Historical Commission - Regular Meeting

uh welcome to the January 14th meeting of the Southboro historical commission uh I note that beside myself Kevin Miller we have Vice chair Treasurer Annie faf Grant farington and Michelle Hokinson in attendance so we have a quorum and we're expecting uh Dan Blanchard shortly so um let's get right to it the first thing we've got is um historic house sign business and um I'm going to skip to the second half of the the sentence in the agenda which involves a review and a production update the production update is simply that if you recall the Caleb Williams house at 14 Newton was the one that we had to kind of take up as a special discussion last meeting because that's the one that it's a replacement order of an older sign that involved that house that had been moved um when the reservoir system was created um to its present location and so this is a house that dates to I believe 1800 um and was moved again during the building of the reservoir and so it has some extra verbiage on there explaining that fact and that the owner um Mr Falcone felt very strongly about retaining that even though it differs somewhat from the house style so to speak for the house signs going forward and we taken a vote um to basically accept that um notion and to include that text um Annie did a very nice um mockup of the sign which I sent off to sign arama um they came back with the art it looked fantastic um and so it's approved and and off into production um and then since our last meeting i' I've heard two requests um for house signs one we're going to have to um well let me get to the one that's the the easy one first and that's the um that's the one that I

sent you the macas report on along the agenda and that would be the GW Lewis house at two Bridge Street that's down in Southville you know um we had given out a bunch of signs on Wood Street um in the last couple of months um and Bridge is basically right kind of goes into Wood Street I'm sure you're all familiar with it so this was a house that was um there's covered there's an individual report on the house um in the macas it's also mentioned um or inventoried in the Southville area report um it's a Greek Revival with some italianate elements um Circa 1850 I would note that um Patriot Properties also listed as 1850 which is actually reassuring because I want to screen share with with you for a second um because and not unusual um there's a little bit of a mild um discrepancy um in some of the reporting so here for instance this is the report of the individual report on the house and you notice that the cover page which I I you know is really the upto-date um version listed as Circa 1850 um that's a a b that's fairly accurate um to the this is this house sits at the corner of Cedar Street and Bridge Street and um The Bridge Street bridge wasn't built until 1900 and so the orientation of the house is actually um the front original front door is um faces Cedar even though it's now numbered as two Bridge Street if you follow um you're

you're looking at it from kind of the junction of bridge wood and Cedar um that's roughly looking North um in that particular photo but it's listed on the cover as circuit 1850 and just in case any of you are wondering you see that in pencil on the handwritten report which goes back to the 70s it's Circa 1880 um that's unquestionably a typo you see like for instance here that the architectural reason for inventorying is pre1 1870 well how is it Circa 1880 and then um if you look at the other houses in the area um it supports and here it is appearing on an 1870 Atlas so clearly the 1880 date is a basically a a transcription error in that box um the Southville area report um is circuit 1850 the printed um sheet has it circuit 1850 and again this the Southville report has it circuit 1850 and I'm I'm based on the house itself I'm quite confident that in fact that is correct um I don't really think there's any question about it the other thing I would um show you if you just want to see this is that um here's the this is the Bridge Street of side of the house and it it's very much um it's a really beautiful house cute and very much intact and unfortunately um this uh Google street views a lot of vegetation I was down there recently and you get a much better view of the house of course in the winter when the leaves are off the trees and stuff um but this

is the front actually the original front door you can see a bit of it on the um Cedar Street side um and it's interesting because this property has um basically if I turn around this way um this would be going almost du South that's Wood Street where we um actually awarded an again I think three um signs in the last several months um so word has gotten out around this T part of town you see this house is kind of interesting because it has this um I believe this Barn um is a 19th century Edition it's it's rather oddly sort of you know but in a in a way that I'm sure suited it's the it's utilitarian purpose at the time was added onto the back of the house but this is the main body this is the original body of the house there actually I believe this property also has a that Barn back there is also on this property that's a 20th century um Lely concrete actually structure um but this again this the barn um which is not particularly relevant to our discussion um is added on um to the back there so it's it's a really um again I've been down here several times over the last few months and it's a really lovely house um well cared for it clearly um qualifies in terms of date um and it has retained um happily you know it's the key elements those Gables there those wonderful brackets and all that kind of stuff so um this is for me is an easy one but um I just want to go around and get anybody's thoughts um Annie do you have thoughts on this one

um not particularly I you know I I think it is a beautiful home um I love the character of the house um yeah that's my feedback okay um Grant pretty much the same for me I think it clearly qualifies I would say um and if we were talking about dates I would I would go with the Circa 1850 to match um everything on the on the macis but um yeah I think it's definitely uh deserv deserving yeah and I by the way I would say that the the Wood Street houses that are just further down the street as you look at it in this um photo those are all Circa um 1840 to 1870 so it comport you know the 1850 date that is appears several times in macis really comports with the you know the time of this this neighborhood was constructed um Michelle anything no I I agree I think that this fits all the criteria for um the signs and eight you know again the date is probably wrong so 1850 that's what you're thinking yeah um so I I I would um make a motion that we approve a historic house sign for the GW Lewis house at 2bridge Street with the date on the sign of Circa 1850 which is again what appears in the Maas area report for Southville and the tight portion of the written report um individual report for the house so motion is to approve GW Lewis house to Bridge Street um you want to make it Grant go ahead oh sorry I think you said I proposed a motion so so moved Second Great uh so motion made by Grant um second by Annie roll call V Miller's eye Annie yes and I will just add I probably

can have the artwork done by the end of this meeting if we want to Circle back to take a peek at it uh happy to do that because I um the the um sinorama people are waiting actually I asked they they would like to like do the Caleb Williams house and this this one together um it helps their production so um thank you um so where were we said I Annie said I grant hi Michelle yes uh 4 z um approved thank you very much now we had one other request um and this is a little bit more tricky and I'm just going to give as quickly as I can a little bit of insight on where um I'm at with this I've actually spent a lot of time um trying to get to the bottom of this one um the request is for the you see it right there that's the maage individual coverage on this house it's the CB Wilson house at 24 East Main Street um this is sort of a vernacular building with a Circa um 1890 date and um the challenge with this one is um it's a very beautiful house um it's really nicely maintained um I can give you I don't I don't have the street view pulled up on on this um but here's the challenge with this one the individual macro support list it as um again CB Wilson house 24 East main circuit 1890 um and and you know gives a listing of an 1898 Atlas listing as the owner of CB Wilson now 1898 of course is almost 20 years

um or 10 years I'm sorry it's eight years um 8 to 10 years post construction I'm not sure CB Wilson is the original owner and one of the challenges this is that in the area mackus report on East Southboro Center um remember we're talking here about um 24 East M when you look this is the inventory that appears in the area report and at 24 East Main it listed as having no name one of those um Circa 1890 and then it lists Charles B Wilson house as 26 East M which is that house is extent and is next door a little bit further to the east um so the challenge for me is that in the individual report again 24 which is the subject house is listed as CB Wilson house in the area report it's not listed with a name but 26 is listed as Charles B Wilson house in other words CB Wilson house so we have CB Wilson houses side by side but a little bit of a discrepancy between area report and individual report so um without belaboring this I've spent um and and my longsuffering better half has spent a good deal of time in this as well um on the the Worcester registry of deeds um site doing a lot of that Annie knows how painstaking these older homes are to research online anyway we spent a lot of time on this and we're trying and and

