Parks and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

3 o'clock. It's 3 o'clock. We're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order. Pledge of Allegiance, please. Everybody stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everybody, for being here. Commissioner Rigoli is out of town, way out of town, taking care of some family business, and I'll be running the meeting today. So we need to adopt the agenda and approval of the consent calendar. Is there a motion to do so?

First, we want to open it up for discussion, and then you'll also want to open it up to public discussion. to give them a chance to discuss because the consent calendar includes things that maybe don't want to. I think it's in the way. Right.

Is there any discussion about the agenda or the consent calendar?

I believe Commissioner Rigoli had mentioned that he had some questions and asked if the Georgetown Gazette item could be just for discussion in favor, but just wanting to discuss it, I think.

Are you prepared to address that?

Or you? Okay, I will.

I don't have any real information to add to it.

All right.

Very good. Is there anyone else that needs to pull anything or add anything to the agenda? If not, we will adopt the agenda and approve the consent calendar with the one item to be pulled. Do you have the number of that item?

That is both under 26-0998, but there is item 1 and item 2. It would be item 2 for consent calendar item 26-0998.

So we'll pull that one right. Any discussion from the commissioners? Any discussion from the public? Any discussion from the people online? And that is that who is that online? That's us. I thought so.

I'll make it clear.

Yeah, that's all right. It says us, but I just want to make sure. All right, then. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

We need to have somebody who makes a motion and a second motion.

Oh. I'll make a motion that we adopt the concept calendar.

I make a motion that we adopt the concept calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

I'll second.

Thank you. Okay. Now.

Now you can vote.

All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Yes. All right then. So we do have the one item that we have pulled from the consent calendar to discuss and that is the Gazette stained glass window.

What I did notice because last time we did pull and discuss in the same item. But the time before that, when we have, when you guys had pulled something to discuss, it got moved down. That one item got moved down to the collections committee section, or we can potentially move it down to the discussion and action items section. So that way we move forward with Bryce's report and then we move on and we discuss that one separately. And then you can vote on that one item. Yeah. separately, if you guys would like to do that.

Let's go ahead and move it to collections then. That would probably be an appropriate place to put that. All right then, report from staff and the directors.

Thank you, Bryce DeBell, library director. With the ballot measures, so this is zone F, South Lake Tahoe, and zone G, Georgetown. So that's measure B for Tahoe and measure C for Georgetown. And with the initial ballot count, the results are looking very positive and favorable. Both measures are at about 71% as far as voters choosing for voting yes on those measures. So we'll have another set of data available to us about maybe a week, a week and a half or so. But it's looking very, very promising.

Did it need a 66% or 51? 66.67.

Okay. So, yeah, we were very excited to see those initial numbers. They hovered at about 71% or so.

Today's market.

Electric bookmobiles. So we had contracted with a company previously and I believe likely they have gone bankrupt and so we're exploring our options related to that. We still have a need for an electric vehicle. Some of our A few things have changed over the past year or so because we've absorbed delivery. So we deliver the books between sites from, say, Tahoe to Georgetown to Cameron Park. And we're using our current van, which is a bookmobile. For example, last month we drove that van about 1,800 miles. gas prices and everything else that adds up. So we've put in a request for proposals for an all-electric cargo van.

So it would be used for pop-up outreach and other events, but also to absorb these delivery responsibilities.

And the cargo van and the pricing is at a lower amount, of course, than a fully electric, full-size bookmobile where patrons could board. So I would say maybe in another month or so, I'll have some updates related to that. But that's something that's being explored now, a fully electric cargo van that's sort of delivering our pop-up outreach type events. El Dorado Western Railroad. So there was a presentation that I gave to the Sacramento Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Authority, SPTC, also known as the JPA. It was very well received. We had a lot of railroad representatives there and enthusiasts. And I just wanted to briefly share the slides and provide a high-level overview of this project. of what was shared. And I think you might be able to go kind of full screen with that, Crystal? It's a PDF. I think that's as big as I can get it. F11? OK. That's a little bit better.

And for anyone that used this at another date and time, of course, you can find this in the

materials with the agenda packet. And so you'll see a historical photo from our historical photo database. And then if you want to jump to the next slide, we're going to go, oh, and let me say about this, I wasn't, I have a few other things that I'll probably share next meeting, but let's go ahead and go back up because I do want to mention something about this particular photo. because Kelly was able to enhance this record. She's going to be using this photo and some other things down the line. And so the record is very robust in catalog it, but she was also able to use the link function. So when you go to that particular record and catalog it, then you can see other associated records. So the same same steam engine and various photos. And so I think that's the first example of that being done in Catalogit for us. It's a new feature. So we're very, very happy about that because that will grow exponentially. And do you want to add to that a little bit?

Right. And so anybody who is on the public side of Catalogit looking at this, it's a link. What I can do is link all of the other Heisler photos, and they can look at all of those. And it just kind of gives you a thumbnail, but you can also click on it and see the whole record. And so we can link different records like that. So it's going to be really handy, really, really handy.

I'm so impressed with you using the word Heisler.

Oh, I found it. I learned a lot. I spent all day just with 16 sentences.

It's a type of locomotive. Yeah, personified by the V2 of the cylinders like an automobile would have.

45-degree angle, knowing it's on either side of the boiler.

So definitely check out that record when you have time. Yeah, it's very exciting to enable that feature. Great job to Kelly for working on that.

Turn of the century, 1995.

That one was built in 1897.

Fair guess.

Yeah.

That might be a little challenging with all the pop-up windows that we have. But we'll move pretty quickly to this. I just wanted to provide a high-level overview. And so I mentioned the structure of the department. Of course, we have a library that oversees the museum, that oversees the railroad, the history program, and we'll continue The next slide. And then looking at the algorithm that is EDWR, I mean, we have the Railway Foundation. Go ahead and scroll down a little bit more. We, of course, have the SPTC on the track, the corridor, and then everything is managed by the county. So a little bit of controlled vocabulary for the SPTC meeting as we continue on.

That trestle, is that not the trestle that is now represented by the steel viaduct that has the bug path over the top?

Yes, that's what that is.

That was a pretty sizable chore building those things.

So there is an MOU element, there's a lease and a depot. there's a tax element, there's insurance elements, and then rent collected via that lease, those funds are used to offset costs associated with DDWR. So the MOU and the lease are currently being worked on, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later on in my presentation. Let's go ahead and continue onward.

And these are some more specifics with some of the numbers behind the lease, insurance, and just that algorithm that is Colorado West Journal.

And as we continue, even additional details related to the assessments as far as brown lease and then the building lease. which we don't have the ground lease in effect right now, but it's something that's being worked on. And as we continue down, we also talked about how we're ushering in really a new era of, you know, with the railroad and keep on going. We've seen a 400% revenue increase.

So that's a very fun slide to share.

As we continue down, let's talk about the online ticketing platform. Railway Foundation for making that happen as we continue onward. Also securing our new website URL to assist with advertising and promotion. Thank you. We talked about the Slack logo uplift as we continue. This is an example of our new business cards. We have, of course, the three QR codes there with the library, museum, and railroad

And this is the template that will be used for all library staff moving forward with their business card.

