Historic Preservation Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and welcome to the, Historic Preservation Commission meeting of Thursday, 10/23/2025. Call the meeting to order. Roll call, please.

Mr. Schweikert?

Here.

Ms. Senker? Here. Ms. Panito? Here. Ms. Tanner is absent. Mr. Schreckenberger? Here. Also present are student representatives, Sadie Miller and Chloe Campbell. Here.

Welcome. First item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes from 09/25/2025. Do I hear a motion to, approve the minutes? What?

I move to approve the minutes.

Second. Second. Any discussion? Any changes? There was one change that was made James brought up. Any others? Hearing none, all in favor of approval say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next item on the agenda is, the Green Merger Commission archival initiative. And, Sarah, would you give us that information, please?

So for those of you who aren't familiar with what the Green Merger Commission was, they are sort of the story of the history of the city or how we became a city. So the transition from being Green Township to being a village to being a city was an initiative that was largely spearheaded by a small group of folks, some of whom are no longer with us, some are. But this process and all of the legal documents and all of the public engagement and even the the communications that went along with that were meticulously saved by a couple of folks, Ted Mallow, who is no longer with us, and Dale Braat, who is. During the summer, Dale called me and asked if we could meet to talk about what to do with these documents. He wondered if perhaps we had the capacity, or the historical society had the capacity, to archive them.

And so, we've met a couple of times. We are now in possession of these. Mindy and I thought about printing out the Excel spreadsheet that goes along with them, but I don't know how many pages, like 40. I mean, when I say meticulous, they really have done a thoughtful job of telling the story and preserving all of the documents. So I'm not going to deep dive into that, although I will say, I got a call today from Dave France, who some of you may remember, who was also part of this initiative, who read your agenda, and he said, Wait, wait.

I have stuff, and I'm going to bring you my stuff too. So here's the plan. In the city, we have a city archivist. She is part of the state record commission, Sharon Salem, who works in the finance department. She will microphish them, which is what she does with all of our documents.

Dale Braat then has offered to fund a scanner for these documents so that they can be scanned into a more approachable isn't quite the word, but you know what I mean Accessible. Accessible yeah, that's it. Thanks format, digital format that can be sort of massaged and used publicly. After that, the physical documents will be given to the historical society so that they can archive them as they do a lot of other things. So I just want you to be aware of that.

This this is the desk in front of my desk that's empty at the moment. There are some other things that Dale is gonna come back and help us to do, sort of to tease out some of the themes and the more interesting pieces that are in there. And the other piece I wanna talk about just briefly is the scanner itself. We don't know what that's going to look like. Kevin, who is part of Valerie's staff, is helping me research what kind of equipment that might be.

We have scanners here in the city, but they are, you know, one piece at a time. These are meant for a large volume very quickly. And so not only would we use it for that, but our law or not law, but our, clerk of counsel can use them for legislation. It it there's many uses in the city, but it will also be made available to the historical society because they have the very same need. I'm thinking, I'm hopeful that maybe by next May, which is National Historic Preservation Month, we might be able to utilize that scanner on a public scale by inviting thoughtfully folks maybe into this space and say, do you have 10 really interesting historic photos or documents that you'd like us to digitize?

You can do it right here. We'll hand them right back. Might be a great way to celebrate that month. So, I haven't done anything with them yet, but there they are, and wanted you to be aware of that. Really appreciative of the thoughtfulness of the leaders who took the time to capture that story. So happy to answer any questions about that, if you have any.

To the reverse of that, I am on the technology committee at my law firm, and we spent the last several years truly going electronic, which has included taking the old paper which for us goes back 100 years, and digitizing them. And we've almost finished, but it's taken years. To that end, I have some opinions about scanners and scanner services. So if you would like to talk about that outside of this meeting when we don't need to take up everybody else's time, I would be glad to give you my thoughts and share my experiences of the things that went well and the things that didn't.

I would be very interested in that. Let's meet. Thank you.

Have a question. Was this a commission that is still active?

No.

And and the members that you're referring to were members of a appointed commission to archive this stuff? And I'm I'm just curious Not why to archive. Didn't have No. Records in the first place.

We might.

Oh, okay.

