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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHCAC.2023.1206.MinutesHISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023 A Regular Meeting of the History and Culture Advisory Commission was convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in open and public session at 4:00 p.m. Members Present: Chair David Corlett; Vice -Chair Susan Obst-Dworkis; Commissioner Bob Burns; Commissioner Bill Meade; Commissioner Dave Peterson, and Commissioner Tim Yoder Staff Present: Recreation Manager Ryan Preston; Executive Assistant Patti Lopuszanski 1 https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES CORLETT: All right, good afternoon. Welcome to all of our newly appointed commissioners who are helping us resume our work with the Commission for those appointed by the town in October 2022 for those of you joining us now, So, I'd like to call the December 6, 2023, meeting of the History and Culture Advisory Commission to order at 4:02 pm. May I please have a Roll Call? LOPUSZANSKI: Yes. Chair Corlette? CORLETT: Present. LOPUSZANSKI: Vice Chair Obst-Dworkis? OBST-DWORKIS: Sorry, yes, I'm here. LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Burns? BURNS: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Gibson? GIBSON: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Meade? MEADE: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Peterson? PETERSON: Here LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Yoder? YODER: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Thank you. CORLETT: Thank you. The next item on the agenda is the CaII to the Public. Patti, do we have any requests to speak today? LOPUSZANSKI: No Call to the Public. CORLETT: Thank you. The next item on the agenda is Reports by Commissioners. As you can see here typically, this is where you report on something you have been to say a town meeting or kind of call it a mini announcement. But because these are not itemized on the agenda, we do not have discussions or questions about them. So, in this case, what I would ask if we could start with Bob and work our way down if we could just get a brief introduction of who you are, and maybe the thumbnail sketch, and we'll call that Commissioner Reports today. BURNS: Okay, my name is Bob Burns, and I work for the Fountain Hills Times Independent. I've been with them for 35 years. So, I've kind of been responsible in some ways for the first draft of the history here in town. So, I guess that's why they thought I might work out okay here. So that's the basics. GIBSON: John Gibson, and I've been an employee of the Fountain Hills Times. I was there for 13 years before I left to go to the Chamber of Commerce, back in 2020, unfortunately, I lost my position to COVID as they phased the job out after COVID struck so I retired. I have a part-time coin business here in town. I've always enjoyed history and I'm an inductee of the Lower Verde Valley Hall of Fame. MEADE: Bill Meade, one of the existing commissioners, I hope all the new commissioners will stay longer than our first group. I have been a Fountain Hills resident for seven years. I live very close to Commissioner Peterson, like right next door. PETERSON: I'm David Peterson. I retired in 2019 from the industrial market and worked for Emerson Corporation. After retirement, I did nothing for a while. Then I became the Secretary of the Elks, here in Fountain Hills just finished the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy and applied for this commission and here I am. 2 - https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES CORLETT: Thank you, my name is David Corlett, Fountain Hills resident for five/six years thereabouts. I have been on the commission with Bill and Susan since last year getting things started. I am a professor at the University of Virginia. I'm a historian. So, I do a lot of my work remotely clearly that I'm here. But looking forward to working with you all. OBST-DWORKIS: Hi, I'm Susan Obst-Dworkis. I have been a Fountain Hills resident for 37 years and very active in the community volunteering with what's now called the Fountain Hills Theatre. It used to be the community theater and have been very involved all along the way. I am now retired and have been for a while and enjoying it, but I seem to be busier than I was before. I look forward to working with the new members. YODER: Hello, I'm Tim Yoder. I grew up out here in this town and moved here when I was six years old. I worked through my childhood here and ended up teaching professionally here for about 20 years in American History and a little bit of some foreign language here and there. I retired from teaching a handful of years ago, wrote a book since then, and run a small, business, handyman business out here. PRESTON: I'm Ryan Preston. I'm the Recreation Manager here in town. I've been with the town for about a year and a half. Now taking over for Linda, for those of you who've been here in the past, I'm pretty new to the Commission as well. So, I'll be learning along with some of you. But I should have the answers to most of your questions and have gotten a pretty good background from both the Town Manager, and Patti, and spoke with Linda as well. So be ready to move forward. LOPUSZANSKI: You will know me as the one who sends you a lot of emails. I'm Patti Lopuszanski, the Executive Assistant to the Director of Community Services. So, when we are looking for agenda items or information that you want to share with the other Commissioners, you will email it to me directly. As you learned from Open Meeting, you wouldn't send it out to everyone. But I will be the one that you can link to other commissioners for information to be shared. Thank you. CORLETT: All right, thank you all. The next agenda item is for Consideration and Possible Action: Approval of the June 14, 2023, History and Culture Advisory Commission Verbatim Meeting Minutes, which was included in your agenda packet. If you did not have a chance to look through those closely. I recommend you go back; you can see the full conversation from before. Does anyone have any changes to the minutes? Okay. May I get a Motion for Approval? MEADE: I'll make a Motion to Approve the Minutes as