We talked about, you can go to the next slide, all the amazing annual boutique events, the pumpkin patch train, holiday train with Santa and others and the success that the railroad has had with those. And as we continue, Of course, and we go a little bit further there, thanking our volunteers for making all this possible.

Without them, of course, we wouldn't have a railroad program.

And to elaborate on that as we continue, they also take care of track maintenance. And there's a fire mitigation piece related to that.

They just recently built that trust. I think that's a big mean one.

That is a historical photo. Volunteers are not doing that. Just to be clear. And we can continue on. And with one of the identified goals is with bringing the track to certain levels. Wherever we can, we want it to be class one compliant for Federal Railroad Administration. So that's really the goal for all of the traffic. We can continue with more. And then, of course, with the final slide, we are promoting the museum database. And then we're always looking for railroad volunteers to help expand the program, of course. And so that's just a quick overview presentations in the SBTC.

Loading those trains up is going to help get volunteers up the road. Those kids are going to go, I remember that great experience.

And then related, I know I touched on it briefly with the PowerPoint presentation. So the MOU with the Railway Foundation museum, the SPTC, that is being worked on. Also, with the leases, we'll have two leases in place. So one is for the Schengel Springs Depot. That is a building lease. The Railway Foundation owns that building.

And then they lease at the coffee shop.

And then the revenue from that helps support the Colorado Western Railroad. All those funds go to the Railway Foundation. and then you'll have a brown lease in place for the El Dorado Station. The building is owned by the Railway Foundation County . We're probably looking at six to seven weeks before the next update around I hope that they will give you updates as well. And then I hope to bring an item to the Board of Supervisors related to the El Dorado Western Railroad in late July. So additional details next meeting. Moving to .

Bryce, do you ever foresee a problem with three different entities? being in control of that one spot, or do you foresee them always wanting to work together?

You're referring to how the SPTC and the county and these other, the algorithm that is, Colorado Western Railroad, it's been in place for some time. I don't think that there's, exploring the leases, exploring the MOU, and learning more about all these specifics.

Because initially, in the department scope, we explored how we might simplify things. And there's legal elements to consider.

I mean, in particular, when you have leases in place, there's a property tax element. And that's not something that can or say, that's not something that they can make an exception for because it's solidified and countable. So even though it's a little complex, this is the most simple model that we can have for this. So as I continue to share out, more folks become familiar with all these specifics. For the first, it's Yeah, it's a lot to absorb. But this will be, you know, moving forward, this is still the most straightforward model that can exist. But there's a lot of, I mean, working with the, working with parks, working with Department of Transportation, learning more about the FPTC,

and different entities and they're involved in, there's only been positivity around projects and the program and I think there's a lot of opportunities for us to even better collaborate and get the track up to class one standards. And as we do that, I mean, it opens up all sorts of possibilities and all the entities benefit by having track up to class one.

and imagine keeping everybody in the same boat. That's a way to get to do.

And I already mentioned the, oh, I guess I did have it in here as another item. So I have it slotted for July 21st. So I'll have additional information at the next meeting about that. And continuing with the railroad theme, We've been in discussions with El Dorado County Department of Transportation, and it could be that they have certain vehicles that are essentially, they no longer have a use for them. So we'd go through a county process, maybe be able to repurpose one of these vehicles and ultimately turn it into a high-rail truck which can travel on the tracks.

It's going to assist with track maintenance and fire mitigation, the spraying of the corridor.

Right now, vehicles that the Railway Foundation has available to them, Ford Ranger from maybe 1986, it's not ideal.

But that thing is to our historical artifact actually good work. We have a minecart minecart minecart yeah that might be a little hard on the grades, but we do have the little Ford Ranger with a diesel engine in it and in a pack and the guys sprayed all the way to county line using them doing different days of service so any help. The high rail pickup would have universal application for multiple agencies, multiple activities, and it would be a wonderful way to free up time from volunteers who right now are spending way too much time having to fight with the equipment.

And we're exploring an F-4 250 or something like that. So I'm unsure if they have anything like that. currently, but they've been very supportive of the idea, continuing to look at what the options may be, because as Keith mentioned, that would be a huge benefit to multiple departmental parks as well. Moving on to more museum-centric items, we have a new outgoing lending form.

This is a specialized form. because we were approached by a film company who wanted to potentially borrow some of the items from the museum. So we didn't quite have something like that in place. So we worked with the council to make that happen.

So a big thank you to them because we kind of had a short, we did have a short timeline, but we were able to make that happen. And we have a company that's borrowing I think it's maybe 25? 27? Right around there. Items? Yeah, 27 items, I guess. It'll be hopefully featured in the background of an upcoming film. So it was a new kind of request for us. We're very happy to be able to win those items out. And we did use catalog. We followed all of our museum processes, of course, in addition to this specialized form. That's something that was unexpected and new, and now we're prepared for any requests in the future. What's that?

This is Ang Lee, Gold Mountain.

It is. Yeah. And the last item, the library and museum are behavior policies, board-approved policies. And it's been two years since it was put in place. And this will be the two year update to the Board of Supervisors. And I'll present on June 23rd. And our behavior policy is working out fabulously in chatting with the team. So we have supervisors at all of our locations throughout the county. Every library has a slightly different flavor and community needs and our behavior policy No one had any proposed changes. It's working out splendidly and supporting the team. My presentation, I'll dip in the details and numbers around behavior policy. I've also used historical photos throughout to tie it back to promoting the museum and also the railroad. very much looking forward to that. But our behavior policy, we're all very, very happy with it. So a lot of time and effort was put into creating it. Okay. Questions? No question.

Okay, thank you.

All right, let me get this where I want it to be.

There we go.

Back to here.

All right.

All right. And that takes care of the museum program. El Dorado Western Railroad.

Actually, this would be where we'd move down the discussion item number two.

Before everything else then.

Yes. So we're going to, because if you look, I have a collections committee in there. We just didn't have any items for discussion.

Okay.

But we've now moved down item number two from the consent calendar. That's why you're here. That's why I'm here.

Then we enjoy your company too. All right, then. Sean, if you'd like to address the pulled item.

Yes, I think that just, it was a point of clarification, I believe, for that item on the consent calendar for the, we're referring to the Georgetown Gazette stained glass panel. uh that it had stated the concern was that it stated that it was being moved uh because there's insufficient space uh for that piece and that that's not a good reason to deaccession or move an item on its own we don't want that to be precedent but rather noel stack very graciously and the mountain democrat very graciously offered to backlight it display it and even repair it because it requires some repairs and that's the real reason I think we should focus on these things don't just leave because there's not room but because which it's nice to free up that space in the transportation people room so people can actually enjoy it but the reason that this works is because the Mountain Democrat so graciously offered to repair and display and display it so and there is a historical tie because the Mountain Democrat of course owns the Georgetown Gazette So there is that tie there. So it's a good arrangement as stewards. And this, I understand, is not an accession item.

It is not an accession item.

It was an item that was gifted, but anything that's been there that long at a certain point becomes museum property.

Yeah, it came to us from the Angels Camp Museum.

Fascinating. Wow, Calaveras County. Yeah. Okay.

So that's all I could find on it. And then it was approved in a It was approved in a former meeting, previous meeting, but there hasn't been any.

Okay. So that was just, that's all. That was a point of clarification. And I just wanted to point that out. If staff, if I'm getting that correctly and staff agrees with that recommendation, that it's not so much for space, but more for the fact that a community partner is willing to repair it and display it.