There I am confident that there's going to be some duplication. But I think what's really fascinating about what they've done is they have kept their own personal records. So they for instance, one of the things they did when they were going from the village to the city stage. They actually went around and knocked on every door that was part of the then village. And so some of these records are notes from what happened and what people said that didn't necessarily make it into the official documents, but they are records that they felt were worthy of hanging on to, to flesh out that bigger story.

So I to your point, and to your first question, I don't know if they were. I don't know how they were appointed. This was, like, pre-nineteen ninety. So we didn't become a city until 1992. And these were folks who just very thoughtfully wanted to to make this transition, take these steps, and maybe formed it themselves. I don't know. But we'll find out.

It's interesting that it it took until now to have them come forward.

Yeah. So I I left out that part of the story. So Ted Mallow died, I think, a year before last. And his widow approached Dale Brock just this year and said, Ted kept all these things so meticulously. Meticulously. I feel like somebody should have them, you know, somebody who it's not that she didn't want them, but she wanted to be sure that they were in a place where they could be shared in a meaningful way. And so, Dale took that up, and he added his to it. And he said, you know, one of these days, I'll be gone, too. Yeah. That's great.

So, you

have to remember, you know, this was happening before commissions like you were even in existence. They were townships, shoestring budget. Yeah. We've got to go get that done. We just went and did that. It didn't have all the layers we have now. So for them to have been this thoughtful ahead of time in capturing all of this is it's really great. So we're going to try and do our very best to honor their thoughtfulness, and I will keep you posted, especially you.

Okay. Any other thoughts from

I just have a quick question. I love the idea of being engaging in the archives. The anecdotal messages that they wrote down and everything, is that all okay to be public record? Yes. And the reason I say yes that quickly is because they all went through it. Got it. Okay. And anything that was too personal or maybe not wanting to be shared, they removed. Perfect. So we have permission to to use all of it. Awesome.

Yeah. Because I I think nobody's sitting here. We're part of that, and nobody, you know, in the rest of the government maybe even. And so it's nice to have that capability. I I I really I I would ask if you could extend our gratitude to the folks

I will.

From this commission. I appreciate Students, any thoughts?

I think that it's, like, really beautiful that they ended up taking those steps and just even thought to be so, like, cautious with putting everything in order, just knowing, like not maybe not knowing the impact that they'd have, but just, like, being, oh, someone might be able to use this in the future, and then here we are being able to use it. I just I love that.

I agree. All right. Thank you. Thanks for the report, Sarah. Next, we have a very, very special guest. Valerie Wolford is the City of Green Communication Manager. And she's going to give us an update on America two fifty that's coming up next year and how it affects our city.

Well, you so much for inviting me. I have a little bit of info to share and we can then chat some as well. But America Two Fifty next year is the semi secennial whatever the word is. Fresco yeah. I'm missing the syllable in there.

Basically, America turns two fifty on 07/04/2026. And so there was a nationwide push to do celebrations throughout that. Obviously, it's a big anniversary. And then the state of Ohio has also taken that up. Back in 2022, Governor DeWine announced the two fifty Ohio two fifty Commission.

And so, at the state level, there's things going on at the federal state level has said, Okay, this is what we want to do for the state. And now it's trickling down to the communities and counties and others who are interested in being a part of it. So I am happy to report that Green is an official Ohio two fifty city. We had to apply to do that as part of the application. As we passed a resolution, city council said, yes, we'd like to be an Ohio two fifty city and support and celebrate our nation's anniversary.

And, really, the intent is to share the stories of Ohio and the stories, for us, personally, of Green. So, we are developing a committee. We have not done a lot of work yet. We have a little thing called the CORE that's opening November 15, shameless plug. And our park staff is quite entrenched with that right now, as well as those of us in communications. So, we're going to develop a committee later in November after we get past that date. Because a lot of the things we're going do next year are things we already do. We're just going to add a two fifty flare. We're going to see this across the nation. There's going to be a lot of Americana flare to everything because of the anniversary.

And so, that's kind of how we're incorporating. So, like, one of the things, Freedom Fest, already an Americana event, will certainly have a two fifty flare. And then, we're going to try to tell throughout the year of things that happened in Green. And that's based on kind of monthly themes. Ohio two fifty Commission said, you don't have to do all the themes, because it's pretty robust.

