Heritage Commission - Regular Meeting

Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Transcript
Video
Agenda

About this meeting

Government Body
Heritage Commission
Meeting Type
Heritage Commission
Location
Olympia, WA
Meeting Date
February 25, 2026

Transcript

291 sections (from 322 segments)

0:18 – 0:330

Any other comments on VPNs? Okay. I let's try to approve this back and since this would be coming to yeah. It's just. It still needs to be updated.

0:331

It still says 05:00. Corrections.

0:442

Okay. Noted.

0:500

Okay. Public comments. Do not believe we have any public comments. Announcements. Announcements.

1:031

I don't think that I have anything else to do. Anyone

1:102

else have any announcements? No? Okay.

1:170

Alright. We're just cruising through the agenda tonight. Business items. First order of business. Housekeeping.

1:27 – 2:081

Okay. So as far as housekeeping goes sorry. I'm trying to scroll to my digital version. We are going to be looking at the CLG requirements, the new commissioner recruitment, just an update, and the annual calendar and progress. The sheet that we had written out at the retreat, I actually do have it at my desk if you wanna see it, but there's just a lot of notes that I wanted to make sure we could follow-up on to see if we're at the same, intention.

2:10 – 2:431

Let me share. Okay. So what we have is we're in February. On our paper copy, we've written due outreach. We've written do outreach because I think that was with regards to recruiting.

2:43 – 3:141

That no longer needed to happen, but I do think that some of the outreach would still be good for future partnerships or programming. Is that something that everyone agrees with? Like, do you still wanna do your outreach? Mark, at the retreat, you were sort of assigned builders as your category of people that might be good to make contact with. For context, the discussion was sort of around we've got the open seats that are being filled.

3:14 – 3:371

And at this time, there weren't that many applications. But by the time that the applications closed, there were plenty applicants in the pool. So not necessarily a reason for the, I think, architects and design firms, real estate, or builders, unless there's something that you think they could tie to.

3:390

No. I guess, it does bring up the question, though, whether or not this is the appropriate month to do this in in the future.

3:48 – 4:011

We can also, yeah, move it around. I think neighborhoods, that sort of happening already built into the calendar. But

4:03 – 4:250

yeah, I mean, I guess, I don't know. Maybe it's more of a just an ongoing thing throughout the year. Because I think the intent of this was if we were in trouble, didn't have the applicants that would do it in certain. Mhmm. And maybe it's fine. No. Anyone else have any thoughts on that?

4:30 – 4:462

How many seats are actually open? Three. Three. Okay. And so I know outside, like, builders, for example, you need someone from real estate.

4:471

Are you do you have someone from real estate? In the future, I think so. But for this current round, it's It's sort

4:552

of I get that.

4:561

Already set in place. But we have the different

5:030

We just sort of have There's categories.

5:052

I know they're the hard ones. I'm just I'm

5:070

just curious. We just kinda brainstormed who out there in the community we we think would be great to have represented on the commission. Some of the categories of competence.

5:17 – 5:401

Okay. So I think that especially for the, like, the heritage review committee, like, both in technical expertise or field experience with, oh, I know how to build this, and this is or isn't feasible to sort of weigh in on design recommendations and that kind of stuff. But, again, yeah, that's all for for next year, I guess.

5:42 – 5:572

I suppose have we ever looked at having someone even, like, in a, like, a craftsman type? Spot someone that's familiar with materials. Yeah. Absolutely. That'd be cool. I think there's a lot of, like,

5:570

I mean, you can find niche type stuff.

6:01 – 6:122

You know, guys that do, like, custom woodworking even. Right. Not necessarily, like, an installer or something like that, I guess. Mhmm. Mhmm. I guess we do have a list

6:12 – 6:261

from the window workshop resources for window specific. So I guess if when, yeah, that outreach happens, I have some starting points for windows for outreach to builders.

6:282

But at this point,

6:291

I don't think it's happening.

6:31 – 6:510

I mean, in general, outreach should probably just happen all year and just get people interested and, you know, next round of applications. But if we get impinge, never share applications, so that's why we really need to consider that. But we have we had a good number of applicants for this crowd. So

6:531

I'll just leave this here so that we remember what was kind of attached to folks. Are you okay with builders as the third category?

7:022

Yeah. Absolutely.

7:03 – 7:201

And then, Gary, I think that you also were not at the retreat, and real estate is available. Would you be interested in having your name next to folks who know real estate? Or, actually, do you cultural resources, I feel like. Yeah.

7:202

I do know some cultural resources. Mhmm.