think we've made some progress actually but having hav resolved the issue yet um so I I I'd like to find out if Charles B Wilson owned one house perhaps owned both perhaps was not the original owner of 24 and there was a we've got a lead on a different um Builder so I I with your Indulgence I just like to put this one aside for a month and come back to it in the interest of getting it as right as we possibly can even we're not I I've had a little trouble um making contact with the owner of this house um so I'm trying to I'd like to talk to them to see if they have anything they can help us with I have her cell number she actually called me do you have did she call you um it did she you the applicant actually emailed me and included a cell phone number which I called um last week and left a message saying you know I'm I'm working on this one um we want to do right by you kind of thing and but I haven't heard back so okay she had originally called me and I deferred her to the process that says to email you um but I we can check to make sure we have the same cell number she was responsive to me and had actually texted a couple times well yeah maybe we'll have you you know we'll E I can try again or you can follow up or this was one by the way this applicant um initially asked me um uh let me I'm just trying to look at the the in This was um yeah Miss Nicholson um had had made a reference in the initial email to me that um there was a sign for us I want to pick it up now this was I said years ago kind of thing so I actually spent some

time trying to track down if such a sign actually existed somewhere um and I talked to um a a former Vice chair Kate battles and asked her what you know she had any record of it knew anything about it and her feeling was it was probably um conf some confusion and that it was just um a solicitation like you have a house that may be eligible um so but there was no existing sign so it took me a a while to sort of get to the bottom of that part of it um and then I started doing the re search because I I spotted this discrepancy in the Macos reports um so go ahead gr oh yeah just a quick question um I'm not as familiar with this listing of the um the names of the houses at the end here but just wondering if you could clarify what it says with when it says 24 East Main Street Garage um 25 East just wondering what the garage is is it possible that this was built as a garage to one of the surrounding houses uh no I don't think so because this I I don't and I'm not I'm trying to remember if it's still there um but you know typically um the garage on these you know as it was for instance with my house which was built in 1912 ends up being built as a freestanding structure you know separate um and so I think that's what you know we're looking at here so anyway I'm going to try to get to the bottom of this I just wanted to let you know that it's out there and and any um if I if I don't have any luck um with the applicant I I'll send you back to if you don't mind um thank you so much um we'll get this one fixed it's a it's a really um that photo in the macis does not do it justice it's a very pretty house very wellmaintained um and

happily and I believe it's still clabo um and it retains um a good deal of the original um features so it's you know it's one of those ones um once we get the naming um pinned down if we can um it'll be a um you know real nice a nice ad over there um because we don't have too much right now on East Main um I do want to say it wouldn't be unprecedented for us to have two signs with the same name for neighboring homes we have that over on Lyman Street um so it's you know it's possible that he owned both but I I agree with your approach of just trying to do a little bit more research to to confirm one way or another yeah I thought you know in the 26 doesn't have a sign and hasn't applied for one but um if they do that this is an issue like down on Apprentice Street as well um they're similar you know it's and what you find when you start digging that sometimes it's the you know 19th century equivalent of real estate Speculator who you know build several houses and you seriously you know or they build it for family members and um but I I think it's worth you know holding off a little bit and seeing if we can get um some clarity what what you find I'm you know is that um I have a lot of respect for the architectural historians that did the macis inventory for Southboro that's um the forb Schuler Duo um but it the whole as a whole it's not without mistakes um or discrepancies here and there and and what I often find like I remember I was able to resolve that one over on um you know in the Brigham Pond area what's the name of the street it's eluding me at

the moment um yeah thank you um for Mr foron and I was so delighted to get but that was a lot of work you know what you realize is that if it was easy it would have been there you know that's what I tell homeowners when there's like missing information I'm like if you know go for it but um if you know if you especially when they disagree with a date you can get a better date kind of thing but you know what you find out how how hard it is anyway um the next item um number three is you know unfortunately this is something that I really wish Kelly were here for because it was sort of um driven by her um interest but let me put it out to you and tell you what's been going on as one of our goals you know going forward and we had discussed this um in a fairly casual way several times in the past um this idea of a oral history project where we would talk to um particularly senior citizens in South bro who may have spent you know a lifetime here about their lives and and what they remember about South bro and what was special about it to them and what's special about it now but especially the things that obviously are well in the past and um you know were afraid of losing forever I think as Sam Styers have been a big Advocate to me about this on several occasions and I I was quite interested and um I'm aware the there's a a similar kind of project that the VA does actually it's I think it's called My Story or something like that where they interview you know veterans about their um experiences and sort of record it and log it and upload it and um you can go on the va's website and see some of that stuff um so I thought it was a great idea and you know with

all the other million things we're trying to get done um it got a little you know it just takes somebody to want to really take it and run with it so Kelly um reached out to me in December um you know in indicating that she was really really interested in pushing this forward and actually conducting interviews and she's got some connections or background um I think with a son-in-law with video production um and stuff like that though it doesn't you know this is not going to be a a highly sophisticated filmed Affair kind of thing it can be done on a iPhone camera um just record you know sit down across from um someone with a good story to tell about life in South bro I think I had mentioned you guys a couple times about for some reason I remember this conversation so well that I I had chatting with Don Morris at one point about growing up you know the morus funeral home and and you know playing in the townhouse in the basement where there I think that he indicated there was a jail cell at one point and you know or this game he and his friends used to play of trying to walk to the spa without going in the sun because there was so much tree cover along Main Street kind of thing you know or playing baseball in the where a lot of St Mark's buildings are now and all that kind of stuff really really interesting stories that's the kind of Stories We want to get down right so Kelly said came to me and said listen you know of course works for the building department so she's in cville Hall every day that's where the senior center is and she said you know I I see those people all the time I'm up and

down apparently you know I'm right there um I think she believes that she like on lunch hour maybe before work or after work can conduct these interviews right in the building so wants to do that um and I I said well you know I want to I got to bring this to the full commission but I was very enthusiastic I'm like great you want to do it fantastic you know and and maybe I mean I personally don't have the bandwidth for this right now but if I did um I would like to be involved myself and maybe down the road um do some of these too and I thought maybe you guys um might be interested in that as well as time permits but Kelly is very keen on um doing this and and wanted to write up um a and what what she proposes is to um record these videos and the all the details of this need to be worked out but and then to upload them to a um historical commission you know Channel you know YouTube channels are not that difficult to set up to set up a historical commission South bror historical commission Channel where we would um archive you know Tales of South bro kind of thing and have um you know people that have been around town for 30 40 50 60 years um or more tell their story um so that that was and she wrote up um and sent me um a kind of draft announcement which I've worked on myself and I can bring up and show you because I have some refinements and it we can get into the nitty-gritty of maybe how this might work

um but let me tell you the other half of what she was pitching to me um is because they they do um interlock um she's also interested in um SC a kind of before and this also does correspond to things we've talked about you know as a group before a a kind of before and after photo proc project um where we ask people let's say who frequent the senior center as maybe a core or at least the Point of Departure for this project but there old photos around South bro of things you know that they might have in a box somewhere you know does anyone have a nice photos of the Southboro arms you know Michelle you've got some good stuff there you go you know and and so to get these photos and I'm really interested in a project like this where there specific locations like you know I'm sure there are lots of photos uh floating around in people's basements around here of like let's say White's Corner 20 30 40 50 80 years ago um because I remember the way it used to be it's not the way it is now you know I remember when the restaurant was you know in a Whit's Corner Restaurant was there um so um you know to get those photos and apparently um again without any cost to us she's got the capabilities within the building department to scan in those photos and as high quality scans um and then simply return the originals back to you know the the donors and to start cataloging that