stated. CORLETT: Commissioner Meade? OBST-DWORKIS: I'll second CORLETT: Commissioner Obst-Dworkis. I finally got it. Thank you. All those in favor of approval say aye. ALL: Aye. CORLETT: Those opposed? All right, it passes unanimously, thank you. (Passed 7-0) The next item on the agenda is you'll see we have a number of items on the agenda that are labeled as discussion and possible action. So oftentimes we have conversations, but we don't pass a motion related to those. But it allows us to do that as necessary. So, the point here is for the Future of the History and Culture Advisory Commission, and in many ways, this is intended to be a conversation to tell you where we've come from and some of the struggles that we had. To get a sense of where we move forward with this I will offer some Susan and Bill can chime in on this Ryan has background and so does Patti. So, when the commission was formed, and we were sworn in November last year, the depth of 3 https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES information and guidance that we got, say from the Town Council was minimal to start with and when we all went through our interviews, the council was saying, well, you're going to help us figure out what you do. And so a good part of the year was a struggle to try to figure out what that was and what our parameters were, which agencies we work with, what things we do. So, I just want to make sure we all see on here that we are an Advisory Commission, as opposed to say, like a Historic Preservation Commission, that Mesa Tempe has different versions of that, as does Sedona. And so we have a different function. And what is that? Patti sent out a copy of our Policies and Procedures very short document that also included our Mission and Vision Statement. If you don't have that, we will, we'll send that out to you again. But again, it's been a struggle to figure that out. So sometimes folks were saying, well, we need to develop something and do it with the town theatre, we need to provide curriculum for the school system. And the frustration that some folks dealt with was understanding that we are a body of this the Town of Fountain Hills, not of Fountain Hills Unified School District or these other agencies. And so trying to figure out who we relate to, and what role we play has been what we've been trying to figure out for the last few months. We do have a few agenda items down below where you can see the projects that we have been working on or need to continue working on. But that's kind of in a nutshell, again, the struggle that we went through. So, Bill or Susan would you like to add to that? OBST-DWORKIS: We did work on the signs, updating the signs that are around the fountain on those permanent placards. Our recommendations were given to the Parks and Rec Department. We had to leave it up to them to come up with the final design for it and the money for it too because we had no money. So, one of our big suggestions was to add a QR code to the placards so that they could access it with their phones. What the town has and what the town has to offer everything from restaurants to a more in-depth history of the town and then to update the maps and the wording because most of the wording was about and by the developer of Fountain Hills, about McCulloch. So that's the one project that we got finalized. MEADE: I think, just to add, as Susan said, I think that it took us a while to get there. But it isn't that there is no money but if it's a future -forward thing, it's in the budget or the financials as the town plans the upcoming years. So that was something we learned very, very quickly that, you know, there was immediate funding available for things, things that we wanted to do. And then I just echo, you know what David said? I mean, I think I mean, the good news is you're the beneficiaries of us spending a lot of time doing Mission Statements and Vision Statements and a lot of that exciting stuff that sometimes can be, you know, rather tedious and boring, but we got through it. And we did, we kind of had momentum going right there at the end and got focused as on, you know, on some of these projects. And now, the good news is we have new members to kind of help move forward because we got stuck in June when we didn't have a quorum anymore. (Note: On June 14, 2023, HCAC did meet and had a quorum. Fall meetings were canceled due to lack of a quorum.) CORLETT: So, that's just a sense of it. That's kind of what we do. So, we can work on something and then we make a recommendation to the town. And that's the end really of the work that we oftentimes do and then the town carries it forward. So advisory. David, please go on. PETERSON: Was that project finished with the QR codes? Or is that still pending? - 4 Transcribed �, https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES OBST-DWORKIS: I was just thinking about that. No, I have not heard anything from Parks and Rec. And I'm going to ask if they have gone forward with it. The feeling we got from the Town was that it was pretty urgent. And I don't know whether they've ..... but I will find out. PRESTON: Yes, that is why I'm here to help you find out. So, it is something we have looked at, and it's probably still a little way out just as far as getting all the ducks in a row. And I think it's a good example of the difference between you guys don't have to go out, get the graphic designer, hire them, make it happen, find some comps, of what we're looking for and what we like, figure out the verbiage, give us the copy, and then we'll be able to tweak it and move forward. I think there might still be a missing piece or two that I'll be able to come back to you with and we'll continue to move forward on it. But we're still looking probably a year out at this point. CORLETT: So, we're very much at the front end of the process in this at least our role in that. Questions from our new colleagues about this? PETERSON: Sorry, yeah, I do. When a project is completed on our end, right, okay, and it goes inward. We put a package together, say on verbiage and we present it to the Town Council and then they either approve it or don't approve it, or do we have to put a budget on that? PRESTON: Yeah, it's a great question. To my knowledge, not