7:221

Yeah. That that would make sense to

7:34 – 7:561

Very nice. Like, you just leave that there to remember, but we'll move on. It won't need to be a thing in the calendar. So February and March, we were looking at doing elections, nominations this month and then next month as elections. There isn't really much else that's on the agenda or that needs strict approval. So

7:562

I'm wondering

7:59 – 8:321

if it's it's listed as one of the options for later for our elections conversation, but would we want to do all of that in one meeting? And if there's no business for March, we don't we can say March. I'll I'll let you think on that for a second. In April, that'll be when the chair or I'm sorry, the commissioner's seats rotate. So folks who are leaving will be stepping down, and new folks will be starting at that meeting.

8:32 – 9:111

I believe the interviews are happening on early March, so we should have an idea of who will be in the commission before this. But I don't if we know if we're having a March meeting and if we know who the folks are gonna be, I'm happy to invite them to, you know, join and sit in early. But if we don't have a meeting, then I guess that doesn't need to happen. Mhmm. And then as part of this too, I'm talking to Michelle with DAP to do a training on being CLG.

9:11 – 9:351

So I think that happened last year. It would be a similar thing just to touch base and then get the new folks involved in that. We had talked about doing something for Arbor Day. Michael and Melissa's names are next to a historic tree workshop possibly. So just I'm not sure if that's something that we would wanna keep there or revisit.

9:36 – 10:261

And then on April 8, there is a South Capitol South Capitol Neighborhood Association visit that's gonna happen with Garner and Bill to start relationship building so that we can kind of continue the conversation with historic districts. April is Arts Walk. So, also, note your calendars for that so we can have folks at the booth if we end up doing the booth again this year. In May, I know that we've been interested in sea level rise, so I was talking to Natalie, who is our climate staff person that is going to be able to present to us and then possibly later that you do a walking tour. So it's it shows up a couple of times.

10:26 – 10:591

I'm not really sure when yet, but after the presentation, sort of get you started with the information, the tour will be with a solar car lab. May is also heritage month, so I'll be working on the proclamation. And the posts would be potential social media posts that are sort of pending, which you will hear more about later in community reports. In June so we've got the camp training. So June 8, like we had mentioned, that's been confirmed.

11:00 – 11:351

Mark your calendars. It'll be a very fun experience to learn more about historic preservation, being on a commission. This is a grant that we are going to be using funds to have people from out of state flying to present to the group how to effectively, you know, be a historic commission. And I'm going to be trying to invite some, like, regional historic preservation folks. So, like, there's some county Bigelow.

11:35 – 11:571

Bigelow. Also, I think this would be a good chance to reach out to folks a little further than we normally go. Because I think Tumwater and Lacey are the normal group of us, but Shelton, I think, has Mhmm. Mhmm. There's 30 seats, so invites have not gone out.

11:58 – 12:261

But, yeah, I think it'll be nice. If you can think of anyone that you'd want me to specifically reach out to, let me know, and then I can add that to the list of considerations. Anyone from. Michelle is like, I think Michelle is going to be there, and Michael would be invited Michael Hauser. There's there's a few Michaels. Michael Hauser would be also we I haven't confirmed or talked

12:262

to him about it. But yeah.

12:30 – 12:481

Because, I mean, it could also be interesting to see, like, inviting Toronto, but I don't think Toronto lives nearby. Folks from the archaeology side of things. It it could be just an interesting excuse to say hello

12:482

to some people. K. Get a conversation going. Is that June 8 or ninth? Eighth. Sorry. My eyes.

12:54 – 13:081

June 8, which is Monday. And so that'll be a full day of fun. Lunch will be provided.

13:100

Is it based here?

13:11 – 13:401

It will be here at Chain at Council Chambers. K. And I think that date, we had decided on last meeting. So, Mark, apologies that there's just a date, and it's on a Monday. I know it's probably kinda tough. But if that's something that you wouldn't be able to make, I wonder I think we can try to get some resources to, like, you know, get you the information at least if you aren't able to physically attend.

13:402

Yeah. I'll I'll I don't have anything still on my calendar. I'll I'll I'll I'll That will. Okay. Sounds good.

13:50 – 14:111

Going down to the next thing. This is also on we had scribbled picnic down. So planning for a picnic in June to sort of continue relationship building with new commissioners slash being outside. But, again, no specific plans for that.

14:130

Do you remember what the solidification was?

14:16 – 14:461

What do you mean? Walking tour for camp. I think this was to do a walking tour with either the trainers or with folks that were attending that might help give context to our area specific historic Okay. Resources and districts. But there's a question mark.

