

Second.

Is there a conversation?

Is it too late for me to pull one thing out?

No. It's not yet. We haven't all voted yet.

Oh, that's good.

You're gonna have

you'll you'll amend the you'll amend the motion because the motion's been made.

Exactly. So It could

be a friendly amendment. It depends on what you're saying.

I'd just like to discuss the shoes a little more. Okay. If we may.

Yes.

We may. Okay. And then everyone's read, obviously, the okay. That's it.

Okay. Excellent. So we're gonna come to that momentarily. So we've got one item that's been pulled. Are there any other items that need to be pulled for conversations?

We have to vote on the amendment.

Whether to whether to pull it? Yeah. I think the right to pull it is, if I remember correctly, So if somebody pulls it please correct me if I'm wrong. I don't pretend to be the expert. But I think if something is pulled by a commissioner, we talk about it. I believe that's the case.

Yeah. And we hadn't voted yet.

Yeah. We're gonna come back to so, basically, the vote now is going to push forward. It's gonna push forward, like, two sentences into the future.

And, basically, we should have voted it to the public before voting.

No. Yeah. Is there anybody online at the moment? Thank you for reminding me. No. Not at the moment. Okay. No. But Maybe it went public.

I don't have a comment.

Okay. So, yes, let's rewind this a little bit, which we're doing anyway because we pulled it, and we're going to have a conversation on this regardless. So what I'll do is I'm gonna essentially since we don't have another thing on here until we get to the report from staff, I would say we're just gonna transition now into having that conversation. I'm not sure if commissioner Anne Waring should talk first. I think so. And then I think we open it to the public in terms of precedence there. So go ahead.

Okay. I when when I was at the museum last weekend, I was able to look at some of these items in advance, Kelly, with the museum staff, and the shoes were my understanding is they were brought in years ago to the Fountain Tallman Museum and handed to Marilyn Ferguson when she was still alive working at the Fountain Tallman. They had been pulled no, excuse me. Right. They came to her, but it was from Smith.

What's the name? Don Smith. Don Smith was working for the city of Placerville at the time. And my understanding is that this is where roughly the box lot is between El Dorado Savings Bank and the Tap House. There's that parking lot there.

And they were preparing to raise whatever was there and install the parking lot, and they found these shoes. To give further context to that, Dana Serpunowicz, who's a historian in the county and an archaeologist, was there that day or that week, and he said there were dozens upon dozens of shoes, never used, trapped in the mud, like they'd just been preserved in this thick mud off of Hingtown Creek back there, like they'd just been dumped out, loads of them, never used by maybe a cobbler or a shoemaker. Always think of Henry Numbers Tracy as being the shoe manufacturer in Placerville, but there may have been others, and I thought it might be worth looking into and seeing if we can't find Because these shoes are somewhat degraded, and so my thought was, Do we want to just accept them in the current state? Kelly and I spoke, it was kinda like, How do you display these? There's no provenance, we know where they were found, but there's nothing kinda telling this story and providing this context I'm sharing right now, which has been shared with us secondhand.

There's primary accounts from Don, of course, and from Dana, but do we have those are first person, but do we have an actual documentation of these shoes and where they came from? And so it would be nice to know if there was a cobbler on that site or a shoemaker if we were to go back and look. I would maybe like to recommend that there's a caveat to accepting these, that, if we can confirm some form of provenance, then it makes sense to have them come into the collection, and then they can be displayed and interpreted versus just a pair of shoes that were found in the box house.

Think just with the story that you just told, that Dan told, I don't know, makes, even if we couldn't find that there was a cobbler there, I mean, he was there and saw it.

Right. We don't know that somebody just decided to throw out a lot of shoes.

Even if they did. Was down in the dirt. This is good.

It's a pleasant story for a visitor to the Yes. The museum staff has to interpret it and display it to the public, so we must think about

that as well. Display it as it is. Speak to what we know. Don't call it what it isn't, and tell the fact it's a history.

And we can sure search and see if we can find any evidence of a cobbler.

They belonged to a lady from Amador County, and then they were found years later in the fox line. Do you see what I'm saying? It's where's the provenance? Is it really our county? Do we know? We like the story. I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I want us to be thinking about these things as we have these discussions. So I don't disagree with anything that's been expressed. I just wanted to put that out there.

It seemed less probable that it were not of our county. A large grouping of shoes, 19, quite a few right. But here we have two pairs of which all of these which are nineteenth century, late, obviously. I would say that they're very high quality originally. They've degraded, obviously, because of the condition of, you know, their existence for those decades in the mud. It doesn't seem at all likely that these came from Amador County, and somebody wore them all their life and then threw them away in a garbage pile. It's like, why were there brand new shoes that were thrown into the lot there? Right. Was there

a fire at that time? Was there

you know, mean But we don't know. And so it's there's all these, it could be a great story. This is a great story. What is the story? And so I'm just trying to make sure that we're being somewhat selective about what we've essentially In the past, on occasion, we've used the administrative loophole of calling them props and accepting them for Right. At least having them still to work with. Just looking at them is intriguing. Yeah. I don't disagree. I just wanted to I'm sorry, I'm the bad guy today. Wanted to make sure we were having these difficult discussions.

But I think the one with the hobnails on it is really interesting. And that's all we got out of all these shoes that they said they had?

Apparently Dana said there was an interest in really saving them and they all went into the garbage bin. I don't know if that's true or not.

So the style is late nineteenth century? Yes. Well, that shouldn't be too hard to find whether there was a cobbler.

They're left with the lefts

and rights, or they straight don't lefts. Know. The because that'll speak to whether they were made for people with money or not made for, you know, people who have no name.

Dana said that at the time they would use Hangtown Creek almost like a common trash pit. People, merchants would dump all kinds of things, including shoes, allegedly, out the back door of the creek. So I just wanted us to revisit some of these items instead of just signing off necessarily. I wanted to make sure we had discussions occasionally about some of these, so thank you.

So if we choose to keep it, do we do it with

a caveat, or do we just keep it and then see what happens? It sounds like the group is in favor of adopting them and accepting them as they are.

I wanna look at them.

Everybody wants somebody to vote who knows, so I can put that in the notes. I'm just saying.

We do retain the right to visit any decision made in the future. So, thankfully, no caveat is needed, but it's not a problem with putting a caveat. I would say if we could move forward with this comfortably and always decide that, you know, we wanna change our mind in the future if we would, but the story sounds really good. The circumstances, excuse me, that the story is uncertain. But what elements of the literature do you have? We know the the century. We know the location. It's curious to see the quality of shoes like that thrown away. Like, there's just there's the beginnings of a story there that maybe a little bit more research might might reveal more of.

It was Emil de Marcos' great great grandfather.

There you go.

Alright. So we need a conversation on this polled item then from the commissioners. Thank you all for letting me chime in like that. Just

No. It's good.

Thank you.

I'm gonna let the public then chime in. I'll transition into the room first and ask if anybody from the public has any comment on this item or any other item.

Nope. Okay.

Being online. Call for the vote? Yeah. Nobody online. So, yes, I think it's time to call again for do we have to go through the motion process again? There was no amendment, so I guess it's a vote in this point. Yeah. Alright. All in favor? Aye. Any

opposed? Okay. Pushing back. Thank you.

Good conversation. So we'll turn it over to Bryce next, director Or is that

Ask a question along these lines. How does a an item that's currently in the museum be considered the way we just considered it? And maybe I'm thinking of that organ that I donated I know has nothing to do with Eldorado. So is that something we should consider given the fact that this is the criteria for accepting new items? Should we consider doing something with that?

Revisiting our current collection Yeah. Helps you with the standards that we're we've we've tightened

Yeah.

As a commission in our in our various ends here, for example. Yes. And in fact, some of the yes. Because some of the items that you see here, I'm pretty sure are things that I don't know if in this particular batch or not, but in past batches, that that have been previously accessioned, and they do not raise rise to the standard that the museum has set for itself presently, I would argue even historically. But is that your question?