Where will you display it?

In the Mountain Democrat office.

So is it still technically owned by the museum? It's just being displayed there, or is it becoming their property? It would become their property.

So it would be removed from the collection. It's never been formally accessioned with an accession number. So that's what it was.

I just want to make sure we're doing this all on the right way.

And that's the item, if everyone wants to see it.

It may be the right thing. I just want to make sure we do it the right way. Exactly.

So I just wanted to point that out as a point of clarification to make sure it's very clear that the commission and, of course, library and museum staff would never recommend that we move something just because there's not enough space for it. in this circumstance. It does free up space, yes, but what a great opportunity to display it, you know, back home, you know, in the same journalism group that also operates the Georgetown, et cetera. And that this piece of history is back in El Dorado County, that's wonderful. So yeah, to have that stained glass panel. Do we have a date on that, Kelly?

No, I can't find it. Okay. I looked through old photos that we know where the Georgetown is at, and I didn't see anything.

Yeah. It looks more early 20th century to me, but that's why I was curious. But what a fantastic piece of history, and how wonderful that they're willing to repair it and care for it. And it's not officially leaving the collection. It's, of course, under the stewardship of the museum. It was approved, but never assigned an accession number. It's interesting. Am I getting that correct, Kelly? Exactly. So with that, we would need to vote then since we pulled that out of the consent calendar.

So just to clarify, we're removing an item that was never technically a session to the museum. And manner of speaking, we're giving it back to its original owner in a way of looking at it.

Because they've offered to care for it. And it is, they are just on the other side of Braley's from the county museum. and it can be enjoyed by the community. I don't think we should set a precedent, of course, of just giving items back or deaccessioning accessioned items just because someone that donated it later wants it back and wants to take care of it. That's not the precedent we're setting. So because this was never formally accessioned, there is that flexibility. Am I getting this correct? Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure for the public record I'm sentinating it the right way.

Yeah, I think that's important to have those facts in the record.

So is there any sort of status that can be conferred upon the item to make it a historical item that, yes, we're giving it back to them, but you can't just throw it away, or you can't just, you know, I don't know if such a status exists. That's why I'm asking. I think it's a great idea that it go back to the original owner from that standpoint. But, you know, as time goes on, management changes and attitudes change. And there may come a day when they say, well, this isn't us anymore and we want to get rid of it. Is that okay? Or should they get it back?

I think that's an excellent point. So I stick to that caveat.

There's some status on it that says you are now the keeper of this historical item.

You can't do the effect that it cannot be sold. There are conditions where you can't just give it away or sell it, that you must be taken back to the museum then for consideration. because it just ensures good behavior and accountability, which I think everyone wants. So it doesn't mean that the museum would necessarily deny that either, or administration, but it would mean that they do have to come back and express that this is their intent, if that were something that future operators of the Mount Duncan tribe wish to do. So can we work that into the agreement?

Yes, that can be in the deed of gift.

Okay.

Normally, that would not fly if it were reversed. Well, I mean, like a conditional gift doesn't usually work. But that's usually the standard operating procedure. If a museum does deaccession something, if we have the paperwork for them, then we do go back to the original owner and say, decided that this is no longer meeting our mission and that's the first step and we don't have any proof that we own that window so there's no paperwork that somebody has given that over to us that's been signed by the owner so now the form typically for when you are donating something or when it's

been added to the collection, I think there is a window in there that says that after a certain point in time it becomes a museum property. They can't just leave it there indefinitely and then claim ownership after you cared for it and stored it.

That's if somebody if there's paper.

The assumption being it showed up that way, but you're right.

So technically this is a found in collection.

And then we can run the language by council for items to be reunited.

I said there's other questions around that I would assume. Is that something you would keep on your catalog it, for example? Is that something? Do we have any?

So there's a spot for those kind of records. There's a whole deaccession. So that would be in deaccession slash founding collection. So everything that... collections committee here has voted on to not keep from the accession there's a record that's created about that item and and anything any information that we have about that item so that if it ever comes back we'll have information on it so is it okay if we is administrator lavelle are you okay with that being a caveat that we add that it can't just be talks in the dump

have council uh reducing the language and then with the um for admissions um desire to have something in place that mentioned some of those aspects can that be done before the fair until um affairs not tomorrow so how did we get i think there's a very uh put it in right away

So how did we get it to start with?

That's the question.

I have a picture of it coming over from the Angels Camp Museum. There's just a picture with a caption that says.

But nothing from them getting it?

Not that I found it. It doesn't mean that there isn't anything, but I haven't found it. And I feel like I looked at almost every single piece of paper.

With receiving feedback on the language used related to all this, I think that could happen in a rapid fashion. I think we'll likely have an update.

There's got to be some boilerplate or something like that. Zach said, has to.

He said so.

all right then i would uh ask for someone to make a motion uh to approve that the stained glass window let me get this right the stained glass window is going to go to the mountain democrat with a caveat that there will be some language to make sure that it is protected in the way that we've discussed.

Not to be sold or thrown away, given away, without coming back to the museum first for approval. And move what you just said.

I second it. Okay. Any discussion? Any discussion from the public? And there's still nobody online? No, nobody online? Okay. I know that... Jacob had really hoped to get here, so I'm sure that he's just busy. So, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. And thanks for that good discussion on that. That was healthy. That's why we're here. Can we go to the railroad now?

I agree with that, yes. I've checked with the boss. Thank you for checking with me.

Will there have to be a county white boat in order to?

You see Bryce how he was checking with the boss? And that was me. I forgot my evaluation. What?

Exist but unfound. You said pitfall. Okay. Thank you. Eldorado Western has been in the middle of a perfect storm the last month. Every event being ticketed out, booked out, people coming out of the parking lot asking for the last available seating, rotating crews. While some crews have gone on extended vacations, we have one gentleman Ed is on vacation until July. Steve Carely is working up in Plumas County at his summer job. Bruce Cooney is in Wisconsin at his family's home. And so we're floating crews. And all the effort in certifying and training and cross-training is paying out. And we thank those who have joined us recently to augment our efforts. Cadres, volunteers, certainly at the station. It's rather daunting to see the masses of people coming when you have one train coming back in and another train people arriving to ride it. And there might even be people for the third train who will wait until the second train gets back. Anyway, long story short, everything has been booked out. We are running tomorrow and we are running next Saturday. full-size train, and then we'll have the A-cars at Shingle. The Stars and Stripes Express, July 4th. We are featuring three runs, and we released for pre-ticketing today.

Okay, great. I had sent the, real quick, sorry. I had sent, Abby at the library completed the supplier, and it looks great.

I send it to Ed and Steve to make sure that the details are correct. And so that Steve can set up a system to all my tickets. And then we get the green light, all that, uh, then we'll promote on social media.

And I think this one's going to sell out real, real quick.