14:47 – 15:051

We have so we've got the date confirmed, and we've got the the subjects confirmed. Just need a But now the organization agenda. Yeah. The organization is going to be building the agenda, getting the right folks to fly out. So when there's more details, then I will see if that's something we wanna do.

15:05 – 15:391

But at this point, question mark. In July, another thing that was written on the calendar was walking tours, and Michael and Aliso was it was yearning for next year. I don't think I think August was just national night out. We were considering tandem programming to do something with neighborhoods, if that's a partnership that you wanted to do. In September.

15:40 – 16:011

I think this this whole June to September months were just nice weather. Mhmm. So there wasn't an auction lot of content, but there the South Capitol annual barbecue is there. I wrote that because they do invite organizations to have table or booths, so that could be probably fun. October is Arts Walk fall.

16:02 – 16:331

And then in December, I just added that in. But the holiday home tour was also written down on our sheet. I don't believe there was anything specific happening in the November month. So all of that, I just sort of rambled a lot. Does anyone have any thoughts about this? Did we wanna add, change, shift? I feel like we're probably just gonna look at this every meeting to keep ourselves on track.

16:48 – 17:092

I guess I have kind of a question in general. Mhmm. I I remember this coming up when I was first starting to handful times, but I know we essentially don't really have much budget to do a whole lot of stuff. Sure don't. Yes. My question is I know, you know, the funding that goes into it. There's not a lot that goes to it. Are we allowed to accept donations?

17:110

That's kinda too poor.

17:13 – 17:521

As a city entity, no. However, I think we are allowed to partner with other folks who are, you know, nonprofits or that could accept donations. So, like, we wouldn't take money from anyone. But if the Big Little Cross Museum and we were doing an event together, they could fundraise for the event. But we just we're essentially like that's like, your branch of city council. So it would be inappropriate for us to take public funds. Is it Well, we're

17:523

gonna take public funds, I

17:532

guess, in private. Right? Or public

17:561

is it not government, like I guess. Like, yeah. I think the answer would be, we can't fundraise, but we can

18:042

it has to be a portion of a large whole. Well, if we can figure

18:090

out ways to partner with people that have, then we

18:132

can take advantage of they have.

18:154

I mean, isn't it something like we don't have a bank account to to filter it through, so there would be

18:24 – 18:351

no record of it, so it's kinda shady. I think maybe the better question is, what are you what are you gonna find? Like, is there are you asking generally, or is there a specific

18:36 – 18:482

Well, it's come up. So I was before I put a lot of thought into it, I was just curious how how do you make your budget go up. There must be a way to make the budget go up.

18:49 – 19:031

So then it becomes sort of a bigger picture inner politics of government, things that we can Yeah.

19:030

And it's kind of the thing that's been ongoing. List item on

19:082

the policy and government committee.

19:120

And I I would encourage you to keep at that, honestly. So

19:162

I'm sure there's a mechanism for it. Just don't know. Obviously, it hasn't So if been established. Correct.

19:22 – 19:451

If we were to use funds, it would come from the planning department's budget. And if we are expecting to do a certain amount of things in a year, it's very reasonable that I would be able to get that list the year before and then say because they have to allocate so much money. It's it's sort of a

19:462

It's not a percentage. It's a, like, a gross dollar amount that they come up with

19:501

in the budget. Dollar amount. So I guess it's

19:542

because, like, Thurston County, like, obviously, they have a budget, but they're based off of a percentage of, like, recording fees. Right?

20:02 – 20:141

Oh, the commission. Yes. Okay. The Thurston County Historic Commission gets money based off of, like, a dollar on every reporting or something like that. Yes. We need something like that

20:140

in place, and we need the lobby to get it.

20:162

So ours is different. Ours is a request for funds, whereas theirs is just a they get so much funds based on whatever.

20:244

Have an account to keep track of it.

20:26 – 21:071

I think that with Thurston County, it is a top down initiative where they're saying, this is how we want to distribute money in the region. Whereas here, it's more of a internal politics and priority based budgeting for what city council's priorities are, their work plan, and how do we fit in their work plan. And aside from that, the departments internally that would have their budgets, how can we make reasonable requests that could be funded or part of a different group's budget? I guess money is really tight. Folks have gotten laid off in the last two years.

21:07 – 21:211

Like, last year and this year, there were staff cuts and program cuts. So spending money, it may be possible if there's a specific thing that we can ask for.

21:212

I was just wondering right away.

21:224

I mean, we have spent money. We have done perhaps at our clock. We have

21:272

Oh, I'm not saying we haven't done anything. I'm just saying that we had thousands of dollars. I don't even know what we would use it for necessarily.