Well, my question was in regards to what specifically with that organ in mind. I know it has nothing to do with Eldorado County. I have found references to that maker, and I thought, would it be appropriate to pursue other interests that might be interested in that organ, someone else, some other organization, for example? Is that

Yeah. Are you talking about I think earlier you said that you took an organ you had donated? Yes. Oh, that you personally donated? Yes. Yeah. Tell me more about that organ. I don't even know which one it is. Me too.

Which one? It's the one at a pharmacy.

It's Pushbord. Yeah. Joe donated that, but it doesn't necessarily have any provenance.

And it came from San Francisco

Yeah.

Out of an old mansion, and it was made in the eighteenth I just thought it was neat, and I don't that was thirty, forty years ago. I don't know.

I didn't know that. I didn't realize.

So the question is I know it has nothing to do with Eldorado County. There's an organization for Reed organs. I thought maybe I could write to them and say, do anyone who has an interest in this? It's a little unusual as Reed organs go because it's double manual with some features on it that you don't normally see in these reed organs, like percussion, things to strike the the reeds. You know? So it was a in the day, was a big deal maybe. Yeah. Maybe someone might be interested in taking that. I don't know.

Thank you for being open to allowing consideration of that. The museum, I think, that it's up to us also to kinda have that conversation if we could use the space, honestly. So if it isn't directly related to Eldorado County by the same standards we're applying to, everything else we're looking at right now, it should be up for reconsideration. We wouldn't wanna offend our past donors either. No. No.

We really don't. Especially when it comes to organs.

That's okay.

There's a question, if I may, to The point that was made earlier, sometimes, Joe, there's educational benefits that come from something. It's used as a prop, as it were, to educate or inform, to help tell a story, and you just are very clear that the provenance is not tied to the history of focus. But as Commissioner Reagoli said and staff has indicated, there is a need for a room space in Phase II.

Yeah, I understand that. I had a need to put a room in. Right.

Right. Well, maybe separately, if you're open to having that conversation then with the library staff as well, I think I could get on to the potentially get on to our review in on the upcoming meetings. Good question.

As far as items and the the different spaces, it's on a cycle of continual review. Okay. So we've jumped in for that and use something that is perpetual. The yard is the the progress of the yard and then, of course, inside and with the research room. And so but that will just continue.

Okay. I'll turn it over to you, Bryce.

Thank you. Crystal, you're able to move to perfect. Thanks. Mhmm. Bryce Bell, library director.

I also oversee the historical museum of El Gregoire West there, railroad. So the first item there, we have some ballot measures that are coming up. So June 2, that's for zone f, which is South Lake Tahoe, and zone g, which is Georgetown. So if if both of those measures pass, they would secure a funding stream for the South Lake Tahoe library and the Georgetown library for the next twenty years. Now this is something that's this parcel tax has been in place for some time.

This is a proposed renewal. It is not a a a new tax. It's an existing tax. And with Tahoe, currently, it generates about $570,000 a year or so. And with Georgetown, it's about a 125,000.

So we're quickly approaching June 2. I just I know I've mentioned it before, but I just wanted to bring everyone's attention again that that is coming up. We also have some information or some fact sheets through our website that talk a little bit more about the measures and elaborate slight oh, perfect. There it is, front and center. And so the public can navigate through our website and at either one of those sheets, and then it'll provide some additional details.

If you wanna jump back to that data. The railroad. So a lot of exciting things happening with the railroad. The library department recently secured edwr.org. So when you plug that into your web browser, it'll take you directly to the railroad page within the library website. So this makes it a little easier to promote based on marketing materials. Quite some time. EDWR has been the abbreviation used.

Oh, looks like Crystal will

do it in real time. I don't know if it'll But work on this trust me, it works. We paid for it. It's secured in the next several years. It redirects.

That's an exciting piece. And we'll also have some bookmarks and other items printed probably within the next month or so. And so one side, it'll advertise the railroad, and on the other side, it'll advertise the museum. And I'll talk about that a little bit more in another item on here. But first, we'll jump into There's the Sacramento Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Authority.

That's the SPTC JPA, sometimes just known as the JPA or the SPTC. So I'll be presenting on the eleventh, that's a Monday at 09:30, with just providing an overview of Colorado Western Railroad and all the new things that we're we're doing through the not just the department scope, but through volunteer scope because, of course, without our volunteers, we wouldn't have a railroad program. So I'll be providing that presentation. We'll go into detail or I'll go into detail of to how we're structured from the funding stream. It's actually a bit more complex than you would think.

There's there's leases involved. There's nonprofits involved. There's a few other factors. So looking forward to explaining that all. And then we'll talk about some of the growth and opportunities and some of the goals we have for track standards, and there's a lot

of

wonderful historical photographs. And then at the end, there'll be a link to the new museum database. We have that railroad category. We've also added a few other categories. We have maps now. We've got slide. Continue to add to that. But it's May 11 at 09:30 in Folsom at Folsom City Hall. I won't give it all away, but revenue has increased through the railroad by a whopping 400%.

Very exciting. Uh-huh.

With the mission and vision statements, I know for the for the museum, I know that we had discussed these few meetings ago, but I wanted to since you did, there might be an item or two where we might wanna wordsmith just just a little bit. And I'd like the group's feedback and to revisit those. We we have it on the agenda, I think, after cleaning this item just so we can fully solidify it, and then we'll update our website and some of those other documents. And we can use it in future museum commission, presentations, and total we'll continue that path. The El Dorado Western Railroad logo.

So we did a a slight what's the younger generation call it? Glow up to our logo. It used to be multiple colors. This is now just one color, a little cleaner, a little more modern. We didn't wanna do a full re reboot because we have this on a lot of items, locomotives and and and other railroad, you know, crossings and and some other things.

So it would be a lot to fully change it. So we've just done a refresh of sorts. Now this is a color is dark spruce, and then the secondary color is a royal gold, which is somewhat of a nod, I think, to maybe vintage passenger trains, and it's pretty much what we had already. But we've solidified the colors, and we've got a new master logo and vector format that we created in house, and so we have it all in our branding kit along with the library materials. So we'll we can we can better create items and promote.

And there's a sneak peek there of an upcoming bookmark. We got the QR code, also our new URL, the new branding pieces. We'll also be advertising well, this this banner will be advertised during the fair during the wheelbarrow races, along with with the museum. So one of the publications, we've got the the banner advertisement, and then

I believe we did a

half page for the museum, listing the new hours and then the QR code to go to the new database. So things are coming together on that front for all of those. But that's so they have my report. Happy to answer any questions. Pretty report. Congrats on

getting the EDWR ORD. Right? That's a Yes. Unless you're really lucky, it's harder to do than one might think to get it

I was a little surprised that we were able to secure it, and and I was happy that the process it was quick. IT helped us. And from, you know, having the the idea to securing that, say it was probably only a week or so. So a big thank you to the IT department. But, yeah, it's fabulous that we have a nice, short, memorable URL.

How are you feeling about the measures that you started off with for our awareness? That was helpful to have that broader awareness, and I'm just curious if you have a sense of public sentiment around probability of those passing in general? Well,

the with both of those districts and library services and community support, historically, there's always been strong support. I mean, both of those libraries are beloved in those communities. So I know that there's a there's a lot of positivity you know, around the library with those. Are

you seeking extra help and support, if I may ask, in general, or is it more for

an awareness? So I wanted to bring it to everyone's attention. There are committees in place related to both of those measures and those communities, and then with structure and the rules around all of that, so any support activities that that may occur from staff are related to those measures. So that's completely separate. So that's outside of work activity. But there's committees in place, and I know both of those districts. It's very strong library support.

Yeah. K. Thank

you for letting us ask. I have some questions about the vision and mission, but we have that, I think, on the agenda already, so I won't ask those. How about for the other commissioners? Are there any other comments or questions related to Bryce's update?