everything has to go in front of the Town Council. There'll be certain things we could put or things that you may want to present or they may, we would request that you present it to the Town Council, as from coming from the Commission, as being advised to move forward with it. Not everything needs to get to that step, some things we can go directly into implementation. It's more on a case -by -case basis. OBST-DWORKIS: We did part of the work that we did was, there were six signs, and there was one that we recommended, get moved. And we came up with verbiage for each one of the signs. And the suggestion on the layout of it as well, of where the map like you are here kind of a thing, but a little bit more in-depth, and the QR codes. So, we gave Parks and Rec pretty much everything that they need to move forward. And we had to leave it up. As you know, that's as much as we could do with it. CORLETT: Okay, other questions? Tim? YODER: I was just curious. Okay. So besides, I believe you said this signage around in and around the fountain area. Did the commission discuss other things too? CORLETT: Yes, the others are the other workgroup points you see down below that we had started on. And so we're moving forward on that. Again, a lot of this in the work is trying to figure out the relationship with the Town. So, is it the Town sending things to us that they want us to do and look at and recommend? Or is it us with our infinite number of ideas that we get excited about? And that's kind of where we started from, and then had to rein back from that a little bit and realize, well, we need to get what the Town needs, and then we would carry that forward. So, it's been working out that relationship. YODER: I see. So, are you saying your words, we're just working out what the Town needs so how clear, what does that mean? What does the Town need? You know, are they are you trying to tell me that, they're also trying to figure that all out in some ways? - 5 Transcribes'' " https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES CORLETT: Yes, at the beginning with the new commission, it's mean, P and Z. And these others are straightforward in terms of their responsibilities and all and if we were, say, a historic preservation commission, then it would be pretty clear what we do. But we surveyed his many similar bodies around the state is possible to figure out those that were parallel to us. Most of them have, I'll say, more robust roles that are well-defined for preserving or accumulating objects and documents related to town history and working with museums to display them. But in an advisory capacity, it's like, well, what are we advising on? And so, in some cases, it's been waiting or asking the Town, what are the things you need our advice on? And when we started at the point where it was about us creatively thinking, what are all the things we like to do is I'm a historian, I love history, there are tons of things I would want to do. But they're not within the purview of this commission, or at least as we as we saw it. So really, it's been kind of a back -and -forth trying to figure that out. I'm sorry, I can't be more specific. YODER: That's given me some idea. Thank you. BURNS: So are you saying, David that it can't go both directions? Like if we have an idea, we get a consensus on that we can put it together and send it to the Council and say, "Hey, what do you think of this?" CORLETT: No, we certainly can. There's no issue with that. But oftentimes, the ideas that we were coming up with, were things that had to do with, again, Fountain Hills Unified School District, or other districts or bodies and not the Town. Our purpose is to advise the Town Council and the town government, as opposed to this broader mandate to a community made up of many different entities. And so that's trying to get that definition has been a struggle for commissioners and the town. BURNS: I guess, I can see initially, you know, kind of one direction from the Council down, but as we kind of get more used to this and used to working together, we might come up with our own ideas that we think, you know, put a proposal and say, "Hey, we think we can do this. What do you guys think?" CORLETT: Absolutely. In the end, that's what we did. Right before the summer break, we had all these ideas, and we paired them down based on the selection criteria that we have, within our policies and procedures. We voted on them and took what we found to be the top three, I believe, interest areas and used those as our focus. So yes, to get back to both of your points, we can come up with things that we'll do. But things that are within again, our parameters. And that's been the fun part. YODER: So, do I take it then one of the things of the three that was agreed on was the signage at Fountain Park? What were the other two items that were agreed upon? CORLETT: That was the initial one that wasn't part of our vote, that the Town brought to us at one of our first meetings. So we formed a small workgroup to get around that to get around but to be in compliance with Open Meeting Law, we created workgroups that have three people or less, they would communicate on these issues together, and then they would come back and report as an agenda item to the group. That way, if you're on one of those feel free, you communicate, just don't talk to the rest of us until you bring it back to the group. So that was one that we had a small group of three take on. The other three that you'll see as upcoming agenda items on here, had to do with the National Register of Historic Landmarks, which is a key one. Potential writing for a history interest for either the Insider or Fountain Hills Times and then a Point of Interest workgroup. This is kind of a top 10 sites in Fountain Hills that originated when Grady was Town Manager and then we kept that on. So we'll have updates on each one of those here. Okay, so there's no action to take on that agenda item. At least I don't believe it at the moment. - 6 - https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES So our next item for Discussion and Possible Action is the National Register of Historic Landmarks Workgroup Update. And I'd like to offer a couple of things on that, in that you'll