stuff now Kelly's idea kind kind of went further than I I'm frankly um think we can get to at this point but it's an interesting one because her ultimate goal was like to put together a book that you know of before and afters um and sell it and you know the proceeds of course would come into our account that we can hold um her mgl and and that we would you know be able to actually make money um off of this um that I think is as a secondary goal and I note that of course um I'm looking if I have it handy uh this is you know Michael weon of course has done um such a book it's quite and it's really quite wonderful it's not really so much of before and after but um lost South bro which I would commend to anybody um who have you all seen this book it's it's absolutely F it's absolutely fabulous um y train station the center of town and all that kind of stuff it's really well done um so not that we're looking to get into competition with Michael and the the society and all that stuff but you know Kelly's idea of a a kind of comprehensive archiving of photographs is very very appealing to me you know because those things get lost and thrown out and destroyed in basement floods and you know we lose things um so so that's um the basic idea I do you guys have any thoughts on that or initial feedback I can show you the document that I again um sort of worked on um just to get the

initial part of this rolling but I'd like to get just a little if you're in support of this you like the idea or not um yeah I think they're both great ideas actually um I don't know about going as so far as is to create a book but just um at least the photograph and the oral interviews I think are great I know for me anyway that I've struggled to find old photos of South bro Beyond um I have uh it's not lost South bro Tales of Old South bro or something another Historical Society yeah yeah also Michael Yeah Yeah from the 80s I think um uh which has some photos in it I know that digital Commonwealth has some out there a lot of which have to do with like the construction of the separate Reservoir Dam which is very interesting and they did a whole project about like documenting the houses before they flooded you know um some of them got moved some of them got destroyed obviously but um beyond that you know there's not too many places to go I don't think other than kind of those those archives uh for old photographs so I think that's that would be great and then obviously the Earl um the history as well so I think they're both um good ideas and we should pursue them and if Kell's willing to take on or at least start uh one or both of them that that's even better go ahead Michelle oh it actually it's sounds like a great idea and um particularly I feel the interviews are really important because and I think that that process should start probably right away before we lose that part of the part part of the history that we have and I think it's a really that's a great idea I mean I I would assume that you'd have a standard interview sort of question and answer or it sounds like a lot of work it sounds like this is not going to be overnight yeah it it does I think it's a

big thing of the how to handle it and what I have thoughts on that but whether there need to be standard kind of questions that could be worked on maybe we could all together or you have a couple people just hack out some questions or whether you make it open-ended like I think um my notion of this for instance is um I'm just mindful of the modern attention span and that maybe you know if if as a group we give our interviewer which you know to start um would be led by Kelly um sort of marching orders I think it would be um 10 to 20 minutes you know and so we might and you might have somebody who is a real RAC Contour you know down at the senior center who might do five or six sessions but in bite size you know what I mean or maybe they're 10 to 30 minutes or something like that but it's also depending on the interviewer's availability so I I don't want it to be something where you know someone has to sit down for 2 or three hours you know we're not Ken Burns here like you trying to get you know I would like I said I I it always sticks in my mind that little story Don told me about the tree cover because we were having a conversation about trees along Main Street you know and he told this very sweet little story and I thought oh my God I'd love to have that on tape you know um Annie any thoughts on this yeah um my I love the idea my initial reaction uh similar to something Michelle said is it sounds like a lot of work um I am feeling like myself I can't take much more on so I'm glad that um

I'm glad that Kelly is willing to take the lead and kind of spearhead this this initiative so that's excellent um and I also one thing that popped in my head you know in light of the upcoming tricentennial I wonder if there's somehow some sort of synergy this project can um Can Build you know in relation to the tricentennial like this is a good time to be you know making these Reflections and intentionally trying to capture these memories of South bro um you know related to our big celebration so um I don't know not to make more work for another committee but like is there a subcommittee that could you know maybe help or something with that um OB viously I I would love Michelle's feedback on that but just something that kind of popped into my head as I was listening Annie I think that that's a terrific idea and we have our meeting tomorrow night and one thing that I felt was initially I mean we've had all these subcommittees and all these great ideas and I really feel that you know an oral history would be very interesting um and I think that it should be part of the tricentennial so I think that that's really something that perhaps we could both work on together yeah bring that up tomorrow you know if um I I like the idea of housing this under a kind of historical commission Banner but I certainly think as sort of support to you know generate interest in Southboro history um in connection to the tricentennial is great you know and um like I said I liked um the the chair of tric sentang would be part of the interview process because he's got some good stories um meaning it's a great idea um let me show

you very quickly um I'm trying not to take too much time on this but um the document that I sort of you know Kelly had sent over fairly brief this is the bulk of the original and then I ended up copying and pasting and kind of tinkering um she would like to put a notice in like the senior center newsletter to get this rolling um and so you know this is my kind of uh want to explain some things why it is this way um she had said the historical commission is interested in your stories I added the full title of us the southb historical commission is interested in your stories um the commission would like to hold video interviews with longtime residents to help preserve your Fondest Memories of Southboro the interviews would last 10 to 30 minutes that was a number I pulled out of my ear um and will be but I I think that you know then it's not too much of a burden either to interviewer or interviewee um but that's enough to get a a good yarn in you know even on the short end um the interviews would last 10 to 30 minutes and will be periodically uploaded uh Kelly had initially said uploaded weekly and I think that's um I'd rather under promise and overd deliver than overpromise and underd deliver if you follow what I'm saying um so and will'll be periodically uploaded to a special historical commission memories of Southboro Channel on YouTube um we're also seeking to borrow scan and return your old photographs of locations

around South bro both for possible incorporation in the video interviews sidebar um meaning that if people are telling a story about a location and they have photos of it that can easily be cut into the video you know and run some audio over I think possibly um so both for possible incorporation in the video interviews and to create a before and after photographic archive at this point I would Advocate against promising book publication and all this other stuff let's get that to that when we get to it you know and you can go back and um secure the necessary releases um and so on um next paragraph to participate in the interview project or for more information or to lend your photos for archiving um I think I inserted that and we can I'm I'm open to your opinions on this I said please contact historical at South br.com that's our official email address and that that comes to me um so that I can sort of see what's coming in um or our interviewer Kelly O'Brien directly and I give her Town email address or by calling Kelly and she gave this is the number she's willing to give um so there's you know there a question about whether um you as a a group would like to see it all funneled um through the Commission address and I just simply forward it along to Kelly um or if you know you're fine with um just you know I I'm fine

with either option so I included both that it either comes through the chair and then goes out or it just goes directly um to Kelly who's after all going to take the lead on this um and then the only other thing I included because I think it's really critical um because again we run into this problem all the time where people can't differentiate between the historical society and the historical commission um this is the boiler plate that exists on our web page that the southb historical commission was established in July 1969 when the town voted at the 1969 annual town meeting to accept the provisions of mgl chapter 40 section 8D establishment of historical commission current members are myself chair Annie faf Vice chair and Treasurer Grant farington Michelle hulson Dan Blanchard and Kelly oan so just so that if others of US get involved as interviewers at some point you know what I mean it's a kind of boilerplate statement this is who we are we're the town we're a town government commission This Is How We Exist we're not the society there are great Pals um but this is you know a separate project so statement of we want we're interested in your stuff we want to hold these interviews 10 to 30 minutes they go on YouTube we're also looking for your photographs to both archive and possibly incorporate in the interviews this is who you reach out to to participate and lastly this is who we are um so I I'd love to hear comments questions um edits whatever you thoughts might be on this and again this is just for this would be like appear in the um Senior Center newsletter a copy of which I happen to have here somewhere but maybe not handy um