21:33 – 21:511

Right. So I think maybe the the thought would be backwards of instead of how much money do we have to start with, let's do projects, we would need to have a project that we could pitch to ask for money. And then maybe Mhmm. Then we could get the budget for it. So it's yes, we're starting with a zero number, but it's

21:520

And I mean, there are there are advisory committees that do have a budget. Right?

21:581

I have no idea.

22:010

Like, I thought it has a budget, but They

22:041

may and they may have, like, a 1% per arts fund source or something.

22:08 – 22:210

So, yeah, I mean, if you wanna delve deeper into this, it'd be interesting to know how other advisory committees are funded if they're funded just what the mechanism looks like Sure. As a starting point, I guess.

22:222

So I guess, in general, you can't

22:231

be you can't be self funding then. No. I mean, we could I personally buy stuff if we need to.

22:300

No. I think we can buy stuff.

22:322

I know you should buy a lot materials. Materials. Yeah. No. I I I'm not saying that

22:370

we can't all get stuff in and we don't. I was just That's

22:402

I was just curious. Like I said, I don't even know what the budget would necessarily how it would goes. What would you do with it? So the budget is how much you've got.

22:47 – 23:031

Yeah. So I guess that's a good clarification. Yeah. Donations in non nonmonetary donations are possible. Sure. If someone gives us stuff, I think we can accept that, but within reason. Correct. It's all

23:033

it it's It's

23:040

easy to assess specific use. Yeah. Like, donating supplies for arts, things like that.

23:124

Yeah. We got some sandwiches.

23:130

Sandwiches for arts.

23:181

Bill, I know that you had your hand up. Did you have a a thought?

23:22 – 23:502

I think you basically said it. I was just gonna say, like, my read on the situation is, like, we need to have a really clear ask about what we want money for in order to be able to make a compelling case, which I agree with what Gartner said. Like, we should we should come up with something we really want to do that might require money. And the more excited we all are about whatever that thing is, then the more compelling the case we'll probably be able to make. Yep.

23:511

Yeah. That's I think that's fair. And I've I've got a note for myself to ask, do other advised bodies have funds, and how are

24:012

they budgeted? So we'll find out. That was Thurston County. I mean, I know they have a decent budget. How do they how do they use their money?

24:111

The historic commission? Mhmm.

24:143

They the grant program. Right?

24:161

Mhmm. Yeah. The the grant.

24:172

Yeah. Okay. And

24:200

they I think it was that was the primary thing. So they fund projects.

24:272

So they help subsidize kind of costs.

24:30 – 24:451

So we could apply for a Harrison County Heritage grant for sure. We can apply for grants In the city, they would take the grant. The planning department would pay for whatever, and then they would get reimbursed. So it's not like we can't touch one, but it's just how how it happens.

24:450

So how would

24:462

you even ask for a certain dollar amount since it

24:48 – 25:171

would be dependent upon the projects that don't know exist or not? I think what would happen is we would or you all, ma'am, we we would say, we really wanna buy another owl, for example. And then we would look up how much an OWL costs. We would explain how many times we would need to use the OWL. We would demonstrate how the OWL meets our work plan needs and publicity council's needs or the comprehensive plan or some justification.

25:17 – 25:381

And then I would take that packet, and I would go over to Nicole and say, hi, Nicole. Can you consider this? And then Nicole would probably take that and talk to her supervisor. And then if it makes sense and can be improved, it hopefully would be. But I also know that it's money is tight, and it's hard for the justification to go through.

25:38 – 26:030

Or another example is, for instance, we had, you know, the workshop, the window workshop last time. There's some cost of putting that on, like renting facility, food. What else was there? I guess those are kind of the main things. But but there's a cost to that, and we didn't have a budget for it. That made it really challenging. So that would be a very specific thing that it's an educational program. You almost have to

26:032

ask about a year prior. Right? Yeah. For sure. Because it's not throughout The U. Just ask for allocation. Yeah.

26:090

Exactly. And, hopefully, that's an ongoing program. I mean, you know, it's not just a lot of bad things. So

26:14 – 26:321

I think that would be for larger, bigger projects. But with this workshop, we did get approval. We had a whole plan for $500, and that was just for the venue. I guess that it was Melissa donating Mhmm. Her time

26:322

and snacks.