see it with this one. And then with the next one with the changes that we had on the commission. The folks within those work groups, I was kind of a de facto on all and none in some ways as Chair, that we have two of them where the work halted when commission members left we have a third one that we'll talk about. So with the National Register of Historic Landmarks, as you can see in the agenda packet, and on the right using the bookmarks, you can quickly skip down to those there is the staff background on the registry workgroup. And what this workgroup could do and then two documents after that having to do with historic property inventory, and some links for the National Register of Historic Landmarks starting at the local, state, and then the federal level. And the one item that's the big one that the town would like to see us move forward on is getting the fountain on that register. And that's what I would call a top priority. If there's an action that we need at this point is that we need people for this workgroup. And our action could be to appoint. Susan, do you still want to be a part of that? So Susan is a part of that. And we could use one or two other people I'm going to remove myself from it as de facto, but one or two people who would be interested in being a part of that subgroup to work on getting the fountain on the National or the State for the National Register. BURNS: I guess I can give that a try too. CORLETT: OK so we have Bob, anyone else? YODER: Yeah, I'll work on that. If Bob will have me. CORLETT: So that would give us a workgroup of three, which is what we need. We don't have much to report on that. Unless, Ryan, is there anything you want to add to it at this point? PRESTON: Nothing much to add. I'm not 100% sure where you left off on it. I think we might be starting a little from scratch on this one. From the town, it is a top priority. I know we're looking for advisement from the town to make this happen. I think some of the things to look at is yeah, what is it going to take to get on it? What is it going to take at the state level and then the federal level? What is the timeline we're looking into for that? And something new to consider as well as the pros and cons of being on that registry for the fountain. Are there additional costs that the town will accrue being on this Are there certain steps or hoops we have to go through on a year-to-year basis? So, getting an idea about the pros and cons of being on this registry as well. OBST-DWORKIS: From what I understand, it was very preliminary when we started working on it. And as Dave said, it kind of fell apart. But there was no cost for this process. It was just a matter of putting together paperwork. PRESTON: And as far as the cost I mentioned, in the pros and cons, is there, is there going to be an additional cost, you know, every five years every year for things that we would have to do to remain on this registry, not as far as applying for it, but more is, now that we're on it what are the conditions to stay on this registry? What do we have to do? OBST-DWORKIS: Once we get into it more, I'll be able to be, you know, the Committee is able to give a report, and then we'll know that but as far as I know, there is no cost at all. But as I said, it was very preliminary. That was just a very surface thing. MEADE: The only thing I remember when we're reading the original document, it's a back -end cost because once it's approved as a national historic registry, then there is a requirement around the ongoing preservation and maintenance of whatever has been designated as a National Historic Site. 7 - https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES So, there is some back end, you know, hidden, who knows when that is, but if it's 50 years from now, and the phones falling apart, you know, then something's going to have to be done, like to that extent, but it was more preservation on the back end once the designation was made. PRESTON: Right. And that's what I'm referring to. That's exactly what I'm referring to, and then figuring out again, what are those pros? What are those cons? What are those costs? Let's say we go to put a new liner on it. Can we do that? Or do we have to get approval now to do that? So, kind of those types of things. CORLETT: Alright, thank you. So, the action or motion that could be presented here is to reestablish the working group for the National Register of Historic Landmarks to include Tim Yoder, Bob Burns, and Susan Obst-Dworkis. Can I have a motion for that? YODER: Motion to support that and approve that. CORLETT: Thank you, Tim. Second? MEADE: I'll second CORLETT: Bill thank you. All in favor, say aye. ALL: Aye. CORLETT: Any opposed? Passes unanimously. (7-0) And we'll add that to future agenda items when we get to the end of the meeting. Until we make a recommendation to the Town Council or whoever it may be, then it will disappear. The next agenda item we have is the second working group. And this was one for Insider our Fountain Hills Times. So, the concept behind this and again, this is one where the working group with Jackie and Diane on this, they were going through some preliminary work. And then as they left, so did the work. So, the idea here, if you look at the mission and vision of the commission is that we are helping to promote historic historical cultural awareness within the community. One way to do this would be utilizing existing information, some of which we'll hear from Bill about his group that they were pulling together. We have information from collaborators at the museum to put stories in town publications including the Times -Independent. And the Insider, which is a quarterly publication. They were at the point of brainstorming topics, the Insider must have as you saw in the packet an image along with a short write-up, and then the others for the Times could be when we get them in because there's no particular deadline, other than meeting the next publication. A number of you are probably familiar with the column that Alan Cruikshank kept going for a long time where he was bringing up history stories that he had written in the past, but maybe you're a part of those as well, and publishing them to retell the stories of the town. So, it