Uh, sorry, no, no, thank you. Uh, I think it's going to pop pretty fast. The train will feature decoration, of course. So, uh, volunteers have been running around finding decorations and making decorations and getting the bunting and all this stuff. My expediter, Gloria, has been chasing down all kinds of the most arrogant, or not arrogant, irritating, irritating. Sometimes those are maybe. Anyway, she has enjoyed looking for all of the most irritating things uh noise machines that kids have ever had over decades of irritating their parents and we have ordered some and they've been coming in in boxes and it's really pretty interesting but uh she's been working on that so that the the noisemakers and the bubble thing and all this stuff kids kids kids can yell and scream their heart out at the crossings and so forth so we're we're well on our way towards oops excuse me i'm 4th of July is come early in my case. Anyway, so we're working on the 4th of July, three, three runs that day and, uh, so on. So, uh, again, um, we appreciate the fact that we've gotten some of our key staff off on vacations. They've certainly earned it. And, uh, uh, we also appreciate Peter Schulze and his training and certification and so forth. Um, And we have some people who happen to, well, one gentleman happens to be employed in this building. He has made science out of working on the car mover, which is a huge, ugly-looking machine that grabs onto the train and drags it home until the train breaks down. And so he's been fixing that while others are on vacation. So everybody's moved over and doing things. The stations are coming along. We're working on the CPLT caboose at Shingle, enhancing that as a ticket station. And so we've gotten some small things done. to outfit that for administration, tickets, and so on, and make it more comfortable for the ticketing crew at Shingled. Eldorado, we have been working on enhancing the gift tables. Now, hopefully, we'll entice people to support the efforts by buying a trinket or two and so on. So we'll see how it goes tomorrow. And there's some unique handmade jewelry and stuffed bears with pennants and all kinds of stuff. My dining room has been this bizarre factory. Anyway, so we're having a good time. And hopefully things will calm down a bit in July after the 4th. And we'll have our regular runs. And we'll be working on other things. We are working on the design of signage at the end of the railroad there at Missouri Flat Road. Chris Payne and Peter and Bryce and so forth. That's very important to anchor that end of it. And we also are working on design Ultimately, the track layout and the trail layout that will occur and shingle through that area. And that's everyone's best interest to work together and so on. Oh, we also had, and I thank Bryce for bearing with me as the dispatcher, we had a track warrant cut from the El Dorado Western to PG&E and other agencies for the first time. Normally, our track warrants deal with railhead occupancy, who's on the track at a certain time in a certain direction, and so on. In this case, it was outside agencies occupying the locations on the right-of-way near Rustling Pines in Chingle. Anyway, I appreciate your understanding, Bryce. It was a newfound forest for me to wander around in.

Thank you for creating the track warrant. uh, now we have, uh, PDF form and it's a little bit, uh, fancier now.

And yeah, we're working with some different entities that are outside of the county.

And, uh, so yeah, it'll be able to do their work.

Setting poles and doing other types of work in conjunction with the trails and track and so forth. So I think it's a good collaborative example. Anyway, uh, that's about it. And, uh, You're certainly welcome out there Saturday, tomorrow, week from tomorrow. And then we'll start to look in terms of, hate to say it, but fall and Halloween and pumpkin patch. Anyway, thank you.

Is that, is the Express, is that on 4th of July itself on that Saturday?

Yes. And it just happened to fall on a regular run day. We took advantage of it. We said, what could we do? And because the county had a wish for county agencies and ways that we express ourselves being the 250th anniversary. So this was perfect. And it just fell into place. And then we needed a venue. Well, we had the train, but the train's kind of a train. And so how can we dress this thing out? So they've been working on lights everywhere. And as I say, bunting and flags and you name it and so on. And we'll give it our best. And we'll certainly rouse up all the children in the county and see if we can.

I wonder who could play Uncle Sam. I don't know.

Yeah.

I see it. Who's about 30 pounds.

So likely we'll start advertising that train event next week. feedback from Ed on some of the details of the flyer.

Kind of like the online system, we're already good to go, so that's good to know. With the sign over on Missouri Flat, that's been finalized. It's being printed. It's a larger, oversized sign. We have a new URL on there, wbar.org. more of a timeless sign. It doesn't have Facebook and other things. It's specifically for two pieces. So it also mentions volunteers needed.

So it's a good looking sign that should last a very, very long time. And then we have a railroad training slash orientation, Peter and I, tomorrow at the Placidville Library at 9. So if anybody watches this between now and then, feel free to stop by and learn more about the program.

I close in saying that today is obviously a very special day being able to tour all these kind of things that we're working on and the synergy and the dynamic energy and so on and that. But anyway, today is my 78th birthday. Okay. And I'm pleased to celebrate it here with you. I also appreciated not the present that when I opened the front door, there was a three-foot rattlesnake stretched across our path, our wipes for your shoes, you know, things stretched all the way across there. And so that's the first snake we've seen in years.

I hear those bites are really up this year.

The what?

I hear there's like 77 bites. So be careful.

I've been doing some cleaning and getting rid of junk and spring cleanup. And I think I've disturbed a bunch of stuff. And I think they're out looking for the rodents and moles and that. And our kitty died last year, so we don't have the cats pushing the snakes back. So anyway, be careful out there.

Yeah, we saw our first rattlesnake of the year. Big one. Big one. Yeah, he had about eight to ten buttons or rattles on him. And he was huge. He got way in the brush.

He's a snake emeritus with eight bells.

Coyote came down to watch me split wood the other day.

They were all country. Yeah.

Well, thank you, and happy birthday. Happy birthday. Thank you, guys. Good to hear yours isn't the 250. Yes, especially from the inside. All right. Any discussion about the railroad? It sounds like we've got a nice report. They keep getting better. We're very fortunate.

Yeah. Things are on a roll. Hopefully it goes smoothly. We'll do everything we can to have a safe and fun experience tomorrow. What time do they start? 10. The crew reports at 830. That's the engine crew and the station crew and the... Ancillary support crew like Peter Schulte and so forth, and then the first passenger starts showing up about quarter to nine and because they're all pre ticketed it's a whole it's an entirely different dynamic. And, um, uh, so the, the first train load will, will be loaded, you know, getting, they want their tickets and register and so forth. And other people will be showing up who haven't got a ticket yet, but they're, they're hoping. And, uh, then the, the fun begins with the first train out eastbound is 10. So they go out and they come back. Yes. They go out to Missouri flat road and come back crossing Blanchard and Forney. And, um, We have interpretive volunteers on the train, both caboose and passenger excursion car. And we have one of our favorite guys on tomorrow who loves to tell jokes, Tim from Grizzly Flats. He's a great guy. Had a rough life the last couple of years up there at Grizzly. And anyway, he's going to be conducting tomorrow. And we have several ladies on the crew. And anyway, well, second train out is 1130 and third train one o'clock.

Did they get their ticket punched? Yes, sir. We have real ticket. That's an important point I'll tell you. If you got to ride a train a long time ago, you got a ticket punch. If you don't get a punch this time, you're going to be caught.

We've been telling the story of ticket punches. Since I'm on ramp access control, I use it as an opportunity to tell a historical antidote. So I've used my own personal ticket punch in that to show that each punch had a different mark. Mine's a square. Some were moon, half moons, moon, circles, you name it. But every conductor had to have a different identifying symbol so the railroad could tell if there was a problem, somebody didn't pay, or somebody says they get rousted by the conductor or whatever, whatever. The conductor's punch was the identifier back to the thing. That started in 1855. They had trouble with people trying to hitch right on the train. So anyway, we do punch their tickets, and they purely love that little stuff.

Yeah, yeah.