26:33 – 26:480

Right. But if that became an ongoing reoccurring thing and not just the membership, but that we actually had, you know, a consistent educational program that we could find. That might be something that that becomes a consistent dollar need and hopefully a consistent dollar stream at

26:482

some point. Mhmm. And in fact, I think I

26:51 – 27:221

need to follow-up because we had this conversation last year, and I had talked to my leadership about this same issue. So I I need to double check what the current budget standing is, if any consideration was made or, like, space was carved out for us that I don't know about yet? And or is that not happening definitely because the budget looks worse this year than it did last year? I I'll find out. I'm gonna write that down.

27:25 – 27:590

Also, if you ever get serious about wanting to designate a neighborhood, for instance, as a new historic district, that takes money too because Brittany doesn't have the bandwidth to do the survey required. And we are the bandwidth to do it. So, typically, we would hire some survey paperwork. That's expensive. Mhmm. Yeah. But that's where Brad asks. They're pretty easy to get for stuff like that. So

28:031

Okay. And just scroll. Yes. You can just.

28:09 – 28:320

There's something I thought about that. Oh, this wasn't a retreat thing. I think this came up after that. We talked about potentially looking for opportunities to do stuff with the other advisory groups like training

28:321

and things like that.

28:330

But I guess that wasn't specific to that.

28:36 – 29:161

Oh, that that was a a broader conversation of what things will Yeah. Eventually look like. Different discussion. A different discussion. I think if we're okay with the calendar where it's at, I I suppose maybe we won't publish it, but I can get this on, like, a Google Drive or something that we can all see a live version of it. And then the decision on elections will happen later today. So let's stop sharing that.

29:190

Just an idea that should reviewing the calendar just be a monthly report item. Yeah.

29:271

I think that's just we're gonna open it at the beginning.

29:300

Okay. That's fine.

29:32 – 30:071

I I like that idea. Okay. New commissioner recruitment. As mentioned earlier, we have a date for interviews, and Bill is going to be representing the commission with the question that we had formed altogether. Bill, I don't wanna put you on the spot because I didn't tell you I was gonna talk about this, but anything you wanted to bring up with that?

30:09 – 30:272

Nothing really specific. The interviews are happening on the evening of March 4. But beyond that, nothing in particular. You know, I have all the I have all the interview questions. I have a schedule. I've got it on my calendar. So yeah. But nothing beyond that.

30:301

Okay. Because we'll hear the report out from you after it's done.

30:360

Thanks for doing it.

30:372

Yeah. Of course.

30:41 – 31:171

Okay. Let's see. The next section here is CLG compliance. You also have to forgive me. I'm, like, not I'm having a little bit of brain fog today. I feel like I'm speaking and just, like, being very choppy about it. I apologize. No worries. The CLG compliance, I I think we may skip that one because my brain is not where it needs to be right now.

31:22 – 32:051

We did do a annual CLG report. So that was every year, we send in sort of the stats for what happened in the past year so that DAP knows that we are in compliance with what we generally should be doing. So maybe I might have had something there. If I can think of it, I will write it down for next next month as a staff update. So we can apologies. Skip that one. And then lastly, the camp training on June 8. Give me one moment, but I have a list of topics. From the camp, folks? Yes.

32:19 – 33:461

And so in the agenda, there's a link to the camp website that you can go on. But we our topics are going to be why preserve, legal basics, standards and guidelines for design review, design review exercise, enforcement and violations, and community engagement and building public support. So that's sort of to give us the framework on legally what do we need to be doing as a commission, how can we do design reviews better, and how can we feel more confident with, you know, everyone on commission understanding architectural things that maybe they don't know yet or folks who are the heritage review committee feeling confident in having these conversations in lifetime with homeowners or folks doing permits and stuff. And then enforcement and violations, that sounds sort of scary, but, really, it's just how we're going to learn about what jurisdiction we have maybe and where the boundaries should be for what can be enforced or how to work with a potential violation. I think in the past couple of years, I don't have exact dates, but there have just been instances where maybe someone might do work without a permit or that's kind of it.

33:46 – 34:331

Maybe someone might do work without a permit, and how can we help them get back on track with what they need to be thinking about for their home. And then community engagement and building public support, I think that one will be really good for us as we are sort of ramping up with the things from the more committee, like the workshop series, having information available for the public at ArtsWalk. Building public support could also be neighborhood relationships. I was thinking about this today, and I know that we're establishing some South Capitol connections because they are a historic district and a neighborhood association. And I realized we also need to do that for downtown because downtown is also a historic district.

34:33 – 34:481

So more to come on that, but the camp training, you can look it up online if you wanna get excited about it or don't and be surprised and don't get used up later. But, yeah, it'll be really fun.

34:502

It sounds really good. Yeah.