anybody I have a couple things Kevin um one is uh well for me I think the main goal for project like this at least in my opinion would be not necessarily the YouTube part of it but in terms of arch archiving it and having it you know in our possession for or the town's possession for future use um I if it was up to me I would probably add would like to hold audio or V or video interviews for people who aren't comfortable being on camera um even though of course that makes probably makes it harder for a YouTube channel I think he might get more people who might not Comfort be comfortable uh on video but would be willing to speak into a microphone or something like that um and then for me I don't think the last paragraph is really necessary I think we could somehow sneak in that we're part of the Town rather than having a big long thing at the end uh think it kind of makes it more lengthy than is needed but um other than that I think the rest of it is uh is good U Can I just stop stop on that point about um audio and video interviews I I think that's an excellent suggestion I think um I you know again I wish Kelly were here but I I think she would be amenable to that idea because I do agree with you there may be the occasional person that would find the video part of it intimidating but I that doesn't mean I want to lose their story because they would only want to be on audio so I I'm amenable if um the rest of you are to the idea of you know adding um making it audio and video interviews um and then let put it on Kelly to sell the video part of it you know what I mean like any any um Annie Michelle do you

have thoughts on that particular Point yeah I I'll go I hadn't thought of the audio versus video Until Grant brought it up but I'm absolutely in support of that um and knowing the you know the target audience for this may be might be older they might not be as comfortable with video um so I I think that would actually be really excellent um I think there's still ways we could get it up on um you know up on YouTube I mean there wouldn't be anything to watch watch but the audio you know we could have like a still slide or something so at least it's on the channel so everything is together um so I'm I'm in support of that for sure and my only other note that you know came came up to me was um so we have so Kelly's contact information we're publicizing her Town email address but then that looks like it's her cell phone number um um and I wonder if it should be her Town um just to be consistent like her Town phone number or her personal address I don't know that um that just kind of was interesting to me but um not a big deal either way yeah no I that's a fair point as well and I I did think about this in terms of the contact information like I said whether it should just be funneled through the historical Commission address it's certainly no burden on me to like look at it and then forward it you know um yeah I feel like you I feel like you already funnel so much yeah um you know the signs and you know all from the town and that you I feel like you already do so much that if

this could go straight to Kelly that would be good um maybe do we even need to have a phone number on there maybe it just goes to Kelly's South Brom ma.com email um I don't know yeah no that's fine that's fine with me too I mean maybe the um again I I wonder about you know certain umics that if they're they're some of the older folks you know might be um more comfortable picking up the phone writing an email you know that's so I I I I'll put it to you know maybe I don't know if if Kelly's able to take those kind of calls at a work number or not that's what I was thinking she might have wanted it on her cell to keep it separate yeah we we can that's a minor detail we can definitely work out but and I'm I'm perfectly like I don't have to be the conduit for this stuff i' you know um especially you know Kelly's willing to step forward and take the lead on this I'm happy to just say okay go you know um uh go ahead Michelle so um I have a thought you know and because it is at the senior center and maybe some people don't have full access to email why not just have a place at the senior center where they can just put a card in and say contact me you know that's a very good point as well like like a fishbowl put it you Bagels laid out there and put you put your business card in there you're willing to do an interview drop your phone number and your name in the in the Fishbowl and and you know she walks up the steps and grabs it once in a while and yeah no that's a really good idea um go ahead Grant yeah um just another

couple things I was thinking about so um I know that so I was kind of debating whether or not to do you know create our own YouTube channel or maybe use other YouTube channels that already exist for the town I know that South and obviously would involve coordination right but like I know that South proo access media which generally posts like live meetings um they also do like Civic events and other things so I know like for the MBTA community's town meeting like they posted uh videos in support of each of the Warren articles and um that kind of thing um from I think that was planning board that was doing that so may maybe this is something that we could you know ask them you put together the video somehow and then ask if they could do it on their page or something just because I was taking a look and they have 500 subscribers um and like people know about it and go to it for videos whereas if we start our own YouTube page like I'm first of all I think that's more work and also um I'm not sure about visibility versus like you know just asking the town to put it on the access Media One that's an interesting point I don't know um about sub channels like if you look at the Sam Channel which I am now on my other monitor um you know of course what you see um latest is you know the school committee meeting the school committee meeting the selectboard meeting slick board meeting planning board Z zba Etc you know what I mean like you don't it's all um B basically Civic meetings um special town meeting planning board Al Hamilton talking about Regional dispatch Etc I and I

wonder and of course this wouldn't be shot under the egis of Sam um but it's an interesting point like how and I am far from being any kind of expert fact not even an amateur on the issue of you know can a subchannel be created that's you know what I mean the nests underneath as the historical commissions um yeah I don't know um the other part I guess that I was thinking like if we were to go south or ask them if they did would do is that they have like the TV channel too right which I think um some people watch just like recycle it's not all live right they'll just play meetings or um other videos and stuff throughout the day so maybe you know if you get on there then you could get a wider audience or something like that now yeah and when you do a course you know like let's say on the Sam page there's you know you go to playlist and of course then it's coordinated by there a BOS playlist zba playlist planning playlist um Southboro library and express yourself playlist um something called Coffee Talk which I confess I have not looked at um playlist so yeah I mean maybe that um or again under it wouldn't be under what is it um where I always find the the meetings it's the um South bro remote meetings is that what they call that [Music] um you know like when I'm going to look for some meeting I missed I want to look at um the South access media yeah south pro remote meetings so I mean that's not going to be appropriate um yeah I think access Med is like a mix of meetings and other stuff that's why I

was thinking it but work I think it's just maybe piggybacking off of right something that I think either the the Sam thing is interesting because again when you go to southb remote meetings and look at playlists it's all just by committee Golf Course committee tricentennial you know the usual um Municipal technology uh so it it wouldn't reside there and we'd have to create either our own page or yeah maybe it's a playlist under Sam although the again the videos not being created under their egis um might not sit right with them or might involve complexity that we're not interested in I I how about this what I would propose um and again we're a little bit hamstrung because Kelly's not here but to ask Kelly to um maybe reach out to the Sam people and see what they'd have to say about it you know um whether they maybe they're even willing to offer actually technical assistance um that Kelly may or may not need you follow what I'm saying like that that may you know before we get over our skis too much I know she's eager to get going um but it's it's a little bit of a I I think but even if we come to fundamentally an agreement on the following we like the idea we want an audio option as well as video that's B right we're in favor of the scanning the photographs that's an easy one it seems to me and then we'll figure out later what we're going to do with all that stuff but just to have it I think is really important because it you know Michelle sort of alluded to this every day that goes by you run the risk of losing stuff

forever um and that if you know you're behind the project I'm very much in support I when you know I met with Kelly I was very enthusiastic and and said great I'm so delighted you want to do this get ready you know um because I think everyone else is going to like it too so that that seems to be the consensus here um and if we have to hold an announcement to the next meeting and and think more specifically about um and I I get Grant like I get your point about the it's a little bit that last paragraph Was a little bit it's like a disclaimer at the end of a car commercial you know um the kind of stuff you'd read really fast South historical commission was established in July of 1969 you know battery sold separately yeah I'm just concerned like I said I run into I run into this endlessly um about the commiss the confusion between the commission and the society um and I think it's important for people um to know what it is that we're doing and that you know we're are an official Town body um that can that can be done in some other way so I can I I can take it with that um but maybe we should just um table at the moment um but encourage you know Kelly to to absolutely um and I like Michelle's idea about you know for instance the Outreach um that people maybe I'd like to go back to Kelly and discuss that for instance about the phone number and all that and to get um maybe people are interested just drop a card in a fishbowl you know or signal or sign up on a sheet that's hanging you know um on the wall next to the bagels kind of thing down there and say yeah