I see here the railroad is doing so well,

and that's been a while since we advertised the the museum and the and the railroad, like, a more formal or officials format. And the railroad piece where you're mentioning any volunteers, if you're at a soon we had a tipping point where unless we have additional volunteers, we won't be able to grow certain certain elements of of that. But I think that a lot of the community is still unaware of some of the museum offerings and some of the railroad offerings, but that's something that it it's continuous. So we're growing, growing, growing, advertising, promotion. We'll keep building on a volunteer basis.

Will your presentation in Folsom be online so that those of us who may be also at work could watch you virtually?

From from my understanding, yes.

Oh, that's good. Yeah.

That's it. Very much looking forward to it. They can be orderly, and they had to cancel the last meeting. So we or they they they pushed it out. But, yeah, you can join online. That'd be great. You can join in person or learn about all things railroad. That'd be great as well. Playing and parking at that site. I suggest using the ramp and up

the stairs. Stairs are very I don't know.

This is telling me not to talk. I'll see you while I arrive.

Any additional commissioner comments or questions for director Liddell? He's not allowed to talk anymore. Alright. I'll know about that. That's okay. How about the public? Do we have any public comments in the room at this time? Okay. Thank you. And we'll look online.

Not seeing anybody who's joined online. Then we'll close out this portion of our update, and we'll move ahead to discussion and action items, which takes us to the twenty six zero seven nine five review and approval of the new vision and mission statements. And, Bryce, this might be yours then. I'm guessing it looks like there may have been, I think, at least one change to it, and you just alluded to maybe making some modifications.

It was the department's intent to include mission and vision statements

as they

were last time we discussed them. I'm unaware of any modifications.

The one

I noticed, I think, was the last version, the mission statement looks identical to me. I was just going back and comparing it word for word. The vision statement is correct in that it's that first sentence. I don't know that the final version, although I love it, maybe we should talk about it. It just feels more that last sentence wasn't in the last version as I'm showing it. I could be mistaken because I really looked at it just before coming here. But that last sentence, wasn't in the vision statement. Again, I love it, but I I wonder if it feels more mission oriented to me than it does vision oriented, that last sentence.

Well, let's start with the vision.

I'm not opposed to it staying this way. I'm not trying to I guess that's all. I I maybe I don't even if I thought you said a moment ago, just for clarity, I thought you said maybe there's a little bit of tweaking that was needed, and so that's why

I thought this was worth Well, let's see. We'll just wait for my eyes to adjust slightly here.

Your glasses are right there.

Those are some

glasses. Oh, so you

didn't bring your glasses.

So, need prescription.

I'm just

trying to

focus a bit.

Can you make the print better?

Oh, no, it's fine. I'm almost through it. Okay. So from from my memory, the the vision statement is the same as as when we discussed it before.

It is a it is a prior version. I mean, meaning it was it was in the sequence of versions that we had. That that last sentence, I think, came out

mostly just for Maybe we need to identify exactly which ones we discussed last time because I'm I don't remember. I

I don't think we should. I honestly, this I'm like, I because I love actually, I love that sentence, and I've always loved it. I don't mind that it stays. That makes things easier.

Because with the updated draft mission statement

It does seem more of a mission statement, and you're saying you will do this rather than The division. We hope to achieve.

We will safeguard our inclusive collections and nurses. So it should say mission statement. No. No. It's the vision statement is that first part of that. Exactly.

Would you like

me to highlight it?

Or Oh, sure. Yeah.

That would be helpful. Thank you, Crystal.

Yeah. That that little bit. That

could possibly move down to the mission.

Yeah.

Be incorporated.

It should stay in here. It's excellent. Somewhere. I I don't mind if it goes to the mission statement portion, which maybe it's a little more aligned with, and it seems to fit. It can also stay up there. It's okay. Does anybody what's everybody's opinion on that?

I think it feels like that sentence.

It's better.

Ashley recognizes that.

Believe so.

If it says we we would like to or we plan to, then that becomes a vision statement, but that's not a good vision statement. As it is, it's a much better mission. Exactly.

The second path. Oriented.

Yeah.

It does. Visionary. Yeah.

You know what? Your your vision be we hope to. We wanna say we're going to, and then that goes into a mission.

It is pretty emphatic. We're real safeguard. Yeah. But that's action. Yeah. No.

That was a good catch. Is there

since we're reviewing this, is there a motion to just move that down to the mission statement?

I'm taking the motion.

I second.

K. Second. Actually, let's just set it up for some conversation before we all vote then since we got that out of order last time. Is there any public comment on that? Any we can ask that the administration as well. Is there anything else that you think might come up in this what seems like a minor modification? No change in content, only position of content, but in terms of continuing to see this progress through the board of supervisors approval process and the CAO's office.

I'm not sure of, you

know, some of those elements and what officially needs to be approved. I think with these piece I mean, this is the the first piece. Of course, with the commission and and and their commission input through a advisory scope, that's that's the piece there. I wanna make sure that everybody is happy with what ultimately the department choose to put forward. So that's that's this piece.

Now with some of the, you know, different documents that we have that mentioned the mission statement, it could be that those need additional official approvals. Over this piece, I'm looking for the consensus of the the group and support in both, and then the department can go to the next step. I think that with the vision statements, with with moving that that last sentence to the mission statement, then let's see that. Okay.

While you're looking at that too, that's okay to interject

on that we need to hyphen, though.

Nationally recognized. Yes.

What's that? What's that? Do need it? The one correction I might offer here is that one of the powers that we one of the only powers that actually is retained by the commission is the power to subdivision and admission. Okay.

So it isn't advisory, actually, in this case. But the other thing that we came to when we were kind of at that stage of our conversations, including with the CAO's office about the role of the commission relative to administration and the county, and then also the formation, essentially, of the governing stuff documents documents that that that establish us as a commission. As those were changing, the other thing that we had agreed upon, again, with the CAO's nod and approval was that the vision and mission statement would make it into the I almost forget what it's called. What's it called? It's the Resolution.

Resolution. And so it it is important that not only are these obviously, we feel good about this. I think we do. Like, no there's no conversation about the content. This is where the sentence belongs.

And my question then to library administration is more just one of ensuring that we are asking that question, does this gum up anything in terms of the tremendous success that we've already had, agreeing that this would live within that resolution? And that also encompasses, you know, the, essentially, the, entitlement of the commission to set the vision and mission in that process. So maybe that's just an open question, that we review separately, but are about to move then to a vote on this unless there's any other conversation about moving that one sentence to end of the mission statement.

Now if that's if that's what we're voting on right there Yes. In fine with that, I have a question on the mission statement.

Should we talk about that? Before. Yeah. I think so.

I I just struggle a little bit with the second sentence. We serve as a widely accessible. We're working towards that, but we're still unlimited time that we're available. So we're not widely accepted. I'm just You

know, it's we have to work towards still.

Yeah. That's yeah. Think that back in the vision kind of stuff because we're not there yet.

Which doesn't require a modification, I don't think, though. I think that it requires our acknowledgment. We've got work to do still. Yeah. And it's getting done, which is wonderful. So all these answers are going to happen. So Moving in that direction. Exactly.

Maybe this obligates us.

Well, hopefully, the whole thing

will That's amazing. Yeah. Well, yes. But, I mean, by leaving it in there, obviously, we're already they're extending hours.

But I want us to recognize that we're not there. Yes. It's definitely a goal. Nobody here would argue that point.

I would say that if you move that last sentence to the mission statement, probably should look at the first sentence. Seems it might be a little bit repetitive. We will safeguard our inclusive collections, but we already said we are going to protect and present the diverse stories and maybe.

That reminds me as to why I went out in the first place.

It was sort of a little

not only was it more mission oriented, that sentence, but it also was a little duplicative. Gosh. I hate to start changing the language, though, because we reviewed it all, and we put it through the process.