34:531

I I'm I'm glad that

34:57 – 35:110

It would be nice to hear what sort of standard practice care is for commissions like this because I kinda feel like a lot of time in a vacuum here. I don't really know what you're supposed to be doing relative to

35:12 – 35:401

I think it'll also be I'm my goal is to invite leadership and city council and folks within our organization so that maybe it might give folks a deeper understanding of what it's supposed to look like and how important like, I want them to get excited about it too so that we can say, hey. We wanna do a project, and then they'll say, yes. Let's fund that. We love it. Yeah.

35:40 – 36:051

So, hopefully, someone can attend from council or something. But I think that's the end of this general housekeeping. Is there any other things we wanted to bring up as part of this, or shall we move to the next one?

36:08 – 36:230

Any questions? K. Guess we can move to the next thing. Election nomination. Thanks for putting this together.

36:26 – 37:201

Yeah. So every year, a chair, a vice chair, and the subcommittees get decided on. And so I figured that we would use this time to discuss our plans and nominations for the next cycle because as we know, we will have a vacant chair and vice chair position and also revisiting committee assignments in case someone might be on a committee that they wanna switch out of or, you know, if there's new projects that we're working on that sound cool that you wanna join. And then also maybe depending on who the new commissioners are, see if there's ways to plug them in when they get started too. Definitely.

37:20 – 37:361

I think right now, Melissa is the more the marketing and outreach chair or the, yeah, committee chair. Bill is the pod committee chair, and Carr is the heritage review chair.

37:360

That's what we're calling it now. Heritage.

37:472

So Don't

37:48 – 38:171

do it. Okay. I again, brain fog today. I in the packet, you will find I included the bylaws and a description of the different committees so that you can sort of see in the bylaws what the role of the chair of the commission is meant to be. And then the subcommittees just sort of a reminder or refresher of what each of the subgroups do.

38:19 – 38:461

So I suppose once you have a chance to look at that, we can maybe collect nominations for the chair and vice chair positions. We can see if any committees want to restructure or have a shift in leadership. I know it's kind of weird because we're we're a little on the lower numbers right now. We kinda need the new folks to mix in to

38:47 – 39:110

Yeah. And I think what we had talked about for process is we do nominations tonight and then do elections for chair and vice chair in March. Committees, we wouldn't do until, you your people are on there, and that's a good way to start getting people excited and plugged into. But having said that, we can talk about committees and plan for committees for sure.

39:13 – 39:241

And I'm adding that to our agenda on the calendar, assign committees during the April meeting with the new folks. Mhmm. Okay.

39:242

Thank you for the reminder.

39:29 – 39:450

Okay. So I guess, let's just maybe take a couple minutes if people wanna read the Heritage Commission bylaws just to get familiar with that. If anybody has any questions about the roles and responsibilities,

39:462

what it might look like.

39:491

And I also would like to point out that because of our sparse agenda for March, I did include options to take nominations

39:570

to vote.

39:593

We could.

40:012

Yeah. Of course. So Yeah. I think

40:051

aside from Steven being out, we're all here.

40:130

Okay. Let's pass the bridge in here. Yeah. Okay.

40:241

And every of the other options for meeting committee assignments, All of those would just get bounced off to Yeah. Say April. Okay.

40:32 – 41:070

So the meat of the responsibility of the chair and the vice chair is really on section four d. And as you can see, it's a fairly short list. Any questions? No. It's a ten minute of denomination. Else we need to cover?

41:101

I don't think there's anything else to cover. No.

41:150

Okay. Well, let's open up nominations for chair.

41:224

Do we just say it all

41:232

up? Yep.

41:251

I'm taking notes. I nominate Michael for chair.

41:302

I am also happy to do it.

41:330

I can nominate. I'll nominate Bill who has actually expressed an interest in I will take mine. Thank you for

41:402

the nomination. I will take mine.

41:433

Pat, I would agree.

41:47 – 42:020

Anyone else have any? Okay. We have Bill nominated for chair. I guess we can close that. Let's move on to vice chair then. Nominations for vice chair.

42:042

I would nominate Michael for vice chair.

42:071

I thought that'd there.

42:120

we have to form a second.

42:171

I think voting for the

42:193

I mean, we

42:190

have to vote for the actual thing. But

42:212

voting. Yeah.

42:221

There this was a discussion no vote needed one, so taking note.

42:302

Essentially, we're just making a list. Right?