I'm willing to talk to you I got some pictures give me a call and write your name and number down and we reach out to them um so is that all right shall we is that the best you know kind of just let it put it aside for now but know that we're pretty much I think it's I would even be go so far as to say like I think if Kelly wants like if she knows people that she wants to interview already or she's having those conversations like like go for it you know get started and then we can advertise it to get more people later yeah I agree I don't see any reason that she can't go ahead and and start this on her own not on her own but doing this um right now yeah I agree too and I don't want to get bogged down on the verbiage of this you know Silly announcement really you know what I mean like you um so I just think in terms of the logistics about what we're going to do with it we might want to give that more thought yeah I AG I I agree with you e you know about the channel and this is why I backed off in my own um version of her announcement of I I didn't want to promise any books or publication or anything like that I just want to get the photos and get that rolling I'd like to get the interviews down I'm not you know you know I don't really I your point Grant about Sam I think is a good one that they've already got 500 subscribers you know I'd like to the point to get these the point a is to get them down and recorded so they're preserved but the other point is to get them seen by people who are going to care about them you know um and to get hits basically so maybe the Sam option is better for us but that needs to be um investigated obviously so M um I will put Kelly on to it are you are you is

those of you that are here are you okay with you know me saying um taking Grant's suggestion and saying listen if you want to go and informally start talking to people um go ahead because I I don't really see any harm in that to be honest with you me can I can I just ask one question Kevin sure yeah so um is is does she already have like a standard thing or is this just going to be um ad hoc do you have any idea no uh I don't think there is a a a script so to speak and I I that's something I'd also I think it it merits um us discussing um because I I do think um you know um the kind of play plays into what I do for a living is that you know if you've got good prompts you get good responses if you sometimes some people some people can just open up the floodgates and talk um but sometimes a good series of prompts is really helpful yeah I also feel that if you can give the participant some questions to get their um their thoughts together before it would be right much e you know it would flow better yeah I think that's great and I the the more people talk the more I think about it in the moment I think maybe um we just let's pull this to our next meeting you know I mean I think we've made good progress in kind of thinking through some things and some things have come up about the prompts where this stuff is going to reside um and the method of contact and the method of you know seeking the interest and how you you

know the card and a thing a sign up sheet or whatever but so I I will I will bring this up to Kelly and of course we'll all look at it when we get back together next month is that okay we'll move on everyone okay with that yeah great all right thank you and I'm sorry we couldn't get to a better conclude you know a complete um thought but I think this is a good idea and I'm again I'm very thankful for Kelly's interest in um taking the lead um chair's report 21 Highland future use committee um we met in November and December there's not much doing the commission's charge has been extended um and um there's a lot that I will that I expect to begin happening um at the end of January and February and we do hope to hold um a public forum um to to seek particularly my interest is in the um the desires of that area of town um what those folks you know down in the let's say within a half mile or mile radius of 21 Highland actually want um out of that building and how they feel about that building um but one thing that has come up is that um I would like to see us um over the next couple of meetings um come up with a plan to help support the effort to Ed educate people in southpro about the really rich and glorious history of um 21 Highland um and what it has meant to the town over the years and and what it could mean in the future I think that's really important and um beyond that um stay tuned um cemeteries update um there was a meeting in December um organized by margarite

Landry of the select board that included margarite um DPW had Bill Kiff um and Chris ly of DPW um myself and Sally Waters um um margar felt strongly about having Sally involved in this because she's so um of course doing work for us and and knowledgeable um about conditions in the old burial ground and the subject of of this meeting was um cemeteries um both the rural Cemetery in the OBG and oversight and how to make sure things particularly in the old burial ground um are tended to this has been a kind of chronic problem in terms of tree trimming damage to headstones um broken headstones volunteer um growth um that you know some Norway maple comes up or some bittersweet starts growing up around a headstone and actually starts to move the stone who's got the authority to take it away how what's the reporting process how do we make sure that the stones are maintained and all kinds of ancillary issues um involving that and um what came out of it was that um Mr Kiff is very much interested in having a cemetery commission actually reconstituted of course that was um dissolved in town some years ago and that creates he he seemed to feel it would streamline um it would address some um privacy issues but um also maintenance issues and a kind of clear um um organizational hierarchy for management of the cemeteries I was very much in support of that idea and um so

there's some movement there to do that that would involve um her Town Council um I'm I'm I'm trying to look for the right the right words for this but it would involve some um basically legal work um and a vote and I'm trying to find sorry about that um I had this thing oh here it is um possibly a warrant article and and and so on so stay tuned on that the one thing came out of this is um the I think margarit is interested in modeling this on actually the the rhetoric that um the charge for the Cemetary Commission in North bro which is very straightforward and about two or three sentences they have a three- member Cemetery commission appointed by the town for three appointed by the Town Administrator for threee terms responsible for the care superintendence and management of all public burial grounds the town admin administrators responsible for carrying out the policies the commission and may make policy recommendations to the commission um and I did not indicate um any particular interest in for instance you know because the historical commission already holds seats on a number of tric currently tricentennial 21 Highland CPC pilot am I missing anything um and it tends to sort of stretch us um and and in part because I think um historical commission um could have a good working relationship with the cemetery commission as we do with the

DPW regardless of whether or not we had a designated seat on it I didn't ask for one um and I just wanted to but I did want to put that you to see if you felt strongly that we should be asking for a seat on the cemetery commission um I'm willing to do it I mean mean meaning not to serve on it but to ask for it um but I don't think we need it um but I I do support the idea of a Cemetary commission that presumably you know you got a good group of people that the part of their diligence would be an extreme interest in preserving let's say the headstones in the old burial ground which are frequently because of environmental conditions at risk do that does that make sense um Kevin I guess maybe I'm just not that familiar with cemeter commissions but what would be the the function the day-to-day function of the commission is it going to be like dispersing money to spend on the like the cemetery trust well there's a yeah there's a cemetery trust fund I think the idea is that they would be looking overall at conditions and needs tree trimming is the Landscaping Company bumping into headstones and knocking them over you know what I mean does there that you know any aspect of what goes on there um and I you know I think not not to speak for Mr cundith but I think he was interested for instance in a cemetery commission that would make decisions um apparently he's presented with some frequency um with requests for waivers of rules and he want to make those decisions he wants a cemetery commission to do it so they would have a fairly broad scope of Duties um but I personally like the idea of a you know I know there's a movement that sort of reduced the number of