But if something resonates with your community, you should feel free to do something. So, in July, the theme is Ohio Gathers, Statewide Homecomings and Picnics. So, our Freedom Fest is the week before that. That's going to be our event for two fifty, and we'll publicize that as such on the Ohio two fifty website as well. And then, in November, we always do an amazing Veterans Day ceremony, which is November 11, for those who are taking notes, at 10:45 at the Veterans Park.

And so, that will be honoring the America250 as well. Things that we already do, we'll probably pick one of our art events or both of them, but those are things that we're going to kind of hash out when we get together as an internal team. We're also going to partner and bring in some external folks to be a part of the team. After we meet internally and kind of get our ideas put on paper, we want to reach out to those who we know are doing certain things. So, think of the library.

Think of what Summit County Historical Society is doing, and how we can fit into what they're doing. And then MAPS Air Museum is also such a gem here in our city. One of the themes is also aviation. So MAPS and our airport obviously fits in that. But maps is already a big part of the Ohio 250. There are several kind of Ohio two fifty trails, and I encourage you to go to the Ohio two fifty website to see this. And they're continuing to add stuff to it. So there's a Creativity trail, Well, there's an air and space trail, and MAPS Air Museum is on that. It's one of three in Summit County that are on it. So, it's already getting kind of the publicity from it.

And so we're going to, you know, feed into that. Of those who are doing these different trails, will be coming to green, so we're going to share those messages and stories. Any questions or thoughts on Ohio 250?

I know that October's theme is farms.

Yes.

Yeah. So, I'm hoping that, just like with some of these other things, our Twisted Wilderfest can amplify our Southgate Farm story. I think that would be easy to do.

Yeah. And that actually kind of fits in line. One of the things that we've been encouraged by the Ohio two fifty Commission is don't feel like you have to fit it into the month that it is. You can share the story at any time. They just set out some months because obviously it's harvest time in the fall. So, therefore, it makes sense. And they were trying to schedule them by month. But if it doesn't quite fit, so we could kind of look at that, even if the timing isn't right, we can find something else. But certainly tell the story, the entire story of that farm, from the beginning to where it is today. And then I have another little surprise, you guys.

I waited because we got these today, and the mayor was trying to talk to me, and he's like, you're going have to put the magazine down, because I was reading. So we just got today, newly minted, Green's Ohio Magazine, where we're listed as Best Hometown. So these are for you guys to take. It starts on page 55. This is a really big issue, too, because it has the Ohio two fifty info in it as well, because the Ohio Magazine's a big sponsor of that. So there's lots and lots of stuff. So we've this, and I've got stickers too, because it's worthy of a sticker.

That is awesome.

Thank you.

Will she

share it? Yeah. Oh, is she better? Thanks.

This is awesome.

It's a great article. I did finish it.

The mayor had to wait.

Any other questions?

Is there anything that we, as a commission, can participate in or help with?

Any of this. So, we will probably have a list of things next year as we kind of get everything organized, how we want to do different things. Always welcome to share your stories with us in communications because we love to share them. So, there's a story, something interesting, please drop me an email and let me know because there's a lot of things that we want to share. And, there's a lot of great stories all over the city and the state.

So, it'll be great. The other thing is, I'm not sure if you're aware, but the Daughters of the American Revolution, the state, and then local chapters, are are doing one of the projects. It's the they're they're going around and and archiving all the graves of a revolutionary war veterans in Ohio for whatever reason, obviously. You know, when they moved here, this was very rural. So, they're trying to to get a better archive of that.

So, our chapter of the Ohio America or Ohio Daughters of the American Revolution is helping with that initiative. So, that is occurring right now.

Valerie, would you talk a little bit about, and I don't know as much about this as you do, but the reason that Green was selected. Best Hometown had a couple of categories.

Oh, yes. Thank you for reminding me. Oh, Okay. Was really cool. And you'll see this in the story as you read it. It talks about a number of things. But one of the really cool things that they honed it on we have great parks, of course. We know that. We have these great parks. But, the other thing that really fascinated the editors when they came and toured our city was that we have historical properties that have been thoughtfully repurposed.