42:31 – 43:050

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, Michael nominated for vice chair. And full disclosure, both of these gentlemen have expressed interest in these positions. We're not forcing them. So thank you for stepping up and waiting to be. So just have to go through the formal process. Okay. So now the options are way out in here. As we as we discussed, we we were talking about nominating and then going to the next step. We could speed that process up. Yeah. I'm just gonna get it out of the way. Make it happen?

43:052

Make it happen. Okay.

43:080

That sounds good. It's a process for

43:111

So then that sounds like a a first and second. I heard it.

43:142

Yeah. I'll listen to that second. I'll second. Okay. Whichever. Okay.

43:190

All in favor? Let's let's do the we could probably just do this as a joint. Right? Like, just go for well, we could do this separately. Maybe that's probably about more.

43:301

Robert's reward. I'll make the the first motion to pick option whatever it is to do the vote today was unanimously or it was agreed upon,

43:402

and that motion was made.

43:411

And then maybe you can call a second motion for the specifics.

43:44 – 44:050

Second motion to, elect Bill as our new chair of the Heritage Commission for the upcoming year. Second. Second. We have a second. Any discussion? K. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Unanimous decision, Bill. Congratulations. Okay.

44:112

So also, we wanna make a

44:130

motion for vice chair. Just

44:182

I motion Michael Bowman for vice chair. Thank you, Melissa. Right.

44:240

You can second that.

44:254

I'll second that.

44:26 – 44:430

Okay. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. No opposed? No. Congratulations. Very cool. I'm really excited about you to take a.

44:490

Look at that. We checked the box. And

44:531

and then it also sounds like no business.

44:580

Yeah. I guess that's the next thing to discuss. If there's no business from March, we could skip unless something comes up with a formal vote.

45:092

I don't know.

45:12 – 45:233

I mean, Ocean, when is your when is your last meeting again? Is it April? April. Yeah. So, Mark, did you do a motion for that?

45:230

I think Do we need

45:243

a motion? Let's go.

45:262

Yeah. Impressions are skipped

45:280

for March meeting. Five seconds. Feel enthusiastic on the second step. All in favor?

45:364

Aye. Aye. I won't be here till April 1, but I'll miss you. Okay.

45:450

Okay. Cool.

45:58 – 46:221

April. Oh, I will also say in March, when the new advisory body members are being announced, there's also a seeing the folks off of the commissions happens at that same meeting at council. So if you plan to attend that, I'll I'll be there. I mean, I'll go there anyway to meet the new folks. But

46:230

Do you know what the date is?

46:251

I will find out, but I know it's in March. And Yeah. Send it out. Let's see if

46:302

I can think of it. It'll be fine.

46:321

Well, you have, like,

46:330

a dunk tank?

47:144

It's What? Oh, the

47:17 – 47:553

The more it may meant. Right? Oh, yeah. And we were talking about trying to recognize heritage month in May with social media posts on the city of Olympia social media, one a week. And so today, we look we did a little bit of our own independent research and picked what we think are four excellent places to highlight for for that month. Those include

47:584

A little craftsman bungalow called Goyet House. It's on Olympia Avenue. It's pink.

48:060

Okay. See?

48:08 – 48:274

Yes. I'm gonna see. A kit house from Tunwater, Lumber Mills. Mhmm. Coldwinter's House. It's kind of a funky living house. Creece Pointe Park Squaxin Park. Mhmm.

48:27 – 49:133

We thought we'd have one that wasn't a building, but a a site instead. And I think that also, you know, in our retreat, Bill had talked about, like, the the idea of naming and changing names and the role of the heritage commission in potentially part of that. And so this would be highlighting a park that has significant historical value before settlers arrived, and that was named for its role as a mission once the settlers came, and now it's been renamed Sparks And Parks. So there's that interesting history of that space as well. And then the Yeager House.

49:13 – 49:304

The last one is the Yeager House. It's a house built in the late eighteen nineties, and the Yeager family was one of the original pioneer families. So I have diverse architectural styles. I see.

49:310

Are you thinking, like, walking tour or

49:331

just something like that?

49:344

They're just gonna be highlighted on the social media site. This is actually Winter's house right here.

49:403

Oh, okay. That's weird.

49:441

Although, have you ever seen this pamphlet? It's the

49:482

No. I don't think I have.

49:511

You might show him again.

49:532

Oh. Come on

49:550

this, like, from the names.

49:574

It's actually from 1937.

50:000

No. The the pamphlet.

50:01 – 50:121

Oh, that's not. There's a there's a box full of old pamphlets and printouts. It's about '2 early two thousand. 2000.

50:124

It's printed on recycled paper. Mhmm.