They love the – I call it the smell, the taste, the hearing, the sight. They love the senses of the history. Great. Anyway, we told the story of the great snowball ambush at Buckeye Flats last time. They enjoyed that. And I think tomorrow I'm going to abbreviate a little bit of the Western – what was the – I'm sorry. The outfit that brought the packages and stuff – Not Western Telegraph.

Pony Express.

Pony Express and, oh, man. Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo.

I'm sorry. Okay, we'll get that on the list.

We actually, the man donated to us an actual Wells Fargo box and the operator stuff from El Dorado Station that had all the stuff in there so they could wrap and tie and create a fair for the packages that were going in and out, and he told us about that they would ship anything. If they could put a fair on it, they'd ship a dead rhinoceros down the tracks. So anyway, we may talk about that tomorrow, but each time we try to find some little thing to kind of occupy them, and then the conductor yells all aboard, and they go up the ramp like livestock into the excursion car, and our conductor starts telling jokes, and and so are brakemen, and off they go.

Have you read Pigs as Pigs?

No.

Oh, I've got to tell you about Pigs as Pigs.

I was just going to say, do you tell the rattlesnake story?

Well, it's a new story I get tomorrow. I know, but the word rattlesnake fell off. Oh, it fell off on the tunnel cut. Yes, I do. Because it was a passenger who reached over and hit me in the shoulder and said, do you see the snake there? And I said, no, sir. And he said, yeah, it was right up on there. When we came around on the outside of that curve, that snake was right there on that list.

You mean recently?

No, this was a few years ago.

I know, but there's that story. It's a historic story about the one that fell right down into the cab.

In the cab, yeah. I'd like to see a copy. Do we have that in script anymore? I can look for it.

They threw it into the oven, right? Into the furnace?

Firebox, yeah, sure. Snake barbecue, yeah. Well, anyway, the tunnel's a great place for snakes. Sunny ledges, you know, and so forth. So, anyway, we'll keep them hopefully happy and occupied during this time. And we're the small, humble railroad in the foothills. And we're not fancy, but we're homey, and we've got stories to tell.

I'm sure rattlesnake stories will fill up those cars. Yeah.

Everybody's in there. Can you go faster?

Speaking of history, let's hear from the research room.

OK. So you're at number what, Matt?

1,700, 1,700. And they've got maybe five or six drawers to go. Then there are the area photos. But they're not going to be that difficult. I've looked at them. So then we have to do something with all those. I'm on map box 14. Kelly got these trash boxes that we put together. They're about this high, this big around. And I can get almost 100 maps in one of those, the rolled up one. But we've also got a, I don't roll anything that's flat. And we've got a stack about this high, flat maps. So we have to have a list, but we have to decide where to put them.

There's definitely more clear spaces upstairs where the maps were. There were just kind of some piles of maps, and Dee's gotten all those sorted. And we're almost at a point where we'll be able to sort them and decide which ones go into storage.

A lot of them will go to storage. They're not one of the people that wanting to look at, and we'll know where they are.

They'll be digitized, right?

Oh, yeah. I've recorded everything.

90% of anybody's going to ever want to look at them.

Oh, no, they're not digitized.

Oh, they're not?

No, no. There's a list of what we have, and we'll know where they're going to be.

Ah. No, they're not. And there's a lot of copies, right? Oh, yes. And we'll be giving the surveyor's office the... the inventory as well, and they'll be able to check off which ones that's on our inventory that they have digitized.

Okay. And I think I've mentioned there's so many Michigan cattle maps, just hundreds of them. And then I think, maybe I've said this before, I think we have the largest Henry Lea collection of maps anywhere in the world. Pictures of him, everything. We've got his photograph albums, his family albums.

We have the preeminent Henry Lea collection.

So there's no... No global equal. There's not exactly. A nationally recognized institution. There are no plans to digitize these maps?

Well, sure, if we had some scanners.

Oh, I brought up a subject. So a lot of the maps...

have been digitized. The surveyor's office has been digitizing them. So that's why we're giving them the inventory, and they'll be able to share back with us which ones they have.

And then those should be added to catalogs? I don't know.

Are they too big of files? Yeah, I don't know if we're going to. I don't know what we're going to do.

We can always do a batch conversion. Right. And there's ways to do a batch import as well, but we have to work with the catalog. The surveyors office continues to be a fantastic partner. So to answer your question, we want to digitize everything and we want to digitize artifacts and cultural items or document them with pictures. Kelly has taken a took a few pictures for the items that the film company borrowed. And they turned out really well. I know that you just took casual pictures of them, but considering the lighting and some of the other factors. So we're a step closer to being able to offer that. And it's going to add a whole other dimension to the database with having not only the historical photos, pictures of physical items.

Yeah. I can see it now. See artifacts as seen in Ang Lee's Jolte Mountain.

Yeah. Most, you know, there are so many maps that I don't see the point of digitizing them. I mean, there are maps that I don't think that somebody, in some day, may want to look at all the Michigan cattle maps that were ever created.

She liked my property.

Well, we do have a regular scanner just for regular-sized documents. And then we have our other scanner.

I think we're a step closer.

I think there's still another issue with getting that all together. But we have it in the museum. We have it set up. I think we need, like, maybe another software. It's just sitting there looking at us.

We need a computer.

Yeah.

I use my computer with it.

May I ask a question? Do you have a computer?

Well, no.

We don't. Does the county ever use Apple or never?

No. So my county issues phone with Apple, but as far as computers, I don't

So if an Apple were to be donated to the museum for this purpose... Okay, I was just... We have a couple of Macs that we personally would be happy to donate MacBook Airs that could be used for this.

With some of the delay in getting the scanner 100% functional because just the IT sphere with how we... save and protect data, just that process. There's a lot of things that are considered to make sure there's no type of risk associated with that from a network vulnerability point of view. So everything goes through all sorts of checkpoints.

Well, the offer stands. If that can actually help the museum to be able to use the scanners that it has.

Right. And so we do There is an old laptop that they need to reprogram because the only thing it can do is that it can't be hooked up to our network at all because the scanner is from China. And looking at the, you can't find a lot about the company online. Interesting. Yeah, even though everybody uses this.

A lot of the parts inside the computer from China.

I know. So it's getting there.

You can send me an email with just the scanner topic. And then, of course, the Mountain Democrat

sign and the language piece then we'll jump to both of those next meeting and hopefully we'll have a scanner update next meeting that was awfully nice to oftentimes yes thank you all the mining materials too kelly has now in one spot they were all over the phone and i'm looking forward to finishing the map so i can go through those and see how we can use them practically facilities brought over some new shelving for us so now we have

It's a really big deal.

It seems like a small thing, but it's a big improvement because things are better organized.

Right, and it's centralized. And there's some mining things that I saw in storage that I think maybe you should look at to see if it wouldn't be handy to bring it back over and put on our shelves.

It's taken a long time to get where it is. It's going to take a while to get it where we want it to be.

No, tomorrow.

Tomorrow? I want it to be tomorrow.

So do I.

You know what? I'll be honest with you. It's not going to happen to me. Somebody has to tell you.

You're just being mean.

Yeah, I am. I was related today with guns. I can be mean.

So related mission and the vision statement. So that's been updated on the website. Oh, good. Any more research? I don't know.