Why not just tell them we decided it was Seems like

the group is happy with the vision statements. Was that that first sentence.

First sentence. Yeah. Got it.

I double checked it dramatically. It's just been bad enough.

Yeah. The dash is correct. Correct. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It was yeah. Exactly. Okay. No. Well, we'll that right.

Let's triple check.

Yeah. We don't we don't need that sentence. I'm sorry. Every bit of it, the education, the collection, protection, enrichment, all bound already in the machine statement.

Stories instead of narrative same difference. Right.

It yeah. I do think that just it's okay. Somewhere along the way, that sentence got back in, which is okay. But, actually, maybe we should amend our vote or not take a full vote on that, and the vote instead might be or a motion might be made instead to just remove that sentence because it's already there.

Well, the vision is supposed to be aspirational Right. In in ways, and with safeguarding collection there, so that is that is something that is truly part

of our mission. It shouldn't be aspirational. It should

be something Correct. Absolutely. 100.

I guess for proper procedure, we should finish the vote on moving it, which I hope might be a no because we're not gonna end up doing that if everybody here agrees. And then there might be a new motion, not to coach you guys, but, like, then to remove that sentence and we're out of amend his Well, that's true.

Right. I was gonna say, didn't we just do this?

Well, we did already have two votes, and then we were going to do a full vote.

You can amend yours to just get rid of it, and the second can okay that, and then we can vote on that.

To amend my vote You my second motion. I have a motion to amend my second motion. So

we have a motion from Commissioner Williams, sorry, to move the second sentence down from the vision statement to the vision statement, and then commissioner Mandarin seconded that motion. But now, commissioner Mandarin, you're ending your second? Yes. Alright.

I moved to forget what I said. No.

Do I modify my second, or do I just

Would you be open, because you're older, to amending your motion to effectively remove the remove the sentence entirely? I would

go ahead.

Right. Okay. And then would you second that again? I second it. Okay. So the motion before us is the deletion of the second sentence in the vision statement that we're looking at, which reads, we will safeguard our inclusive collections and narratives as a dynamic resource for future generations, education, and enrichment because all of that is present in the current mission statement and therefore is redundant. Do I oh, that's actually just a verbal verbally. So all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Anybody sign up on that? I guess so it carries. Oh, I don't think so. Yeah.

We'll we'll check again and see it. No. We clicked in. Okay. With no viewers, we are a terrible YouTube channel.

But they do want it after the fact. Excuse. So I just wanna confirm that we have commissioner Williams has made a motion to delete the second sentence in the vision in the vision statement seconded by commissioner Mann Waring, and that everybody voted yes.

Yes. Nobody voted no. Alright.

Thank you. Thank you.

She's still looking for that.

No. I am. You guys are too agreeable.

That's fine.

K. Well, that makes us

a little adhesive. Not agreeable. Cohesive.

I do hear maybe one more one more Should we person.

Did we open it for public comment?

We did before we voted. I don't think I missed it.

Before we got to just acting the

Before we modified. Yeah. So does that need to be reviewed?

I'm Only if she confirmed.

Record, is there any public comments in the room or concern on that item? No. Okay. And we just checked, and there was nothing online.

Right. No. Thank you. Nothing.

Maybe it happens as public. Know.

She's like, oh, I have something to say. And I'm just like, good. So I'm just like, I don't have anything to say. Okay.

Just a quick question, point of order then for director Lavelle. Is there any other motion that is needed to carry this forward at this point, or are we set? I think this was an item that you had added in here, which was helpful.

I think we would be making a you guys would make a motion whether you approve these with the changes.

You approve the rest of the admission admission statement.

Well, can you scroll up to the oh, that was current. Okay. We can scroll down to the bottom there. And so how would this read? See, because I love the the vision statement. And then we were going to write a note.

We're gonna remove we're removing entire. Let me get that. Yep.

I could I don't think I can edit that.

But It's okay. I mean, I can I can retype it? Let me retype the word. You can see what it would look like. No. No. No. I'm I

move we accept the vision statement, the new updated vision statement, and mission statement as amended.

You can change the font to a straight through.

Can I?

That'll do it.

I'm not

sure I'm allowed to. Don't miss it. I don't know.

Got some good old mouse. Yeah. You can't do that. You must have been great with an etch a sketch.

A motion has come forward. Let's open it up to public comment in the second. Oh, thank you.

I second. Okay. We Second.

I missed the first. Sorry.

I was moving that we accept the updated vision statement and draft mission statement as amended.

I second. A second. Is there a public comment on this item? No. Everybody died for a minute a couple times. Just

We're one live viewer.

For the record, you represent all of Eldorado County public. Yes. Anybody has an EHA cover?

My wife's here. You have your power.

Exactly. But she has good things to do.

Maybe show them you checks online as well. We don't have anybody online at this time as well. So all in favor? Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Excellent.

I propose that we move forward in our agenda. Okay. Let's see. We are going to now move to 260778, receive an update from commissioner Rivoli and discuss next steps regarding the Bergstrom organ. I'm very happy to report, and I'll also turn to Commissioner Mitchell also to add to this, but because we were both present, we had a very productive meeting with the Fair Association Board subcommittee.

As a quick reminder, we're talking here about the Bergstrom, for the record also for those who may be online and watch later, we're talking about the historic Berkshire, Oregon that lives in the Oregon room as it has been come as it has come to be done on the county fairgrounds adjacent to the county historical museum. And the Fair Association Board intends to make certain tenant improvements in that space. And the question of the position of the organ relative to those tenant improvements and also just relative to the, if you will, the marketability of the space has been raised, and I'll skim over all of that, but that's sort of the background. Separately, the Eldorado County Historical Society, as a third party in this conversation, stepped forward to say that they could propose certain fundraising mechanisms and other inducements that would be a benefit to the association board in its efforts to, for example, accomplish the tenant improvements, if that might be a negotiation or an exchange for keeping the organ in place since it's too delicate, frankly, and not in a state that would enable it to survive, in the opinion of historic society. And so the conversation that took place with two members, three members really, of the Fair Association Board, including their president, and as a subcommittee, and then two, three members, arguably, of the Historical Society did take place a few weeks ago and did result in a conceptual agreement that there could be a path to accomplishing exactly what was just described with some amendments.

One amendment was that, in fact, the historical, the Fair Association Board is actually declined. I'll just bet I wasn't saying not interested. I was about to say not interested, that's not necessarily true, but they declined to the proposal from the EDCHS that would have assisted with fundraising. I don't want to read too much into that, but I think they've got the money they would need to do it. And frankly, they don't need another voice in the mix of, you know, how that those tenant improvements might be accomplished.

Simpler if you just have one person paying, then one person makes the decision, so to speak, on that. That's what I think that they decided. But they did say that if the attractiveness, if you will, of the organ itself could be improved, I don't know if they stopped short of wanting, frankly, want very much to see the organ fully restored, and that is a monumental effort, quite frankly, probably beyond the Historical Society's ability to accomplish in a short time frame, maybe a very, very long time frame. But conceptually, we agreed to move forward, historical society and the and the fair association board, on a path that would explore the historical society taking the lead and active role in the improvements to the exterior, essentially the, the facade, the exterior wood paneling, etcetera, of the organ, and that therefore the Fair Association Board would be theoretically open to granting the historical society some type of a lease, if you will, a protection for the organ in its current location. And we have not solidified that.