50:183

And I think one of the other ideas was that we would tie it into something sort of might not be a walk it won't be a walking tour, but it might be that there's a building here that's on a walking tour that

50:280

we can highlight the fact that

50:303

the city or the heritage commission has walking tours. I

50:34 – 51:341

think that the highlighting what the heritage register is, highlighting programs we offer, like special tax valuation, highlighting that we have historic districts and individual listings or sites that aren't just buildings. Like, whatever the highlights are with each of those, I'll also add to them when I try to get the posts curated so that we can use those not in the awards in any way, but more of like a just an example of what the commission does or what the city can offer. I think that having it as it usually it used to be awards every year heritage awards were picked, but that's not a requirement. That's just something that had been the preference of commission in the past. And so I I guess I would like to make sure that it's it doesn't seem like awards accidentally because it's a new

51:342

thing that's gonna be happening. K.

51:410

Well, that's exciting. Yeah.

51:453

And we got to look at the the paperwork for everything.

51:504

This is what the

51:511

heritage heritage register files look like.

51:550

That's. There

51:581

you go.

51:58 – 52:100

Yeah. That's awesome. So sorry. Was gonna say, designing of your hair, did you hear?

52:112

Yeah. You haven't done that

52:130

too much lately. It's been pretty quiet. But

52:16 – 52:401

We have potentially one oh, good reminder. Thank you. For those who are on the heritage review committee, I sent an email out today. Some folks have responded already, but we have a window permit application that we'll need review. So I think you have responded.

52:412

I have

52:41 – 52:591

not. You have not, and I think Steven might be out. So I I think if you can finalize your dates, then I'll send out which date everyone had that worked. But there's that one. There's a second one that may also require some, heritage review.

52:59 – 53:281

And then, I suppose this wouldn't be for just the committee, but it would come to the full commission. There is someone who reached out to me about painting a mural on a building that is on the historic register. So it's sort of in line with it. Yeah. It's partially technical with, like, what are the materials that they're using, but it'll also be public art and fun stuff to

53:290

Are we the only like, this arts commission review, things like that?

53:33 – 53:481

Or The arts commission reviews public art. So because this is a private this or a private building and a private mural, as long as it's not a sign, I've been told that it would just be us to say that it's okay to go on

53:482

the historic building. So K.

53:531

So on the horizon. K. So It's

53:572

not very interesting. Mhmm.

53:591

I hope it comes in soon. Yeah.

54:030

Do you have any report on policy? Sure.

54:072

I don't think so. We haven't met, and nothing has really come across the purview of that committee, really, unless I'm missing something.

54:16 – 54:411

I'll take it. So this is I did a bad job at updating Bill. I apologize. But on the staff level Good. Do you remember last year, we looked at the code section and made some updates and sort of workshopped, like, where we could improve some, content and minor edits and bigger picture concepts.

54:41 – 55:121

Well, we the planning team is pushing forward minor code amendments. And so I pulled from that document that we had already looked at the, ones that would count that are more clerical. So at least part, not the whole, like, package of it, but part of, the updates. So, like, instead of saying 11 commissioners, it it will say nine after this goes through. Those things Mostly has.

55:12 – 55:351

Right? Yeah. Nothing that's content changing because that would require us to do the full process. I'm sort of just adding this on to someone else's clerical updates. But, yeah, that's like a step toward it. Great. Okay. That's good.

55:360

Other topics. Anything for the good of the order?

55:40 – 56:073

Anything fun? I have one thing that I should have said in announcement, so apologies. But the next Tuesday, the city council at the city council meeting, Ed Echtel from Legacy Washington and someone from the Locke family is doing a little presentation about the hundred year anniversary of Chinese exclusion. Mhmm. So just thought that that might

56:070

be interesting for The bridge is for the group.

56:103

It's it's in at the city council. Council. Oh, yes. Next Tuesday. It's just, like,

56:160

a little ten minute presentation or blah blah blah. It's going to be of interest.

56:20 – 56:361

Thank you. That's I actually, today was contacted by someone looking for we have pamphlets about the Chinese community of Olympia, like a walking tour for downtown. Mhmm. And I I'm so glad you brought that up because we gave them pamphlets.

56:424

I have to go. Okay.

56:48 – 57:010

I think we're good. That was the last. K. Alright. Let's during the 06:30 meeting. Okay. Awesome. Thanks.

57:032

Thank you. Was good to see you all. What do you

57:064

need me to

57:062

do with these files?

57:071

Nice to see you, though. What I can put those on my desk.

This transcript was automatically generated from the official public meeting video and is presented unedited. It reflects remarks made on the public record by elected officials, staff, and public commenters. Transcript accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.