boards and committees and the the feeling they kind of bloat and it's hard to get volunteers and all that stuff but I think some people that feel very passionately about the cemeteries and how important they are to the town and for instance we're going to run R out of room um in the world soon um and it's not really being addressed um so yeah so I mean I guess and again this kind of a new new topic for me but um you know I think his cemeteries are definitely historic Assets in the town but if it's going to be more in terms of Maintenance and vision for the cemetery rather than preserving what's there then probably I would say we don't need a seat but again this is just kind of my my hot take like I said I I think we would certainly I you know certainly as chair um and as a commission we would be having some regular conversations with them so I I was satisfied with that I didn't really feel the need to kind of say Oh I wanna I want some power on this you know like I said we have a very good relationship I I I feel like I do um with Bill at DPW and um I think we can get things done that way so um I'll just leave it at that and um lastly on the water tower CPC application um I I I spoke with Ben Smith um recently he chair of CPC and um I know Grant will tell us that CPC meets Thursday I believe um to review some of the applications um he wanted to hold the water water tower one for a couple more weeks um indicating his belief that there's strong support um for the application um while at the same time

asking me to go back and look with Mr Kiff of course with whom we're working on this application um with an eye toward um particularly toward the roof and making sure that the roof is historically accurate written as I indicated um it's quite likely that the roof was Cedar Shakes and not asphalt shingles as it presently is um and so and if that cost more money um the signal I got was that um there would be an interest in spending it to make sure that what we got as a result was not only beautiful but that met the secretary of the interior's guidelines for historic um preservation um and restoration and so um he was asking me to look into um either a a consultant or a roofing company that's specialized in historic um Roofing and so um where that's at at this point is that I need to have um another conversation um with Mr Kiff on that subject um to try to bring us in closer to what I think the the chair of CPC is looking for so I'm very happy to do it and was very happy um to get his um indications of support uh members reports committee updates which Segways right into CPC and Mr farington floor is yours uh not really much of an update I don't think or maybe we in early December I think um but haven't met since then so uh yeah to uh on Thursday we're going to be I believe voting on the town common railing which as you know we are um co-sponsoring or historical commission is co-sponsoring I I think it will pass with or at least pass uh cpc's muster with flying colors and head to town meeting is my expectation on that um but

we'll see obviously uh and then um going to be voting on one more uh I believe this Thursday and then um reviewing a few more including the Water Tower and the housing requests that we received uh but I don't believe we're going to be voting on those as you said Kevin um this Thursday so other than that did I hear you say that were sanguin on the fence project of which we are of course co-sponsors or did I just imagine that uh sorry the common fencing yeah no I think it's going to pass is what I said good I mean that I've said that for a while um that's just my expectation for what it's worth but everybody in support and didn't really have any questions at the time so uh of course town meeting disperses funds so we'll see but um and then after this you know after we kind of take our votes we're going to be working to um actually finalize the warrant articles which I think will be a more involved process going forward um we heard from last year we heard that kind of our historic process of using memorandums of understanding to kind of finalize some of these details is not not really above board I don't think or not preferred so we kind of have to build more of the detail into the actual article itself going forward is my understanding and it's been kind of a while since we talked about that so I think we're leaving ourselves more time to actually draft the um Warren articles and get them get them ready for town meeting so that will be kind of the next phase after we actually um uh vote to move forward with some of the projects so yep Thursday at 7 I think yeah well I look forward to the that one vote in particular um on Thursday um thank you Michelle so now we're tricentennial um and I know Michelle's a couple things but principally the thing

you asked me to put on was this graveside reenactment business so let's hear it so I feel like you know this whole um oral presentation is a segue into this so um there's as you know there's many subcommittees for the tricentennial you know there's a there's a parade there's going to be fireworks there's going to be all these things and and Patty Burns Fury actually had brought this up that um she had been to Framingham and they did something called voices of the past so they go to the grave site and they have like actors and actresses and telling stories about the people that are actually buried in like the OBG or something like that and you know I the more I thought about it the more excited I got about it and I've actually done some research because it's been done all over the country and um then I contacted Sally Waters who actually you know her time is limited because she's in the process of I think selling a home in Florida or something like that but she said that she would be a resource for us she wouldn't be able to give us a lot of time so then I talked to Patty and I thought why don't we get Al gonin drama club involved in this so so you know I've actually looked at a couple of Sally wat's articles and found some pretty interesting stories there and I think that um we as a commission it would be a fun thing for us to be involved with for the with the tricentennial so now we'll we'll have Kelly's thing which is the present and then this is going to be like voices of the past and it will be done you know I have all these ideas in my head but of course of course the committee meeting is tomorrow night so I haven't got

really any buyin from from the tricentennial yet but I think that um it would be a fun fun project I I like the idea um I I when you were talking I started to think about um this the um poet Isabella Gardner who's buried in the Bernette burial Park she's a very lovely head and and was you know an interesting Isabella Gardner yeah not Isabella Stewart Gardner this actually Isabella Gardner was the great niece of Isabella Stewart Gardner and and as it happens the cousin of Robert L the poet but she was a poet in her own right um who died in like 1981 I believe and um is buried in the Bernett burial Park and I could just imagine a moment where like somebody's reading her poetry at the grave site um one thing with that is we would have to get permission from St Marks I I failed that the other ones would be it' be a no-brainer because they're owned by the town and there's actually some pretty interesting people buried at the rural cemetery as well so we sort of like have to figure out like um have sort of like a carousel like so for every 10 minutes people would move to another grave site and have these have these PE you know have people you know guide them to the next grave site and have sort of like a a meeting place and um I think of you can have somebody hey the the at the rural cemetery you can have someone that you know the grave of Warner Oland you know who played you know movies dozens of movies you know I mean I think that um I think we can really make it a fun event for

the tricentennial maybe even work something in with um the voices of the present you know South bro present and past anyway so I I am going to have Andrew dennington because I I haven't reached out to Algonquin because I feel that I need to talk to the committee first I mean I'm sort of getting excited about it but I'm gonna ask him if you would help and maybe contact the drama club or the English Club or the history club and I mean one thing that's a little bit tricky because it's the tricentennial and you know you have kids that are Juniors and seniors now that aren't going to be around for the tricentennial so anyway I have lots of ideas written down and um and I think that we could we as as a historic commission could really you know maybe be the guides or something like that yeah and this is something I think we can certainly support you know going forward as he as you firm up the plans come back to us it we'll provide we can provide some research like I said I I I got some ideas and suggestions about people that would be and I'm sure Sally especially on the like the she's done all that and is in the process of course still of still doing all that work on the Revolutionary um War veterans so you know you could even have several different programs where you had um I I could imagine one maybe maybe co-sponsored by um fa School of a bunch of phas a lot of phas um around and especially in the rural cemetery you know talking about the history of fa school and the history of St Marks um and you know there a lot of possibilities so so we could I'm I'm happy to personally to offer some um assistance there and

looking up stuff and figuring it out and I I don't want to act not we have a few years to the contrary I'm not that big a ham but um you know yeah we'll do it um anything else Michelle on that um you know we're still actively um trying to you know do an Outreach for for bricks for the brick program and I helped Patty with the spreadsheet last week I think that we have something like 55 to 60 Brooks sold but we still have a lot of time and um you know I actually was soliciting at the at the transfer station trying to get em email addresses and um people just to sort of join in on on different committees as well cool good well how many um how many are you waiting for in terms of the bricks I think as many as they can oh okay yeah and it's fully it's fully tax deductible too so if you know anyone who's interested um you know the website is there and the $300 is is um it's it's a full write off my um my one feedback about the bricks is $300 feels very expensive for a brick um especially in relation to like for example the South bro Village Society their brick that they did a year or two ago was $100 um so I don't know it it just feels expensive I've like of course I want to support it um but I just I haven't pulled the trigger yet to purchase one it just feels um it feels prohibitively expensive for I think maybe a lot of South bro