There's some more research that's happening, including a visit to the is it Schoenstein, I think it is, in Venetia, organ makers who have been here since, I think, the nineteenth century working on organs, for some consultation to ensure that any efforts that are launched by the historical society are done with that knowledge, with that expertise and support as well. I'll pause there now and ask Randy, if you don't mind jumping in, and your recollection of this, if It I missed or

was my feeling that they just wanted to see some progress, that they've seen it kind of sit and deteriorate, if anything, and if they really thought, and if we can show them that we plan to do something with the organ, that they're gonna be I mean, honestly, it makes the room. Without that, it's just a big building. So I think they can see that the organ has value, but it

needs to be prettier,

and they want it and hopefully someday be able to use it. And this is a start. And if they followed through with what we felt they were really positive about, felt they could sell their we can do something and keep that thing. There were no plans that they had said, Well, we have to get rid of the organ to do what we want to do. They want to put some more storage in, a bathroom, and a kitchen. Think. Exactly. And they could work around the organ to do that. They've already we

gave

them some plans, and they have some plans. So it's their expense to do that. They see that,

I think, as a

fair board's

job, and the organ is ours, that they're separate. But they did talk about a lease, a very, like a dollar or something. We're just kicking that around, releasing it to the history society and then making that our project. And if we really start to move on it, I think they're gonna see that, and then we instead of having a, what the heck are you gonna do with that, it's gonna be, well, Maybe we can even help if we get things going. I don't know. I'm very positive about it.

It was a

very positive meeting.

What does that mean? We get our furniture polished and meet there

and fix it, polish it up?

Well, there's some of the wood, some of the attractiveness of it has fallen off.

You mean literally fallen off?

Or been removed. There's small elements, decorative elements, wood elements that have to be refabricated, but Burnett and Sons can't do easily.

If we make my impression was if some efforts are made to make it look better, that that's telling them we're involved and that if we can continue to do that, they're gonna continue to go okay.

Does it feel that way? Yeah. Yeah. It felt that way. But we don't have anything

in writing yet. We have to wait for them. We have to wait for them. We actually technically, we'll have to wait for the historical society to its board has to has to review. To be clear, of course, we're saying this in our roles as commissioners here because this topic has come up before us. But speaking, our knowledge is coming from a place of our roles with the historical society. In the meeting with the Fair Association Board, we were very clear that we were meeting with them

as a historical society, of

course. It's just that it's all intertwined, so this group needs to have a follow-up, just an understanding of kind of where this is going. It appears that the commission itself will not need, doesn't appear to need to be involved in this going forward. And then the Historical Society and the Fair Association Board hopefully will be able to work this out between them. Nevertheless, I do want the commission to know, which is why this is appropriate to have in our meeting, not only the update, which is appropriate, but just sort of the understanding that if that fell apart for any reason, then we might I can see the possibility that we've revert back to an uncertainty in ownership of that organ, which ties in county, library, just because of the circumstances, museum, fair association board, and it just gets messy and complicated.

So let's all root for the possibility that the Historical Society and the Fair Association Board can find a way to come to some agreement here that, you know, just, that resolves in this way.

The good news is she the treasurer? What is her role? The lady sat next to me has all the economics? She's the one in charge of all that for the affair. So she was not going, we've got to get rid of this thing. And that's what they were talking about was economics. That's one of their issues. So if she's feeling like we can work with this, that's a plus. The other thing I'm realizing is our mission statement says we should be behind this supporting everything happening to keep it and supporting the history society and their efforts to do so. If we're gonna make a statement about who we are, we need to make sure they know we have their back.

Can I ask Yes? You mentioned something about an organization in Venetia. What

was that about? It's an organ.

It's an actual organ restorer, an organ specialist. Okay. And he is meeting with interested parties that have been working on this. The historical society, the descendants of the Bergstrom family will be there. They facilitated this meeting.

Okay.

This organ maker's family, or the company, this firm, they were contemporaries of John Bergstrom. They were building organs in the San Francisco Bay Area at the same time, and continue today to be doing so, are very familiar with Berkshire Morgans and have volunteered to share their expertise and provide some guidance and consultation on what's possible, how it would be done, what cost would look like, and even just refinishing the organ, ensuring that we're doing it in the proper way.

Sounds like the most promising thing to me. Yes.

Yeah.

Is the Fair Association board, were they aware of that relationship? Okay.

They are.

Oh, k.

Good. And you may be thinking something, not coming right back to Keith, but I just wanna clarify too that the topic did come up in that conversation, the the potential, as we were sort of working to this conclusion, but we did explore the possibility of the organ being moved. I've said so emphatically here in this meeting that it may not survive that movement, I believe that to be true. But the historical society did say and represents that it will remain open to the possibility that the organ does get moved at some point. There were a benefactor who steps forward that says, Okay, I will pay for the full restoration of this organ to its pristine original state, and that requires disassembly and shipping out to Venetia to have the work done.

I mean, I'm just making this up, you know, or whatever. Or even up to the point of somebody saying, I want that for my winery, and I I need to have it. Right? Against the protection of the within the historical society's opinion, least, it's the protection of the organ of the paramount, meaning that it doesn't get destroyed or through absence the disability of the EDCHS, and this doesn't have the means to fully restore that it decays, essentially, right? So preventing that condition is on the table as well. We're just gonna jump in, Keith.

I would just like to say that I am so encouraged, and I'd like to commend all those involved, because I feel like now there is hope, and we've not had that, you say, for a long time. If indeed, through your efforts, we could bring this together and the organ stays at the fairgrounds, fine, wonderful. The room is developed around it and so forth. Maybe it will become operational and so on, but it's been done together by mutual parties and hoops. And so from our standpoint, thank you in representing this commission in this engagement, which I fully thought was gonna end up in basically a very definite negative choice.

And so thanks again, everybody, that has been involved and certainly would love to see the organ remain here and be played here. There there's a whole world out there that's not heard that organ.

Any additional comments or questions, including from administration? We'll open up then to the public for comment or question looking in the room at this time first. The one representative of all of Eldorado County is

Well, I think it would be important to realize that it has been damaged just putting it in that room. So any more damage is like it's really important not to do anything because didn't the sides get cut off? Or like some yeah. Some of the pipes got cut off. So it's like it's really important because it's cut exactly to match that room. So if we're going to move it or do anything about it, I think it'd be It has been damaged already, so that's just my 2¢ on me. And it's really nice that you guys got together and they've actually been positive about it. As I know before, they were like, Get it out. It's been twenty

years. Yeah. And we understand that perspective, meaning wouldn't any of us be frustrated after a twenty year conversation that just didn't that just didn't resolve. Not necessarily for lack of effort. I my sense is, and I don't know the whole story. But, yeah, this does feel different. It feels like there's a plan that can be executed upon and hopefully will at least buy us some time with that organ. Yeah.

I have to give credit

to the Bridgeman family for this.

Mhmm. Yes. I think that's a big plus when they came into it. Just their word, their family thought of it completely wrong. And they people think twice a day. You know? We might have to deal with the family, and we don't know them.

It just added the aura of authenticity. Mhmm. And truly the historical ambiance came back into it. So good good save, guys.

Well, we're not there yet. Right? But, yes, I I know that we've been engaged.

It's positive, but much more positive than the last twenty years. Because, like, when Mary was doing it, we put figures out and advertised it so much like that, and they're just there's nothing solid that would come big come into it.

We've thrown out the life preserver. We just need this the sinking person to grab it.

Yeah. Yes.

Okay. Well, there may be updates in the future, but to the degree that there are they may come through here, but they may just come through the historical society, I think. Hopefully, things go the right way. So look for those updates through those channels separately. Okay. I'm going to go ahead and push this forward in our agenda. And we have nothing for the collections committee that I'm aware of, so we'll move into museum program updates, and we'll begin with the research room. I think that might be easy.

Oh, let me talk. Okay. But we continue to do research and get have research requests coming in and we're dealing with them. And tomorrow, I'm going to start with map number 1,200. Amazing.

And there's more, all the ones downstairs I haven't done, and in the drawers. And and I'm looking forward to starting on the mines because there's so many mining maps I found that are in different little weird places, and it'll be fun to have a list of all the locations in the. And I'm anxious to start scanning too. Mhmm. So what else, Kelly? I'm still waiting for a computer for that. Mhmm. Have some computer waiting for some shelving to come in. I have an email for that. It says for our for our mining area.

That's gonna be a very specific area for all

of our mining stuff as to how it is being with this.