was in line with that, but also considering other topics. So that's one where we do not have a current working group and this one could be ongoing for the next year or however long and so if there are individuals interested in working on this, it would be to craft these stories collectively in the workgroup and bring them back to the commission to say yes. Then you send them on to the appropriate publication group. So, folks who may be interested in that? YODER: Well, I may be interested in that. But I would like to hold back for a bit to learn a little bit more about that. BURNS: Suppose I should be part of that. CORLETT: We were all looking at you. BURNS: And I'll start by, you know, going to the people in charge to see if I can get some parameters because we're primarily a news organization. So, we have done as you said, Alan always did 8 - https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES the column quite a bit. And I, I've done some stuff during the 50/30 Celebration kind of thing. But, you know, just kind of going forward, you know, a story here and there, it's going to be helpful to be able to attach it to some news that might be going on or coming up. So yeah, I'II go from there and work with that. CORLETT: One thing that this subgroup could consider, too, is Bob, you were getting at this, the parameters of the stories just mean, we could publish on anything, but if there is a cultural event or festival or something that, that this is tied to so setting, again, if this is like a standing workgroup that people come and go on, then we set the basic parameters for what we're looking for how we evaluate stories, and maybe that would be something for you to contribute on. Because I know you kind of need to keep your hat separate in terms of what you're doing. So maybe we could start with that. LOPUSZANSKI: Can I also share, that one of the ideas when this was initiated was to share fun historical facts for families and their kids? So maybe just to have a little blurb of" Did you Know", and it wouldn't have to be a large article. But it could be just a little kind of kind of box of information. And it would be a conversation piece for families to share at the dinner table, kind of like hey, did you know back in the day, or the first store or something like that? So it doesn't necessarily have to be a full- blown article as much as a little information blurb, that would engage everyone as a whole family kind of thing. And I think that was the initial idea. I love that, yes, if we can bring out cultural events or things like that they are going to be part of this purview. But I think the idea is, again, with the Insider, which is with Bo Larsen, that he puts out four times a year that information to get out to the public. And again, engaging the community with a fun fact, or something about buildings or what was here back in the day when the town was first started. I think that was the goal that we were looking at, but again, can be grown into what you all feel is going to bring something to families and the community. BURNS: Yeah, those are good ideas Patti, but you'd be surprised how difficult it is to maintain something like that. But yeah, if, you know, people on the workgroup come up with some ideas that they want to research or have researched, and put together even just a little thing about, you know, when the fountain was turned on, or you know, where the mouse was built or something like that. And you throw that in, and then you've got to, then you also have to worry about whether or not you're going to have space for that on any kind of a regular basis. That yeah, I mean, there could certainly be a little bit of a stockpile of those things and say, Okay, we've got room here, you know, but again when you're dealing with other people who do layout and editing and stuff like that, it can be a little bit of a guessing game as to how that's going to work out. LOPUSZANSKI: I do have to share that it was something that we didn't feel was going to be ongoing it was going to be snippets of information that we could share that at any given time that the paper would be able to kind of slide I these things in for us. But again working with them as a partner to find out how this could be presented. And, again, not taking up the front page. PETERSON: I just want to say I'd like to join that group. CORLETT: Fantastic. PRESTON: And yeah, real quick as little direction on that I know what the insider, the one that Bo Larson puts out on their space, and we can easily get something in pretty much every quarter. I mean, a good example is we've got the spring deadline coming up. And in that, we've got the greening of the 9 https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES fountain will be within that issue. So that's an easy one to kind of throw in as an idea of the history of how that started. Now, it's a fun one for families. It's somewhere they're going to be and it's a fun story. CORLETT: So just an idea, there was a story on the dinosaur they used to float around. So, we've got Dave and Bob and Tim's reserving at the moment, which is fine. Okay. So fantastic. So our motion here would be to reestablish a working group for Insider/Fountain Hills Times -Independent offerings with Bob Burns and Dave Peterson. May I get a motion? OBST-DWORKIS: Yeah, I'd like to make Motion to Form the Committee. I'm not sure what it's called. CORLETT: Workgroup. OBST-DWORKIS: Excuse me, oh a workgroup. Thank you. And that's all I need to say. CORLETT: Can get a second place? PETERSON: I'll second. CORLETT: Dave Peterson. Those in favor say, Aye. ALL: Aye. CORLETT: Any opposition. The motion passed unanimously (7-0) Thank you. Now the next agenda item is Discussion and Possible Action for the Points of Interest Workgroup. Bill? MEADE: Yes. So for the information, for the new members. This was a workgroup I worked on with Deb and she had been around the town a long time. And she had an exhaustive list of basically all the historic structures here and the history of them and how they started and then what they became, etc, etc. So our charge was to kind of go off and look at how we could designate those. What we would propose is a little bit like what Ryan brought up. The first thing we ran