families understood I I agree with you Annie for what it's worth um as feedback to try I think think of course it's hard to reverse course if you've already sold 55 at 300 to start discounting but I you know I my one observation from the peanut gallery about all that that stuff is that one has to be careful not to seem like um there's sort of classist issues in this town to begin with and I'd hate to ban that was all dis discussed before I joined I mean that was already in place so but I will will there be I mean we're kind of getting off track I'm sorry but will there be solicitation activities for lower amounts like will there be like a letter mailed out or anything to say hey if you want to donate $25 or $50 or 100 is that coming um because I mean that that would help make my decision whether to support this or something else I I honestly don't know that Annie the one thing that I do know and I don't have all the details on this they said like um if you belong to a group in town so if you did like bulk buying there was going to be something like that like um say kids you know what is it the kid Kinder group yeah Kinder group Kinder group yeah they were GNA be offering you know if you buy 30 you get them lower I don't know what the prices are but I will ask yeah I'm familiar with that I'm actually on Kinder group so I'm I have all that information just as a general um General anecdote uh personally just talking personally I will be looking forward to other um solicitation opportunities

okay all set Michelle all set thank you for the update um so that brings us to the fiscal year budget uh 2026 budget request and Annie I don't want to put you on the spot I I've got I can help because I have some of the data that informed um you know we had to put in a budget request when was that Annie in December um about I would say about a month ago yeah we had it was right after our last meeting um and you know we had talked about it a little bit and we had to you know put something forward it was kind of like if we don't put it Forward where we would get no money um so Kevin and I connected offline and um I'll just share a little bit and then you can you can take over if that's okay um so where we landed was a budget request of $4,250 which is a substantive increase from you know where we're at this year with $1,000 um but certainly not unprecedented um so just looking back several years um actually from fy17 to fy19 our historical commission budget was $3,500 a year year um and then we had pulled back for a couple years um you know between you know then and now um and so you know accounting for inflation and everything it's actually probably you know about status quo with where we were um back in fy17 to fy19 so a couple of the um projects that we had anticipated this budget would go towards um you know we don't have specific numbers for these projects but um you know at Kevin's suggestion these were some things that um you know he thought we could support um signage for the old burial ground pole and mounting for the parkerville bridge abutment um possibly

remaking the common street signs and um of course continuing with the historic out sign program after this year's very successful relaunch um you know we are getting donations in for that too so you know we felt that this was you know appropriate for you know going forward with our ambitious goals um and hoping to ramp up activity in a number of areas beautifully said by our worthy Vice chair and Treasurer I'm not known for being good with words that was that was you know spoton and and just to kind of to repetition intensifies it again it's worth noting that as Annie said in fiscal 2017 the budget was 3500 and 2018 it was 3500 and 2019 it was 3500 um and then you know 2520 20 2500 fiscal 21 and fiscal 22 3362 and then because of covid you know we were underspending and sending money back and you know it in retrospect um that first budget cut in fiscal 20 three which was down to $1,000 um I wasn't the chair them but I I I think I was might have VI was vice chair then or something I wish I had put up a we had sort of thought because strategically of course what it does is then in fiscal 24 we had $1,000 and fiscal 25 we had $1,000 and it's because of the covid stuff and the Dera how the sign program got derailed but the problem is you know when you um then voluntarily basically and then you know we were trying to budget um show in a way a certain kind of solidarity with the belt tightening that

the town was engaged in trying to do let's say for fiscal 23 and 24 um the problem is then when you come back and we're just trying to get as as Annie points out I ran this through like an inflation calculator and we're still below you know what I mean um the INF inflation adjusted let's say 3500 of fiscal 19 to ask for 4225 um in fiscal 26 it puts us within calling distance um but still under in real dollars um what we had in in fiscal 19 um so you know Annie and I agreed that we again we were trying to get back to roughly what we had in 17 18 and 19 because we've got some things spended on this time you know the for that Parker Bill sign we need to get mounted and altered and a pole and all that possibly remaking one of those common street signs which appears to be lost forever um and doing something about this veteran sign in the OBG so that alone is going to blow through that money um and I I I would note also that this amounts to um 41 cents per capita just say the history of this town it's not a lot of money um but as a percentage I I I saw in an advisory meeting where it's got a little raised eyebrow like you know it's a big percentage increase but I I will happily explain to our friends over there at advisory um if they would like what the rationale is and it's really just to get back to um what we had you know in 18 19 and 20 um 17 18 19 20 um adjusted for inflation so Annie you said it much more succinctly and more

beautifully but I didn't want to go back and really put a point that's it's good um I will I I will say from here on out what happens is advisory and the select board like you know formally review um if they you know they could challenge it they could ask us to um you know explain you know we have explained you know what we would spend it on um you know but challenge that and ask you know provide more detail um and you know make our case for why we really want and deserve the money um so who that may or may not come um it kind of depends on you know their stance and how they see it which is to be determined um you know hopefully we would have some feedback by our next meeting but I'm not exactly sure of the timeline um and then you know after they vote on it then um you know it would go to town meeting um and to to Kevin's point there I think there is uh as part of the data that they put in the warrant at town meeting something about like a percentage adjust or increase or decrease from prior years um and people do look at that you know we can easily explain it you know because 1,000 to 4250 is a huge jump um but in terms of like actual dollars um it's kind of I don't want to say it's a drop in the bucket but it's not as significant as that percentage looks um but I do think at town meeting we if it gets that far which I hope and assume it will um I think we should be prepared to you know say say something similar to what I've just said um you know to town meum because the percentage does look high yeah 100% we got to be ready to to get up and explain it and it's easily

explained and I think we'll be you know embraced so um thank thank Annie for your good work on that go ahead Grant I know I think yeah just great news I think um it's better to aim high and if we get knocked down a bit that's that's fine but these I think some of these are long-standing things that we've been trying to tackle you know maybe we can mention that we've been we haven't installed the sign at the uh parkerville abutment there for 20 plus years and we're finally going to get it done this year U it's a good good use of money I think and it's should be uh I think also um for town meeting you know mentioning the historical levels this is not a record high for historical way out of proportion this is kind of just returning to the normal um we'll we'll be yeah it's yeah it's it's returning to postco status quo in fact but um and we have really time sensitive reasons to spend this money prior to the tricentennial to get you know all that these projects done so um yeah great thank you again Annie this is I I think really good I'm I'm optimistic um so going on to the meeting minutes um I I had looked at um both November 4th and December 2nd um and sent um edits back to Grant which he um implemented and then sent out to everybody right grant y so the question is let's do these one at a time any um um edits for November 4th meeting minutes I just have to say I dropped the ball and did not have a chance to review these um so I didn't even read through them so I won't be able to provide any feedback um but you guys are welcome to vote without

me any okay um any Michelle anything November 4th yes I I didn't notice any edited anything that needed to be edited okay any my apologies by the way I'm getting them out later we're already in the soup on November's meeting should be sufficient I dropped the ball just not I've my I've been busy so I'm sorry but no 24 hours is more than enough um yeah I think they're good and and um so we can get out of the um off the naughty list with the clerk's office um I'd really like to vote this one um November 4th um I'll make the motion to approve the minuts of November 4th um as written by faithful Grant I second that um okay so motion made and seconded to approve the meeting minutes of November 4th uh roll call vote Miller's I Annie uh obain okay uh Grant hi Michelle yes 301 Grant um approved now uh December 2nd um again I the the one I mentioned this to Grant um I think the the one question I had is and I don't think we need to belabor this point but some of the the content wonderful I noticed some things with the bulleting and the numbering that felt like it and I didn't want to me you know how you start messing with word stuff and then it all gets like kind of nuts do you want me to yeah I can pull it up if you wanted to go and yeah I don't want to take up a lot