Let's see. What else? I wanted some all the I made a list of all the mining books or binders or whatever, but I'd like to get that so that easy to find things when we're searching for mining. And then some other volunteers are kind of getting getting some collections that we have identified as they can live in storage at the library. And so we have somebody preparing that, indexing that, and just getting all the information that we need so we know where it is, and that's gonna create the space. And she's about a quarter of a way through that. Wow. That's bad. Yeah. Blended.

Perfect. Trying to identify other other collections that might be appropriate for Oak Ridge. Many maps will be, too. Many maps. Many maps. Maps. Luckily, there's 16 map case drawers there. That's easier to the

Cross that bridge. Yeah. And

that storage also is the repair.

Any comments on the researcher? All done. Yes. I think so. Thank you. Any comments from the public? Nope. Okay. Don't mind. Anybody there? Otherwise, we'll move next to the railroad, and Keith will be back in

a moment. So actually, we'll skip the railroad unless Is it still in the museum or just Research Road?

I'm sorry?

Is is is that so there was a research it's a staff or a volunteer report on just the research room or the museum open? Sorry.

Get updates. So the way that the agenda reads it, reaches the research room, and then

it goes other requests from

our real work and.

Yeah. Didn't know if you were asking whether administration might have any additional comments beyond what I just didn't know

if there was any other portion. And I it probably can fit under exhibits and tours, but I just wanted there to be an opportunity to talk to fair preparation, because that is coming up.

Fair preparation fair is coming up, and we do have Uncle Fuzzy booked for all four days of the fair. I think that is something that, what is that?

Uncle Sophie. Yeah.

No. I I I know but what's he doing for

oh, he I'm sorry. He does the the gold.

Oh, bricks the troughs.

We have that. Trying to cut through some insurance questions regarding the with risk management, but my dream is gonna have down up there. We are going to direct because of a meeting that we had on Sunday with mother group. We're going to direct our efforts into cleaning up two very specific areas in the museum yard before. And I'll note yesterday that, like, we're going to be adding another area to that, and that is the the shay shed.

So it's not looking good to bring her out there. So clean everything out so that it's safe for people to go in and look at it.

K. Just a clarification, I refer to it as an engine house.

I'm actually shaking. Okay. So the shade Shade shade would

be where we store the tools and wood blocks to jack it up. But, anyway, shades in the engine house.

I'm gonna clean up on big boxes.

Okay. I'm the one, three, 22, Okay. And your point is there actually a separate shade shade shed right now?

Well, we have in certain areas as a property Yeah.

Not designated as such, it sounds like.

Support support support items, I'll put it that way, of various kinds and so forth, but but there isn't a shed per se that people would be given a tour to. The engine house is the main thing.

I shop all the way. In bubble bath. Between us. And, Kelly, how is volunteer staffing for the fair? Do you need support, and can any of the commissioners support you in the museum that week?

Yes. I will be putting out to volunteers that are already currently there, I'll be putting out a survey regarding shifts that that can be covered. So, hopefully, I I feel like we're we're

on top of it this

year than we were last year. For instance, I found out that we need to have the dumpsters moved that are overfed so that people can get over the vent. Oh, the fair.

That's a good thing.

Well, and related, there's some early discussions with the Railway Foundation concerning some of the railroad related items at museum in the museum yard that those are items that ultimately be used for railroad activities. That makes sense to store those in the railroad. So it could be that a shipping container is secured, and then it's at one of the or we've chatted about having that at the Shingle Springs site, and and that would free up more space in the yard, but very early discussions related to to that.

So before bear, after bear?

I mean, anything is possible with the power of positivity, but I would say after the fair. The shipping container so you'd probably be looking at about five k or so. So it'd be dependent on the on the railway foundation or perhaps foundation, but it's not something that the department has even in in the budget for this fiscal year or next fiscal year. So it would have to be funding from one

of these nonprofit. There's a a plan in place for temporary to create a privacy fence along that back back end so that we can move the stuff that needs to be moved out of the the public area of the yard, and so it's not as such as much of an eyesore as of now. It's just temporary.

I would just like to, if I may, encourage my fellow commissioners, if you haven't considered it already, but volunteering and supporting the museum during Fair Week, it's really it's when the museum typically gets the most traffic. And it's so neat to see all of the excitement from citizens of our county and further abroad enjoying our local history. So when Kelly reaches out, I highly encourage all of you, if you can take a shift, please do.

Does that require fingerprinting?

We would discuss that at another time.

Okay. Thank

you. You have various internal processes. We see I think last year, was it was it about 3,500? I think that

came in. That's about right now. K.

And I think we'll have even more.

We'll do better this year. If

you may help out, please.

And and I Kingview Museum. Sorry. 3,500 people. Okay. And

it's been a.

Okay. And

last year, we didn't have the library. So If

you wanna volunteer when I'm there, I'll be there on Sunday.

And it's a it is amazing. Her

stories. Highly entertaining.

Mean I shouldn't have installed

a little. There is

that. Just look out all of the creepy things that are in the museum. That's nice.

So one of our learnings from last year is Crystal will be in charge of parking

this year. Are you being serious? Why not? She did disclose and announced that she was just giving her own take, and it's not historically accurate.

When is the fair?

Eighteenth through the June 21, Father's Day weekend. Okay. And then the really great thing about last year was that the corndog guy was right outside. Smelled really good.

Didn't notice that. Yeah. I mean So we have the

the gold painting demonstrations All of all of It's really

great. Yeah. Thank you. All four days, all he needs from us is water.

He'll be in the yard?

Yeah. That's fantastic. So I'll be in and by the side gate there. It's great. That setup. I've volunteered with him before, and the kids love it. Yeah. Because usually, they're like, why are we here? What are we doing? He's really Other than, like, the doll classes and everything, but they can actually, like, interact. It's super fun to see them because I know I was one of the years, I was helping just with him. I wasn't even inside, so they really love that. Yeah. Yeah. He's very engaging.

Is that uncle Fuzzy?

Yeah. Yeah.

Rich. Yeah. Okay.

I'll move us forward to the Elder Wattro Western update. Thank you to Bryce.

As he mentioned, we have had an explosion of ridership starting out in the spring and through a combination of revising schedules and also implementing large events such as the egg extravaganza event on two consecutive Saturdays. Things have really taken off, but what's driving it is that we have implemented an automatic ticketing, a virtual ticketing platform for the first time. And all of a sudden, things are really taking note. We are having people sign up for train rides into the future. Tomorrow's train runs, three, are booked out.

Likewise booked out. Which which means, basically, we we come up with a number of seats, say 40 per car, and we call that a full car. But we will be able to help people who come late or come directly to the tracks. But most of these people are pre ticketing by virtual platform, and they're ticketing amazing. So, again, tomorrow's tomorrow's three runs are ticketed out.

Yes. We'll we'll we'll try to hug and love those who come and come late. We have one particular problem. There's always somebody every run who shows up fifteen minutes after train time, and we try to work that out and so forth. Next Saturday is also ticketed up.

The month of June, June now, those two dates went over 50% ticketed out today. What's nice is that the platform provides us with demographics, adults, children, who's in which categories, who's on which train, and so forth. And it's amazing that you can just wake up in the morning, get a cup of coffee, and go punch the computer, and it'll tell you, here's your curves, and your first two runs are going like this. And the the later two, which are now starting to show the influence of warmer summer days, are lagging a little bit behind, but you only still have maybe 20 seats left for an event that's gonna take place forty five days from now. Mhmm.

And and the other thing is when they ticket, they they pay through different platforms. And so those funds go into protected status, and we're not carrying around cash. We're not trying to deal with it at the station and the dust and so forth. And people are coming from farm wide, and couple of nice ladies did some videos. And if you get a chance to see them by looking at our sites, they're really, really pretty good.