into was really the difference between preservation, points of interest, and historic landmarks because once you started to get in any kind of preservation or whatever, there were all sorts of legal obligations that went along with that, from a maintenance standpoint and restoration standpoint. Once things were designated, they had to remain exactly that way and there were a lot of costs. So, we kind of drifted away from that. We looked at what other towns were doing and other municipalities, you know. Dave brought up how Mesa and Scottsdale have very, very extensive, you know, official groups that do this and are more along the lines of preservation. So, where we wound up was something more simple, because the focus, or the discussion of the group was to try to get something out there where people in the community would know what some of these original sites and structures were. So, we ended up coming up with a recommendation for the landmark designation, we went through it, I think, at our last meeting as the commission and it's probably an item that's ready to go forward to the Council really for approval, not so much what the first initial buildings would be. But what the criteria is that we established, and I can just go through it quickly as it's pretty easy. The designation criteria are the building must have a special characteristic to the community, the building must have historical significance like being the first battlefield in Native American history, birthplace, residents, prominent contributor, etc., and provide an ongoing unique heritage value to the community added to the development of the cultural character of the community little bit abstract, but at minimum 30 years old. And then designation such as a small plaque would be affixed to the building identifying the nature of the designation, it'd be listed on the town website, under locations with the landmark designation, and then the consideration for the town was really whatever original group were identified, there would be a cost at that point for whatever the plaques were for the designation so that's where we wound up. YODER: That sounds like a good idea. It really does. - 10 - https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES GIBSON: I was reading ahead just a little bit and saw all the work that went into that and the history behind some of the buildings in town. And it got me wondering if this work in part could assist with the things that we may or may not put in print. Once we start learning on this date, this happened at the site, you know, drive by and visit it or even put together if once we went in, if we get plaques up on those buildings or structures to create a, you know, walking or driving tour, to give out at say, Chamber of Commerce or here at town hall or wherever, so visitors or residents would have something to look at, and a reason to drive around town off of Saguaro, or Palisades or Fountain Hills Boulevard. So, if I may, if it's not too far in advance, I'd like to participate in that with Bill. OBST-DWORKIS: That was part of having the QR codes on because so many people do walk around the fountain and look at those, and to have that information on the town site it all connected. CORLETT: And John, to your point, in some ways that work halted knowing that this background work was being done. As you pointed out, several of those items would make nice short blurbs like if someone did a write-up on P-Bar, and we had a great picture of the retention dam over in the Botanical Garden to talk about P-Bar. That's a neat story. So that's one of the goals. So, in this case, what we have is the workgroup's recommendation with background recommendation, which you can click down through the bookmarks Bill gave us, which is a process for evaluation, and this is what we could send on to the town for, say, Parks and Rec or communities, not Community Services but is it? Well, one of the agencies within the town makes use of this, so probably wouldn't go to the council, I imagine this is probably something at the government level. PRESTON: Right. And I was going to speak to that a bit, as Bill mentioned, you know, designated something historical landmark designation, some legalities come with that. And it's the question of whether or not it makes sense to go, that route to continue with the point of interest or, as an idea. Instead, combine it with the maps, or different kinds of maps at different parks, where these points of interest would be noted on the map geographically as to where you're standing on the map, you can look at it, and here's a point of interest. Here's a place, here's what happened at that point at that time, as opposed to going through and trying to designate 10 different buildings as historical landmark designation. So that would be a consideration for this group as well. Did that make sense? MEADE: That was part of the prior group's work, at least, was that there was at least again, a feeling that I think from the prior commission that there was a need for the actual designation. I think, in fact, Susan talked about at one point, there was some designation just way, way back, but then in the turn, and the change of some of the buildings, you know, was gone. I think that the difference Ryan might be that off the top of my head, I can't remember. Like you know, give you Site A right now it's a drugstore. but originally, it was the first doctor's office. So, the point of the landmark or the designation was that somebody could actually see what the original piece of the building was because so many of these are now something different. CORLETT: So back to your point, then, Ryan, we could send this on as a recommendation for a process for identifying low-cost, no -cost landmarks for the town. So is the town wanting more than that? Should we approve this send it on to you? And then you give us another task along with this? PRESTON: Yeah, I think that would work out for now. And I know I think yeah, working out I think 10 points of interest was, I think it was original 15 or MEADE: The subcommittee, we didn't come up with a number Susan had a strong feeling on, you know, give her an out. But we didn't come up with a number per se. I think if you looked at I think were - 11 - https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES the number you're talking about floating around. If you looked at that list, particularly around the 30-year component, there were only I think like 10 or 12 that actually would meet that criteria right now. PRESTON: And so let me look in as far as moving forward now with this information and kind of what direction we want to go with that information and how we want you to proceed with it as well. CORLETT: Okay, so we will not then make a recommendation to the town at this time. With a motion will hold this until you give us PRESTON: That's correct. CORLETT: Okay. But John, you want to join this workgroup, is that correct? Okay, fantastic. So that gives us two people in that workgroup. Other questions or comments on the Points of Interest? GIBSON: If 1 may, I think, one of the concerns that's in the back of my mind, not to poke at a hornet's nest, but these buildings, whether they get on some sort of national registry or not, which is yet to be determined. If a new owner could come in and go, well, I'm going to tear this down and build something new there. And there goes that piece of history. And, of course, the municipality doesn't have any jurisdiction over that, I wouldn't think because it's private property. But, you know, I would hope that we could, at some point, even if, heaven forbid, a building did get torn down, that has some historical significance to our community, that we could still put some sort of a plaque out on the street or something that at least says on this site, and maybe a picture of the original building, or something to that effect. And that's maybe something where some of these work groups, I think, overlap a little bit in my opinion that you know, we just obviously, at our regular meetings need to share all this. So, if what you learn on one group, and we learn in another that might enhance the overall objective of each workgroup? CORLETT: Absolutely. On that point, we actually had a conversation about this and had individuals who wanted to help create code for the town to prevent things like that from happening, which is beyond our scope as an advisory commission and is on the town. Good luck making that happen, too. But what we can do is research and write up information to it to say if someone chooses to get their home on some level of designation, what's the value in it for them? Does it help with property value? are you contributing to this, we can help make that argument to them for preservation and self- preservation, but we can certainly be informational that way. Yep. Absolutely. Any other comments, or questions? BURNS: I'm just, you know, one of the comments John made here about, you know, if the building disappears, for whatever reason, putting up something, you know, as a marker, I mean, you've already got that situation where the P-Bar Ranch in the high school parking lot where they, you know, they put up the marker with the plaque. So that's something that could be done. Something that was going to go on through my mind is, you know, is there an objective here to just make people aware of this history or, you know, attract them to it or, you know, so many of these things started out as one thing, but now they're something else. And, you know, the people in there now may not be that interested in people, you know, having that type of interest in it, I don't know. But that's why I was just, you know, kind of the objective of just, you know, making people aware of, you know, the old building where the building where McDowell Mountain Cycle is, is one of the oldest buildings housed Basha's housed, Paul's Ace Hardware and several other things over the years. I'm not sure how old it is but I'm pretty sure it's yeah, it's older than 30 years, but where Honor health walk-in clinic now used to be again, the same thing Basha's and Ace Hardware before. You know, it's just kind of the way these things move around town a - 12 - https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES little bit. So yeah, and maybe just, you know, putting together maybe this falls on us going back to the Times, or the Insider is just, you know, once these things kind of shape up just putting together some information or a story to say, hey, here's some interesting things about some buildings in town. CORLETT: That's exactly it so you see the overlapping nature of all of these projects. So if it's the research and the information or the process for doing it, and then if we're spreading the awareness, it's either through publications or through individual appeal to owners or businesses to want to put up a plaque to want to help preserve the town history or tell it so that's, that's where our power comes from is from persuasion and information as opposed to anything? BURNS: And I don't know you may be aware of this, David, with your association with the museum but something that Sherry told me when I was over there a couple of weeks ago, that they were, you know, going through the museum and Then they came to the little display on the original house and it had the address on it. And one of the small kids in the group said, Hey, that's my address. So now different families are living there now. But, you know, just something to is kind of interesting, CORLETT: But an hour later, so is it Sally Acheson is that her name and the first resident, she came into the museum, as well. So we had the kid that lives there currently, and then the original owner, and so kind of neat coincidence. So that's the sort of thing, it's a little epiphany. PRESTON: I think at least far is direction from the town on the point of interest, I think with them new members, potentially, on the workgroup, you know, re -looking at that list, you know, if any of the new members have anything they would like to add or tweak or, you know, talk about that, and then what you would do is provide that to the town, and then we could have an idea of as well, you can recommend, what we can do with those, and that we can use that information to move forward with what would work within the confines of what we can do. YODER: Thank you, I was thinking that I, I like to consider things and probably next week, I'll have lots of thoughts that I'd like to