Kelly? Something else? Our research room, it's been busy. Yesterday was very busy. Busy with researchers coming in. Rody and I worked on yesterday's stuff all day today.

Put the word out when you've got all the mines done, and then everybody has got a mine at the end of their road. And they're all going to want to come in to see if there's really a mine at the end of their road. Because there's supposed to be a mine at the end of my road.

That's what I'm going to do at the fair.

Everybody's going to ask you that question. That's a great idea.

All right. Exhibits and tours.

Exhibits and tours. So we have just tours-wise. Our Friday volunteers now, David and Maria Berry, that are working there are just gifts. They are so wonderful to have around, and they're both so full of good ideas. So I just feel really lucky. I feel very relaxed on Fridays when they're there. and just give them their head up, are really good leading the tours, and just very informative. So they're great. And then exhibits, we're just in the finishing stages of our civic celebration for our 250th. So we put some bunting up today on that. I have some bunting.

I'll let another pretty bunting to come get it.

And then printing, been printing some old ads and stuff out of the Mountain Democrats and then kind of just enlarging those and going to have things over to that. And we have a big drum from the Hangtown Band and that's on there. So it's coming along. That'll be ready by fair.

Okay. Any discussion about exhibitors or tours?

Do you have anything for the fair? Are you for all those? Okay. So much about the fair. I didn't put that under. That's what you were going to talk about. So preparing for the fair. Still, let's see. So Albert Fausel is going to be talking to his mining, his coal panning cohort tomorrow at the wagon train base to see if they can't get something together for us for during the fair to do that and really like to name it. I'd like it to be something that's regular. It's not anything I'm surprised about, but have it be. To have something that's permanent. I know there's museums that do have permanent gold panning exhibits that's interactive, and I'd like to have it be the Uncle Fuzzy Memorial gold panning exhibit. That's a dream. That's a thought that's half-formed, but I think it'd be fun. It'd be really nice to do that. And so I still need people for the fair Saturday. Saturday is very meager people-wise. So I can get the word out there if you know anybody that can work Saturdays.

You may have to work with me. So that's forewarning.

Well, that's why nobody's there.

And Crystal. Well, I'm going to be there too on Saturday. So I have Crystal and Bryce. And I was told today that I'm not allowed to share stories Crystal's in charge of parking.

Because I am not good at it.

That's good, though, because they get crazy. Like, we were trying to park one time, and I was like, I'm about to hit you. I need to move the barrier. And they wouldn't move. And I'm like, I understand. I'm not taking your spot.

I might hit you, though. Right.

Yeah.

I'm going to be really mean about parking this year. So everybody is getting staff permits. And if there's not one of these in the car, then they're getting tough.

Yeah, whenever we came, we had like the old laminated one that we just rolled the windshield and we were just like, we belong here, please move.

Right, yeah. This would be the first time in 20 years I volunteered for fair, for the museum.

Oh, wonderful.

Well, nobody asked us this year.

Oh, so you're saying you're not going to? Or you are going to?

Well, are you volunteering? Do you want me to send a email? No, we asked at the last meeting. Have we asked? Well, let's volunteer. Okay. just no we signed her up please do please do can you do saturday i think i'll send her enough sunday and sunday and that's the what days well i have i have a form a link to a form and then you can fill out why we did that what did the whatever it was the life scan or whatever No. It's a form that I email out.

Times and the days.

Oh, yeah. Fill in the dates. Okay.

Yeah, we were almost offended.

Well, we're so glad you're going to be able to help. Because I was looking around at my fellow commissioners and thinking, I'm doing Thursday. We're going to be out of town that weekend, but we're doing Thursday, Jacob and I. I know Dee's there at least Saturday.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

And Rhodey will be there. So, commissioners, There's once a year.

And that's usually the day they close.

Yeah. So Sunday.

Well, I'll send the email and we can get that over to you. Because then I have a nice spreadsheet with everybody's name and hours on it. Yeah. Well, then I'm going to hand this to you now so that you don't have to come in and get it. Thank you. Do you want any more?

Do let us know soon when.

Because things happen with them quickly. Right. And Jerry's coming with you on Saturday too? I can't. We talked about it. Since we didn't get a deal, we didn't firm it. I don't make her plans.

No, I wouldn't recommend that. You've worked with her. I love Jerry, but I would not want to tick her off.

I already sent that email.

And she shoots better than I do. Okay, does that take care of your fair? You got more?

Yeah, and so Dee is going to be there. She's going to be set up at a table and she's going to be looking at people's properties and telling about that. I did it before. People love that.

That'll be fun because all the people that either grew up here or their parents were here, they'll come back and be like, oh my gosh, I can look up my property. That'll be really nice. And then they can take this.

I'll give them names. And then they can go into the research room. They'll get them in the research room. I think people are intimidated looking at the research room through the door. Anyway, they can go back there with the names. And Roe, you can probably find something about that.

And then still needing some help with cleaning up. So the facilities, landscapers, they do as much as they can. They're very understaffed. So they just kind of do the basics. with just some like leaf glowing and stuff, but there's weeds and lots of pine needles that need to be cleaned up. And I'm just really hoping to have the doors of the Shea Shed open so people can see in it.

Yeah, I'm not sure whose jurisdiction it is. Unlocked.

Yeah, so I'm just looking for some basic cleanup help before the fair.

I think I've been that a couple of years. Nice and tidy. Which is by myself.

Okay. Yeah. What are we going to do about George? I'm sure that he's going to want to be helping. Oh, that'll be nice. And he gets helped by the blacksmith. Does he? Yeah.

He'll be dragged along. That's great.

Yeah, but then he's going to be there.

He will be.

Milk is what needs to happen. Please do bring your people.

Yeah, please. The more the merrier. Absolutely. So I'll fill that out on the thing you said. Yeah, thank you. I'll send that to you.

So you need help cleaning up, general cleanup. On the 13th, plan on Jacob and myself to help around the yard. That's Saturday. It is. That's next Saturday. Does that work?

Is that already the 7th? Yes, that does absolutely work.

Well, the 6th is tomorrow, so next Saturday is the 13th. Right?

Yes. Okay.

just made my stomach is that okay yeah that's great that's so fabulous thank you all right okay now i'm done okay about the fair sorry then museum commissioner comments uh i would just like to say we keep talking about the mountain democrat how many of you know it was originally a republican newspaper i was talking about changes it was originally a republican it wasn't the mountain republican but it had republican in its name and it got sold and became the mountain democrat the el dorado republican because the democrat mountain democrat ended up i think merging with well it's the same same it was the same company okay just yeah but that may be the way but uh I think that's great that the Republican became the Democrat. The Democrat became the Republican. That's our history.

We have some of those bound at the meetings.

Is that all behind us now, or are we at risk of becoming the classical social communists?

Well, we're always at risk. Nothing's guaranteed.

uh golden uh history days wagon train days tomorrow uh on main street in placer of course wagon train's making its way down highway 50 uh retracing the old uh road uh please come out and see us when i say us i mean i know randy and jerry will be there i believe you and then uh i'll be down there uh with the historical society we save the graves with We're going to be handing out literature and telling people to make sure they check out the County Museum and remind them so that I don't keep hearing, it's not open. Oh, it's open. Scan this code. So we're going to get, you know, getting the word out and pushing people towards the railroad. Have some railroad collateral at the Fountain and Talmud Museum, but we probably need more. And I don't know if that's because of the slight local redesign or is there more at the County Museum railroad collateral or no?