And musical videos. One was some months ago, but one just came out a few weeks ago. And it's really it turns on that people wanna come for a ride. So, anyway, all of a sudden, we're really in the railroad business now because we're we're brewing these trains. These are full size trains.

We're still running the ACARS at Shingle on two Saturdays of the month, and those are booked out. So everybody's happy to shingle, and we hope to certain I soon have an excursion car so we could have a second full size train consisted shingle. But that's another story. Right now, the Eldorado Western RUE needs to pony up and prove to everybody that we have spent a lot of time, but very worthwhile training, certifying, studying railroad rules, doing things, and so on. So it's been a remarkable thing.

And, again, thanks to Bryce for his influence in in overseeing. But all this has taken place in

a matter of a couple of months,

so here we are. Anyway, you're more than welcome to come out if you wish. We expect the first well, currently, forty, fifty people to show up for the first train's at ten. The people start showing up at nine. They're already ticketed and so forth. And then we go from there, and and then the train just comes in. The people get off. The next group will get on. Train goes back out, and very different.

So for the long car the big cars, do you sell all of the tickets for those online, or do you put some seats aside for

Well, you're you're letting all our secrets out, but we Oh. We we're trying to keep options. Okay. And we don't want anyone embarrassed at the last minute who comes with three kids and didn't know about it and just wants to give those kids an experience. And doggone it, we're gonna make that happen some way.

Now at some point, you can if you say 40 people are safe on the excursion car, okay, and you add another 10 by having everybody squeeze a little tighter together at the railings, and then you've got another 15 people that you maybe can put into the caboose. They love it because they get to sit down and look out the windows and so on. And so you may end up starting at 40 but ending up at 65, something of that nature. But we take it at one one train run at a time, and we wanna make sure we're safe. And we do have, obviously, wear and tear and the crew and the and the equipment and so forth.

But, hopefully, everything will pretty much hone in, and I think everybody's enjoying it. We're learning about our equipment for the first time because it's really being worked, the locomotives and cars and so forth. And, anyway, it's interesting to see a lot of chatter on Facebook and other platforms, and we appreciate our informal public consultation over here who helped us with egg extravaganzas and so forth. Our next special event will be July 4, Stars and Stripes Express. And we will decorate the extrusion car up, and we've already pretty much gotten all the decorations and everything.

And we're working on that that plan, and that'll be just July 4 one day on the train only, so it'll be a lot easier than the egg

egg farmer.

And the social media team's working on that flyer and all the promotional pieces. I didn't wanna interrupt you. Go ahead. No.

Thank you. So we'll do our best to prove out your confidence, and we are very, very safety oriented, and we wanna make absolutely sure that we have all these people come away with smiles and good feelings about the museum, about the history and the programs, and sure what role did the railroad play and all that. But it's El Dorado County on display.

Well, you're doing the three runs a day, though.

Mhmm. Yeah. Tomorrow and next Saturday. We had done four runs in a day under special event basis, but it really tears the crew up. I mean, it's just it's real long days. Yeah. So three three trips,

and then you still

have the yellow cars down to shingles. Anyway but this this this, like, virtual platform I mean, Bryce has taken us into a new galaxy.

Oh, big thank you to all of our volunteers at the Railway Foundation for following through on exploring options online in those places. Probably get one or two railroad relate railroad related phone calls a week right now. And it's folks that are traveling from, you know, an hour or more, sometimes the Bay Area, but we're also getting people you know, I've got a few phone calls from locals where I think I mentioned last time it was an individual that wanted to take her grandkids on the on the holiday train in December, so that far in advance. And and there's been a few other similar calls. But an online ticketing platform,

you know, that's great.

And from the department point of view, I mean, we have you know, more supply, and then we have demand. That's another reason why we're focusing a little bit on recruiting additional volunteers potentially to our our appetite.

Hard work

out there when you're running a train. And we also have the other elements where it's track maintenance and fire mitigation. And you wanna learn more about that? Comes in the the meeting on the eleventh. But another goal that we have and a fair amount of our track or the track that we that we run on is already up up to the standard, but the class one FRA standard for track. So as things continue to grow and we prepare and we bring track up to standard, that is that is the standard we wanna bring it to, minimum standard class.

Everybody must be just so proud of the increase in ridership and enjoying the crew and the volunteers, everything that they're they're doing.

Proud and and a bit odd and a bit scared. And, you know, suddenly, it's a much different environment than they had a year ago or so. But all that training, all that certification, all the track work, all the locomotive, all that stuff is all coming into focus. And so now we need to tell a story and and provide the the happiness factor to the the ridership. So, again, thank you, and we'll see you out there.

I think this goes to our thesis in a way too. The thesis includes the statement that these types of capabilities, the capacity to do these things really enriches Eldorado County, but the perception of Eldorado County across the states, again, even nationally. So just to see these things coming together, because I think everybody at this table and people not at this table thinking that way and are aligned and are saying, yes. We can. Look at

what we've got. Wow, it's just incredible. Couple of footnotes. Funny things happen when you operate with and you have lots of people coming and going. A little girl left her favorite water bottle on the railing of the ramp coming down from the train to the station platform. We we spotted it, but they were already gone. And we said, well, let's hang on to it. Maybe the parent will throw back up. But we didn't, so we took it. We washed it. We bagged it. We had it. The next Saturday, in comes his father in a rush, and he's so desperate because it's her favorite water bottle. And and they figured out that's where it got she left it. And he said, do you, by any chance, have this water bottle?

We were able to just reach up and go, here's your bottle. Go tell her, hey. We're glad she came by. Another gentleman came with his son to celebrate his memory of riding and walking the trail with his wife who's now passed, and he he had a commemorative bile of some of her rashes. He wanted to be sure and go on the train. And so he arrived late in the day, and we had to do some special things. But we got him on the very next Saturday morning first train, and he so you try to work the the human hormones.

On the last train for the extravaganza going because it was when we were coming back, so I guess the little girl had dropped her little plushie. And so they stopped the train on the way back, had to pick up her plushie, and got and it was just an itty bitty plushie. Like, I'm so surprised they could see it, but it must have fallen off the side of it, but they stopped and got it for her, and she was so happy because that was the very, very last the last the last weekend of it.

That wasn't a pet dog or

anything. No.

Think that will stop Tiger. I

don't know. Plus you, but anyway, I'm glad that

Well, it's just between that, like, going towards the egg fields, like, coming back, you know, the very, very last one. They just stopped it and got it and then gave it back to her, so she was really happy about that.

One I like was the train came into the station, and I'm taking my position. And I look up at the cupola of the caboose, and here are all these pairs of little lips pressed against the glass window like they're kissing us on the back. But they're they're they're smooching the window, and then these all these little girls were having such a great time.

Anyway Oh, and the track warrant process, there's been some changes with that and then the actual PDF that has been used. So thank you, the keys, for issuing the track warrants and working with the new technology and everything, and it's yeah. It continues to go, you know, smoother and smoother with everything.

So I appreciate your help, especially as we start working with interagency such as PG and E and other other entities that are coming on the right of way. And so things are getting a little more complicated, and we appreciate your guidance and support as we we grow a bit in these processes for the railroad setting track warrants, such. Sure. Always safety first. And on that note, I wanted to mention

that there's gonna be a second railroad training. Think it's the Saturday,

the sixteenth. Thank you very much, Crystal. I know many days.

On the sixteenth. And then with the library department, so we are rolling out new business cards, so all staff that require a card, would like a card bill. The the new format, of course, we have our local branding, but on the back, something really unique, we have three QR codes. So library, museum, and then railroad. So you can see right there to that, the page in the in the site. So we're voting on both.

Okay. I'm gonna move us forward in the agenda unless there's any last comments on railroad. Thank you.

Sounds like we can designate them as sort of profit centers.

Right. Exactly. Okay. We're going next to exhibits and tours.

Kathy, I'm not sure.

I think we kinda covered that. Fair.