of time with this s and make people miserable um but I it's I well can you can you bring that up real quick sure y give me a second um can you see that yeah yes can you make it bigger excuse me I can is that good yeah um so just scroll a little bit uh final review and discussion of activities two and then it's a accomplishments and you bullet that works three is goals see goals should actually be B under it should be to B because it activities and goals so if what's three is really agenda item two be I mean that really is like yeah no you're right though and then just push everything over and kind of yeah there's just a couple similar things like that again not a word um needs to change I just think it was bulleting and and bullets um you can you can do that right uh I can do yeah um to be honest with you I think it would if we wanted to vote them tonight we could say like I always format them a bit afterwards anyway to take the watermark off and everything yes the formatting yeah as written just to um make sure the bullets align with the numbers and the ABC and all that stuff and like I said I I go in and I try to do that stuff and it I mess it up um so any other edits um

substantive edits Michelle did you have anything and Annie you didn't get to look at these ones right okay um if you if you guys are okay with it again this just keeps us up to date with a clerk um I would make a motion that we um approve this December 2nd minutes as written with the notation that Grant is going to adjust the bullets and numbering um that but without materially altering the text as we're about to approve it um so moved I second it oh thank you thank you Michelle this a grant doesn't have to second his own minutes um okay roll call vot Miller I Annie up Grant hi Michelle yes again 301 to approve thank you everybody for that um thank you one other small it of of of business um which will fall under um number seven here because this just came in um this evening about an hour before our meeting is that um Michael weon um sent um me note um indicating that he donated a couple of frame Town Hall original architectural drawings to Mr Hagerty in the clerk's office um and there's some discussion of that which is great and I I thank Michael and the um Society for that he also indicated that um as they make their move out of flag school over to faville Hall he has quite a number of what he describes as very expensive archival storage boxes um which he says which I thought you might make use of we are moving our entire collection out of boxes into

steel cabinets and we'll have plenty of boxes to share if you have the need he also offers um some of these to Jim Hagerty um I propose to um wholeheartedly accept um some archival boxes um from Michael he also um because we've been talking about space and for storage and he also says um to me my offer stands to house anything you might wish with us as you grow your own separate collection um we'll have the space our rental fee in quotes will be simply sharing the digital scans of whatever paper you're hold you hold my response to this would be the um pending your approval is that um I'm delighted to share digital scans of anything that we take into our possession and hold but that my whole point um with seeking space from the town is to hold anything that we have separately um for the simple reason that I believe it's good archival practice that um in the um unspeakable event that the Unspeakable would might happen um and for instance there was a flood fire natural disaster Act of God at favil Hall um it would be prudent for us to hold whatever we have elsewhere um just as a matter of safety obviously and and redundancy so you know what I mean so that the only copies of uh you know some yearbook from the old p high school if the Historical Society owns a copy and the historical

commission owns a copy they ought not to be housed under the same roof in my opinion so um um with theor it's long as everybody's happy with that I'm I would happily accept some archival storage boxes but press on in another words with our um ask to the select board and um folks in town um for some storage space of our own that's not under the roof of the society and it's not because we don't love the society we do but um it's just prudent to keep things elsewhere make sense in addition to just having against Natural Disasters like we're trying to create I think separation between the organizations in terms of right distinguishing them and so um you know we don't want collections getting mixed together or anything like that you know who knows what might happen so I think that makes sense to go um a separate route right and you know I think um again like the the the close cooperation but the clear um separation both of Collections and duties and I'm happy to share um digital copies of anything that comes just as Michael would um I'm no out um share stuff with us um if we you know were to request digital copies of stuff so it's that's all good um all right so um any public comment got one attendee um no going once going twice okay um is there a motion to adjourn um before we adjourn can I pull up on my screen the

artwork for that um GW Lewis sign oh yeah by all means thank you okay um should schedule our next meeting before we oh yeah sorry you're I'm let's do that first let's schedule the next meeting I'm always stupidly letting that get by me um okay today is do a separate agenda items because it's always part of the minutes one yeah I think that's that's why I do why I always goof up um how does um Thursday February 20th look to people Thursday's good for me I can do that y oh wow on the first try um 220 Thursday perfect thank you so much done okay Annie I'm going to um have you make you co-host so you can share oh too many think I have too many screens open hold on bear with me just a second okay okay sorry bear with me okay illustrator oh okay here we go sorry while Annie's doing that I will say that I I continue to get really nice feedback on the signed

program um I I I heard actually from Mr foron down on Ward Road and he was so he had put the sign up like the day after I took it over I was really pleased um and I actually drove by and and took a look it looks so it does look really nice you know like they look [Music] um really super good I look for there are a few that we've given out that haven't gone up yet for various reasons sometimes they're upper like story installations and I think are waiting for the warm weather to come back and their handyman or whatever um but those that have gone up look really good so I I don't think I'm going to be able to share my screen because um it is telling I had to change my like permissions settings and now it's saying in order to go into effect I would have to leave the zoom and come back on um but actually um Kevin I think I emailed it to you earlier this week after you told me about it so you may have it in your emails um I actually didn't see it but um okay let me uh I can take a quick look and I'm not in my any um another option might be if you could link it to the um the tracker maybe then I could share my screen or something oh what's the tracker um like a house sign um spreadsheet yes yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah absolutely that's a good idea um um in fact I think it might already be in there hold on oh this is actually it wasn't that's why I I I didn't Bri street is that right oh yeah you're right you're right you're right okay hold on I'm so sorry to hold you guys up with this good a short meeting anyway yeah

another one I think this is like our third one running that we've had under well I I was actually a little bit disappointed because I thought I was going to bring this in under 90 but can't win them all under three is good in my for for the minutes anyway yeah longer meanings equal more uh more words to type oh my gosh I don't know what's wrong with me tonight now I'm trying to link it and it's not letting me paste the link um did you send it to my um Town email I yeah I replied to here I'm just going to re forward it if you have a URL you might be able to pop it in the um Zoom chat too and I could open it if you can have chat right oh do we not have we don't know I I think they disabled that so we can't okay never mind I didn't even notice that it wasn't there so forgot that heaven did that go through to you for some reason now I'm having trouble um yeah it did but I for some reason it doesn't want to open my open it on the machine that I'm on um sorry to me H yeah I will here we go maybe Zoom is taking over and breaking all of our

[Music] Compu uh I'm getting it now sorry okay coming Outlook it's loading on my end let's we'll see who gets there first oh I got it just one second share my screen it's the Le yeah okay great uh not sure why I can't zoom out okay there we go can you see that looks good to me that's great fantastic so we don't we we're approved on this and um it looks great Andy I could send it over um to our sinorama friends and then get on this and um Caleb Williams house perfect very good yeah and do we don't need to vote this do we we think we've already voted I don't think so I don't have to vot yeah great it looks great thank you so much um and we'll get this right off and they'll get at it um fantastic so now we can have the motion to adjourn thank you Annie motion to [Music] adjourn second second there you go that's it that's the spirit all right roll call vote um on The adjournment Miller's I Annie yes Grant yes Michelle yes Bingo we are adjourned thank you very much and good night everyone good night thanks everyone you have a good one