Yeah, and it's outdated. It's not updated. We have some full-page flyers for that.

So what I think I'm going to do, if you're all okay with it, is I'm going to print a giant QR code that leads to edwr.org. And we have a banner for the El Dorado Western Railroad that we've used at the Historical Society because we've always scratched each other's backs and tried to help get people over there. So if you're okay with that, I plan on, that's how I'll market the railroad tomorrow. be great um and then uh so we'll be tabling we have a ton of storyboards about the history of main street about the wagon train the history of the event uh and of course of the old uh the old placer tahoe road um yeah it's gonna be fun so come out and see it tomorrow what about did you want to make any comment about the historical fall that we had uh I guess I can. Yeah. Yeah. There was a May Day Ball at the beginning of last month. It was a fundraiser for the Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street in Placerville and for their building preservation fund. The building is very large and has lots of problems and it needs some retrofitting. It still has its original plumbing in many parts of the building.

Not good.

120-year-old plumbing. So they are um we were able to raise about five thousand dollars uh net for them um and uh there there were a lot of people that pulled together for that we thank everybody when i say we the historical society thanks everybody who came out bought tickets volunteered diane wilkinson catering gave a great deal and provided a fantastic service we're indebted to her Um, we had wonderful dance instructors come from the Bay area. We had a five piece brass band come from the Bay area. Uh, and they really brought magic to the evening on that floating dance floor. Of course, it's one of two in the county, the others above the rescue post office. Um, but not nearly as grand. So, uh, anyways, it was a success and we thank the community for it again, every year, the historical society picks a different building project for preservation, where we raise funds and give it to the organization. to help improve their building and preserve it. Last year was the ME Church, the Federated Church, the oldest church structure in the county, surviving church structure. So anyways, thank you for your support. You were there. You both were there in lovely gowns.

And George was part of the outdoor service. Yes.

And Danny and Jerry were there.

And many of the marshals.

Yeah.

This will encourage more things like this, I think, because You did such a good job putting it on.

The society and the community did a good job putting it on and it's teamwork. And I do have some ideas that we can talk about going into next year or maybe this fall if we're crazy enough to do it. I'd have to meet with Bryce and Kelly on the side. But this would be ways to fundraise for the organ too. I have like the best fundraiser idea that we could do for a restoration fund. I've got a Winifred Sanders, the Sanderson sisters. We basically put an ensemble together and they do the whole concert like in Hocus Pocus. I put a spell on you. People come in costumes and dance. And there's a person playing, a foe playing the organ. And we have a sound system going. This would sell out, and we would do a live stream from the county museum where who lit the black flame candle, you know, and so that's what brings the witches back to life, and it's spooky. This would sell out and raise funds for a good cause. So we need to look for these opportunities. I think there's a lot of cross-collaboration we can do between the different nonprofits for this good cause, and that's a great project. Obviously, we need to raise funds for the preservation of the work itself.

Sean, I have a baby grand piano that I can't even look at the bottom. Cable Nelson. Been in my family all these years. We're willing to give it to a good home free.

Lots of people are with those pianos. They all have the pianos and they're trying to get rid of them.

We've got two of them upstairs.

They cost as much to move as they cost to reach. Thank you, though. That's very gracious. Speaking of good causes, though, the wagon train at the conclusion tomorrow, it will be dedicated. to Dr. Davy Weiser, and there'll be speech advising. I'll be one of the speech advisors.

And that is going there. I don't know if all of you are aware, but there was an effort after Dr. Davy died to memorialize him. They're going to have him in a hearse, a 19th century hearse, I believe, that comes around. It'll be last. He liked to be last in the train. And they'll have some of his cremains and uh the bell tower there will be a service to him and main street will shut down normally you have the breakdown right after the wagon train everything will be frozen for another hour and a half for the memorial and i know um doug beer camp has been very gracious in helping facilitate all of that and uh sponsoring it so that that is going to be a very um moving

conclusion to a very fun event so please do join opens at nine you can hear things about the doc you didn't know yeah well i'll be sure to tell gloria about it so we can talk to people when they're getting their tickets wonderful yeah like go to go to main street you send us people we send you guys people

Yeah, make it a full day.

Well, that should not be understated. That's the fruit of organizational organization and cross-organization. So whatever we can do to direct and lead on and so on, that's wonderful.

And it's nice that it's on the same day. And I mean, a lot of people come from out of town, so they can go and see it while they're up here. So it's perfect.

They come to one and find out about the other.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Last thing, I don't want to talk much more because I know everybody is eager to go. We can probably get here much earlier than we normally do. We love being here, but, you know. This is what happened with Jacob. Yeah. I said to her, Jacob's going to go pick things up. So, I'll watch it and just go like this. Damn it. We are at the El Dorado County Historical Society. We've headed our little fountain and tunnel museum on Main Street, an exhibit called East of the Golden Gate about Chinese immigrants in El Dorado County. The county museum has been incredibly gracious and supportive in loaning us artifacts from the collection. And we've been able to, I think, help interpret them in a way they haven't been in a long time. If ever we did a lot of research, we got translators to translate the Chinese characters on these artifacts, which to my knowledge hadn't been done before. And so it's all of our interpretive material is being given to the County Museum to stay with these artifacts so that they are properly interpreted, at least the translations. And because a lot of the interpretive material itself came from research that had been already done at the County Museum files. So that'll continue to live. I believe it's going to be displayed when I say live in these, glass display cases.

Going right back into a display case instead of up in storage.

Yeah, that would be really nice. And that's been really popular. A lot of people have been coming in and photographing it and wanting to see it. And so it'll be really nice that they can continue to see that the cabinet is interpreted in that way all together and with all the other artifacts that didn't go over.

Right, yeah. And so we'll now have an L-shaped area. And I think that fits in fits in really nicely with the gold mountain. So it'll be there for a while. Wonderful. Thank you for the interpretation.

Love the partnership. Thank you. And then we also are going, our next exhibit is kind of fun. It's mid-century Eldorado. So we're telling the story of mid-century development, redevelopment, pop culture, car culture, cruising as it happened in El Dorado County. And that's going to be really fun. We wanted something fun and light for summer. So that's going to be really, there's all kinds of fun things we can celebrate. The air park in Cameron Park, it was the first ever residential air park in the world when it was built. And so we've been doing a lot of research on that, acquiring footage, working with different community partners in Sacramento and their archives to get photos and footage that haven't been widely circulated before. We'd like to get some of these things into the County Museum's collection as well. These images like from Caltrans of when they wiped out Union Street to build and expand Highway 50, to expand Highway 50. Caltrans by state law had to document everything, pre-demo and all the way through to completion. So these are pictures I don't think we have and we need them. They should be in the collection. So these are things we're going after for this exhibit. It's going to be a fun exhibit. And we encourage you to let people know that the Borellis have given us a full mock-up. It's not a mock-up. It's a table, full table setting, even with branded wine bottles from the Zuffio Pizzeria that they owned on Main Street in the 50s and 60s. And so they've been very gracious. Down to the red and white checkered tablecloth and the very tables and benches that were in the restaurant. So the menus, it's going to be a full display. So it's going to be really fun. Come see that.