I really did. Okay. Okay. Unless there's any other comments on that from the public? Being online. And, again, I'm not sure if anybody might have joined us, but probably not. Alright. Good to go. Okay. Nobody is online at the moment. So we'll then move ahead to museum commissioner comments general. We have your general item here, community engagement updates, but, you know, things that you may have, and maybe we'll just go around. I don't know. Maybe I'll start with you on my right, and we'll just go around.

Well, I did mention the interaction of the railroad with the PGD and, you know, professional elements, and so that's an important facet of it. We also are taking note that there's some interest in some other organizations in having these rail bikes where people two people will pedal the the chassis along the track and so on. We were approached a year or so ago by a company that was looking into it. There's now some further interest. They're looking at down there by White Rock Road in the Sacramento County section, possibly as far east as Latrobe.

But, anyway, it's it's something that's could could bring at least a degree of activity to the rest of the railroad. We continue to spray. In fact, they're out there spraying today clear to the county line. And I'll tell you, it's a long, long trip to the county line, and you think you start thinking you're gonna see some oxen and covered wagons out there somewhere because it's it's really pristine prairie, and and there's a long way. But but we're we're working with county.

We've had to remove some sizable trees. We over overrode I mean, the water has overcome the track in certain areas. We had to chop out exhume the track from where the mud and water had spilled over it earlier in the spring. And so the spray is important from a fire fuel standpoint. We do have a current challenge there at shingle with current weed crop and fire fuel.

Want you all to know we're we're aware of it, and we've got to take steps because we're fast going into the dry season all over the county, and we want to be safe on the most of right of way is is weed free, but there are some areas that need to be addressed. But so we're working with with county and rice and so forth. So that's it. Thank you.

Alright. Commissioner Manberg?

Tomorrow, the historical society is partnering with the Morning Star Lodge class number 20, Placer Hills Odd Fellows Lodge at their historic hall where they have the springboard dance floor for a fundraiser. All net proceeds go to support their building preservation funds. They need all new infrastructure. They have some roof work. They have long laundry list downstairs.

They have the two original commercial spaces when the building was constructed, the Odd Fellows, at the foresight to put into retail spaces to pay for the building long term, and they're doing restorative work down there right now, and so these funds will help with that. Spread the word. It's an Edwardian ball. People can dress up in their Victorian or Edwardian or formal wear, and, we hope people can make it. Also, a huge thank you to the County Museum for the, research that they provided, the the access to the collections that went into the historic home tour that was held a couple of weeks ago, we had over 500 people in attendance, which was huge.

This was the second year since it's been rebooted, first time in forty years, and there's just been a huge public response. All those, not all, most of the historical images came from the library's collection, county museum's collection. And when people, you know, reconnect with these spaces and see pictures of the people who lived in these homes, Commissioner Mitchell was in the Max Baer home and did some research at the museum in advance, so it's just a real asset for the community to be able to share our history, living history with the information that is stored and protected at the county museum. So thank

you for that. That's all I got. Michelle?

Hi, Jeff.

This one's talking.

Pretty much covered it all. Outreach that's needed. The outreach that's coming.

Well, I think I kinda think it's more outreach. We had 500 people that I didn't hear any complaints. You guys would be the ones that would hurt a complaint.

Just joy or A lot of positive feedback. Yeah.

Even when they had to stand in line to get into the homes, I only had one person who even answered a complaint. But it was a good thing.

You know, I do have something.

I'm sorry.

It wasn't. You will be, Randy. Exactly.

Keith will know this. And, you know, the the 10 acres that we had all of our equipment out there at the in the museum maybe twenty five years or twenty years ago, that went back to the original owner, and now they're building something there. Everything is way smoothed off. There's, big bulbs and everything.

Then it's been split? Or, I mean, it is

the Yeah. Right between the right by Blackberry Meadows, that thing and where the wildlife thing used to be. It's off of Newtown. Newtown Road. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that means there's something just now going on, like, yesterday and today that's all smoothed out, big culverts and everything. I just wonder. I know the museum doesn't have anything to do with it probably now, but I thought maybe I found the maps for it, the big plan of it. Oh, you did? Mhmm. What is it?

What? She means

what it was

What I what they were going to do. And now just a minute I'm in the inventory.

Because there were artifacts out there. Air compressors and Yeah. Eighteen nineties equipment stuff. Is that all been shoved to one side, or any idea what happened to the artifacts that were

I haven't seen anything there for a while, but, you know, I mean, they don't, like, weed eat it or anything. So when the seasons come and go, you just, like, notice all the grass coming up. So we only noticed it because they have, like, growl down. They had, like, a tractor out there yesterday, and now they have a bunch of they have a bunch of stuff out there, like Big culvert. Yeah. Big culvert stuff. Mhmm. So they're doing something. It's in that way they had the this where they would have to the pay to go up over Mount to Lulea with this. That's Keith.

Tollhouse. Yeah. Keith. That's where the

town the Tollhouse was right there at that road coming from Smith Flat. They had to come around there. Of course, that's where the railroad eventually wrapped around and crossed But 50 right that was where they grabbed all the freight haulers and got their their tolls before they were allowed to start climbing the grade.

That did remind me one other program that was researched at the museum. I'm sure you probably saw him this week, Kelly. Joe Connolly is with Stories Behind the Stars, Joe and Cindy Oswald. That is a nonprofit that seeks to create a virtual memorial for all Gold Star World War II veterans locally, or it's a nationwide effort, but Joe and Cindy represent the local research arm, and they have done a great deal of their research at the county museum. Will be leading a program on Memorial Day weekend, May 23, at ten a.

M. To 11:30 a. M. At the Placerdale Union Cemetery, where they will feature eight Gold Star veterans from El Dorado County. And even though they're buried in Placerville Union, they're from across the county, Georgetown, Somerset, they're from all over. And they'll be memorializing them. Many of their stories had been forgotten and lost to There weren't even photos. People didn't have photos of these veterans. And the families are coming in from all over the state just to attend this, and they've provided photos that would otherwise have been lost, will which now be in that virtual cemetery and also in the county museum's collection. So that's gonna be a real special event, and we encourage everyone to attend that as well.

Is that where the Eagle Scout is doing, memorializing the veterans down Main Street?

No. This is in the Placer Village. It's a cemetery. Different.

Yeah. There's another there's another

And and Joe actually oversees the effort to put the flags on all that monuments in Placer Royal Union and in Memorial Hills. What's the one just up on Cold Springs? Green Westwoods. Westwood? Do you know where That's the one I go On the left hand side, yeah. That one. Does the flags every Memorial Day for both cemeteries, so it's real special. Anyways, thank you to the museum again for facilitating that research. Very important.

Pretty engaging. It'd be worth the time to go.

I wonder how many of us know that we have a B-twenty nine wreckage in the forest in I believe it's El Dorado County. It might be right near Placer, but it's That's crazy. And you can actually hike to this place. It's

not for

it's a fairly aggressive pipe, but it is from I believe it's just prior to the war, like 1941, the b 20 '9, and the wreckage is still there. Okay. I just thought I'd throw that out there. Let's put

mouse out. I wanna find about it. Given my own time here, I'm gonna move us ahead then to the public forum unless there are any final commissioner comments. Thank you for being in touch, commissioners, with all all aspects and points of our community and just raising awareness of the extended hours at the museum and all of the accomplishments of the railroad and everything else that's going on drive excitement and additional participation. Okay.

So we'll move next to public forum. This is an opportunity for members of the public to address the commission on subject matter that is not on the meeting agenda and but within our jurisdiction. Comments during public forum are limited to three minutes per person, which may not be a problem.

Nice. But you were I know. I don't know. I'm super shaky.

Are there any public comments from the room today? No. Okay. Don't Start the time and count back. And there's nobody online. So we will move to adjournment, and we are so adjourned. Thank you, everybody.

Hi. Yeah. We need to talk. Yeah.

Yeah. And I need

to Everybody's everything started talking right now.

So you get