So, the the Southgate Farm, not necessarily repurposed, but has a new purpose as a farm, and how we've done that. That we have the schoolhouse that is an important piece of our heritage here, and all that happened to it is a part of the story. And then, the industry restaurant and being able to move that property, and now it's and that was done by the city, paid a significant amount of money to move that, and then sold the property, and now it's a thriving business. That I think has added a little bit to our community that wasn't there before, and so glad that we didn't lose it. So, they were really impressed with those things.

From a city that doesn't have things that people traditionally We don't have a historic downtown because of how we were five hamlets, but we have done a nice job with that. And so, they really praise a lot of that, and tell a lot of the history in the story. So now, if you guys want to wrap up, you can read it. Thank you for coming. Any other questions? Sarah, thank you for

making Any other questions? Valerie? This is great. It's not often we have celebrity guests with us, so

Is there somebody

here? We thank you for coming.

Well, you. I appreciate it.

Sorry if I'm Next item on the agenda is the Planning Department report. Sarah?

Just a couple of things from me. Wayne and I went to the Heritage Ohio Awards ceremony last week. The industry did not win, but they did a wonderful presentation about industry and had some great pictures, and the narrative was we were really pleased with it. I think the reason it didn't win is because even though the category was rehabilitation, commercial rehabilitation, most of the rehabilitation the industry did was not historic rehabilitation. Some of it was, but the the category that won was actually a flour mill.

It was it was really boring. And this the pictures of that beside the pictures of the industry, you thought, oh, come on. And the whole industry group was there too. And But it was it was a great it was a great ceremony. And at the Palace Theater in Canton, it was it was pretty nifty. So just glad to be a runner-up. You know? The other thing oh, are we well, it doesn't matter. I had a picture up there. Just this is gonna come to you.

This is a very small, maybe small, about the farmhouse. If you remember being at the farmhouse, there are window boxes that are that flank the outside. They periodically rot and fall off. I'm not sure they're original. I I need to go back and look at the pictures from 2007 at the time at the point in time when it was on the National Register to me to see if that's something we have to continue to rehab.

But Rachel said to me when I was out there a couple weeks ago, just tell me what you want me to do with these because they keep rotting and falling off. They keep putting them back together and putting them up. So just give that some thought. I'm going to do a little more research to see if that's actually an element we have to preserve. It's a maintenance nightmare. So perhaps there's another material we should be using. Not a big thing. And that's really all for me, unless you have questions.

Any questions? I would say, just about industry and the award, to your point, being nominated. Just being nominated was a pretty big honor.

It was.

And so I think that's yeah. We'd like to win, of course, as a as a city to have that. But it in the meantime, we can still walk proud.

Yes. Yes.

Absolutely. An easy thing.

No. No. You're right. We need I'm sorry.

I remember that we said something about a plaque for them, so we were gonna

I forgot. I'm gonna write that down. Every landmark in a city has one except them. So, Mindy, do we still have money? Thank Thank you.

Do we still have money? Okay. After that, unfortunately, Stacy Swaggart is, not able to come tonight. She's ill. Yes. We do not have a historical society report unless there's anything. James, you want to add?

I cannot give a thorough report, but the quick items I do know. Right. So the schoolhouse was opened with a historical society through Twisted Waldorfest. They were concluding their quilt raffle at the same time and did have a table and set up at Twisted Walder Fest, which I hear from the historical society garnered lots of interest. You may have heard the bell ringing that day because their fundraiser is to put the cupola back up on top.

That's the one piece of construction we still have to finish. So they were very happy with the number of people they engaged that day and all the people that got to interact with the school bell. Schoolhouse has been open through the summer like normal. As a reminder, as weather turns to winter, the normal open hours will close because it's just not safe through the park with bad weather to have people coming and going. I don't remember the exact date where that changes, so you will either have to consult them or consult the website. Otherwise, they'll have their annual Christmas party at some point, and then we'll pick up activities again after the first of the year.

That was a pretty solid report, even though it's a stand in. Thank you. Is there any other interest, or any other items that we'd like to bring to the table here today? Hearing none, I take a motion to adjourn.

I move to adjourn.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Adjourned.