We'll still be sitting on the floor eating while this exhibit is on.

It's going to be fun. And the program for that is June 27th in El Dorado Hills. Architectural historian Dana Sopernowitz will be leading this tour. He is based in El Dorado Hills part-time. And what we'll be featuring are 10 homes. from one of the original villages of El Dorado Hills. This will also be part of the exhibit. Anshul and Allen was a famous mid-century design firm out of San Francisco. They, of course, hired Eichler, who is a very prominent and celebrated today mid-century architect who was prevalent in California, his designs. And Dana will be taking us to Sunset Magazine's 1962 Discovery House, which was on the cover of Sunset Magazine. And it's a street only tour, but we'll be learning about California Ranch and mid-century modern designs. There'll be a one and a half hour tour. So we encourage you to spread the word. It's going to be fun learning about mid-century architecture in our county and its own unique style and how that was the catalyst for the development of El Dorado Hills. So please come tell your friends and join us. That's all.

Are you sure? You didn't forget anything?

Thank you. Any more museum commissioner comments? And seeing that there is nobody online, I would accept the motion to close the meeting. Any public forum? Oh, public, good thing. Good thing the boss is here. Public got anything to say?

Not for me. Should we do the, I don't see it on the thing, maybe I'm just, the commissioner outreach? It was like a community engagement. I forgot. Cute. That's kind of what they meant. Well, I have something for her. The Eagle Scouts, some of our family is doing that, and so we helped them with getting, they asked us for veterans to, because they're going to make posters and everything and put it on the lampposts down Main Street. They don't know when they're going to do it. 60 of them. Yes. They said The goal is 60. I think they have like 45 after us. And I know that our part, at least one person, it was a lot to do with, we got it from the historical museum because it was her brother and his funeral stuff and everything. And we could only find that through the, she'd never seen it before. So we got that through the museum and that helped a lot because our family that was doing the report did not know that he was part of the military. He was part of the National Guard. So that was really good. Because he was killed at 18.

But he was National Guard. But he's considered a veteran. He died a veteran. Anyway, six months later.

Well, I know we used the museum for his information. I know they got a lot of other people from the county. They had almost their goal of 60. So they're going to be planning that in the next couple. I think they were trying to get it more in the next couple months, but they're like, if it has to be, they'll do it in November.

Because there are so many other organizations and veterans that are being done now. And they're supposed to be on the signpost or some post on every one of the lights down Main Street and going out by Cedar Ravine. But in our family alone, I think there are four or five veterans. that we, you know, told them about. That's wonderful. And it's for the Eagle Scout.

That's a wonderful project. And that did trigger one last thing, was that Stories Behind the Stars, who did their research at the County Museum on gold star veterans from World War II from El Dorado County and celebrating them. And we partnered with the two representatives from the local branch of Stories Behind the Stars, which is meant to created virtual memorial and cemetery for all of the Gold Star veterans nationwide. These two volunteers, Joe and Cindy, Cindy Oswald, Joe Connolly, they took it upon themselves to research, document the lives, interview the families, find photos. All of that is online now, in large part due to access to the collections at the County Museum. They partnered with the Historical Society on Memorial Day, which was the real... reason for Memorial Day. It's the purpose, it's the motive to celebrate and remember veterans at their graves. And so at Placerville Union Cemetery, Joe went out there and as part of that effort to put flags on every tombstone. And we had a walking history tour where we went grave to grave for the eight of the Gold Star veterans who are in Placerville Union Cemetery. And it is a military custom post-Vietnam War to leave a penny as a sign of respect on the memorial. A nickel if you were in boot camp together, a dime if you saw action together, and a quarter if the veteran who, the Gold Star veteran died, or the veteran died, you leave a quarter if you were there when they died, you were with them when they died. And it's a way to say I remember you, to say thank you. So it was very moving to see all of these people come out for the tour and leave a penny. on each memorial.

And these are some of the cemeteries in Placerville, but the Fair Place Cemetery has veterans out there.

They did it countywide, but we just featured the eight that were buried in Union Cemetery, but they did the research for all of the Gold Star veterans in every cemetery in the county.

Because three of ours, my husband and my brother and my uncle were not in there. So when, I think they didn't have the, the VFW hadn't gotten the

Markers. Flags on them. And I guess the, what's the big one? The A1.

They were gold star veterans?

No, they weren't. They were just veterans. But they, we brought that to their attention because they were cleaning it up. And they noticed that a lot of other graves didn't have the flags on them because the BFW hadn't been getting that.

They didn't get the information.

Yes.

So they're going to be working on that. Good. They had, the veterans had The ones that Kathy and Steve Kimball had been doing that for years. And so when we went out there because I wanted to, you know, do it. But when we were talking to him, we said, by the way, there's this one and there's my brother and then there's my uncle. He said we had no idea.

And a lot of other people were like, well, my father doesn't have one. And it's one of the huge families back there. So they were like, well, we have to talk to the VFW and get all of that. We're taking care of.

So we had flags. We put them at least on three of them. So even though it's countywide, they're not hitting them all. I mean, not one organization, but we've always had somebody there on this one, but I don't.

Well, that research was gold star.

That's just a gold star.

By the way, you don't want to be gold star. Gold star means you didn't make it home.

Yeah, no. My grandmother's two blue stars. My dad and his brother made it back. But briefly, Jacob and I went to, I don't know, the name of the oregon people that are oh yes and spent almost a full day there that thing is like catholicized the open coliseum i expected like you know a warehouse this thing was huge uh they're building restoring and we had a real real good day to learn more about what's going on and he was invited to look at it and was very positive so

This is Schoenstein and Company in Venetia. They were contemporaries of the Bergstroms.

And this guy has the world's collection of documents from both companies. He's the guy to tell Schoenstein.

They were the big organ makers, the two.

They're getting some of the information from the National that there was a big fire one time and a lot of the papers were burned.

Right, he's got what's left over.

Well, that's good that he had it all.

Yeah, he's a real historian about this stuff. And you and Jacob went out as part of the Historical Society's subcommittee that's meeting with the descendants of the Bergstrom family and meeting with the Fair Board on some prospective solutions.

It's been paying a lot of attention to us. Things are moving. Yeah.

And I mean, the news got out and another Bergstrom descendant who lives in Hawaii came out of the woodwork and was like, what? This Forgan? I just went and saw the other one. Now I've got to come back to California. And she's been in touch now. She's connected with her long lost cousins who we have been meeting with. And she's got the whole side of the Bergstrom family that also the Bergstroms were in Hawaii and operating in Hawaii. Our same Bergstrom has. And he started the ukulele company in Hawaii that made the ukulele. So this is a very musical family, obviously. So he's the one. But look at all these neat connections that happen. So anyways, yes, lots of good things happening.

They should be glad they took the vaccine to prevent them from getting into baby grand pianos.

I do want to, as we close, and it sounds like it's closing, I want to thank all of you for the efforts that's been made, the progress that's been made. There's such a, in the short time that I've been here, when I first started, it seemed like, yeah, we're a commission. And now it feels like we're a commission making things happen. And that's a good feeling. So it was for all of you. With no objection, we'll adjourn. Thank you all.

Would you find out? I know my uncle is up there.