address pertaining to this. I'd like to add one more kind of, I don't know, psycho -emotional thing about this. And that is, to me, one of the neat things that's remarkable about this place, is that this is a brand new town, and that it was nothing but dirt 52 years ago, or there abouts. Which is very unusual for a modern person, a person who moves here today from Dayton, Ohio. There are no new towns in Ohio for practical purposes. But and so out here in the West, generally. Not everywhere in the West, not Phoenix, Phoenix goes back to the mid-1800s. But in several places in the West, and we're one of them, we have a unique thing like this was nothing and we've got 30,000 people living here now. And hundreds and hundreds of 1000s of visitors. So that's kind of special and I think that can be promoted in the town and amongst our citizens. I don't think people consider that much and it's very interesting, once it's brought to the people's attention. CORLETT: Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you, Tim. So just to reiterate the three groups ahead of time with a National Register of Historic Landmarks. We have Tim, Bob, and Susan, the Insider/Times Independent workgroup we have Bob, Dave, and just Bob and Dave. Correct. That's right. And then for Points of Interest, we now have Bill and John on those, and I'II join something at some point here. So the workgroups can work independently between the meetings on this and then come back with reports on the next one. So, you'll notice our next agenda item is Discussing Future Agenda Items and usually, anything that's not voted on will continue on to the next meeting. PRESTON: Do we have a motion for this workgroup? CORLETT: That one was already established with the one. - 13 - https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES PRESTON: Do we have any new members? CORLETT: We do have John Gibson joining that. So, a Motion to Reform that Workgroup with John Gibson and Bill Meade. May I have a motion? MEADE: I Make a motion to reform our workgroup. Well, myself and John. GIBSON: I Second that motion. CORLETT: John seconded. All in favor, say aye. ALL: Aye. CORLETT: Any opposition? (Motion Passed Unanimously 7-0) Thank you. Okay, so our next discussion and possible direction point on the agenda is Future Agenda Items so we do have carryover from these items and from open meeting law yesterday you learned that we'll get a request from Patti for those submissions can go in, and then typically, I would meet with the chair will meet with Ryan and Patti to kind of form the agenda to make sure we have enough but not too much. And so, any ideas that you have can be added up until three days and then with extenuating circumstances no later than 24 hours. I'm Open Meeting Law What's your? LOPUSZANSKI: Well, my request is two weeks prior, which is also basically what Town Clerk does as well for agenda items because you have to build the packet. So, and you have to post within a certain time. Yes, your right posting has to be the three days before, but it takes a lot of time to put all of the items together and your attachments. So, for the January 3 meeting, I'm asking for any items to be sent to me by noon on December 18th. So that we can build it out because of the holiday and make sure I can get the packet out to all in a timely manner. CORLETT: Thank you. MEADE: David, can I bring up one that I think it's kind of a carryover, but it's kind of got lost, we were very close to I think when we broke off. We've talked a couple of times about trying to somehow either have them present the tribe tribal community. You know, I brought up a couple of times that it would be great relative to the history of where we're the post history, but they were the prehistory and trying to, you know, and then that all just again through our departures. And I don't know how we go forward, but at one point we had just talked about maybe inviting them and having them present or you know, whatever. CORLETT: But where is that for everyone else's benefit? We did have occasional folks come in and they kind of a constellation of history and culture. So we had the museum, we had, oh, goodness, I should know his name but he spoke about his previous role. John Wesley, came in to speak to us. And then we had kind of a wish list of other groups that we have. Ryan, maybe I can talk to you about that and see if those are requests, we can make the lineup for upcoming meetings. Thank you, Bill. So a discussion point would be Future Speakers, and invited speakers. Others at this time? Can you have time to add them to the workgroups will be action or discussion and possible action for future ones. PRESTON: I can suggest a Possible Agenda Item we are currently storing some items I believe from Fountain Hills Times the Independent within one of our facilities, and maybe an agenda item is finding out a creative or something we can do with those that can be done with what we are currently storing. CORLETT: Okay, thank you. PRESTON: It is vague. I'm not even sure what we're currently storing. CORLETT: Okay. All right. So, our next agenda item is Discussion and Possible Action Approval for 2024 Meetings going forward into the new year. Am I skipping one no? Sorry. So the slate that we - 14 - https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES have for meetings in 2024, are monthly and the first Wednesday at 4 pm here in Council Chambers, with recess for July and August and then typically one for December. But I'm glad we were able to get this one. And so this is the suggested meeting dates that we do need to approve or is this already approved? LOPUSZANSKI: You will need to approve. The Town Council Chambers is a very busy location. So, it would just be a matter of you wanting to be able to vote on this tonight to say yes, I'm going to be available for all of these meetings, or if you want to table it and come back to it in January. But we would need to know that you're coming back on January 3rd, for that first Wednesday. So, the way that it's built out this commission was built on the website and as part of the ordinance that would meet the first Wednesday. So, if there would be any changes to that, then we would need to know otherwise, if we need to we can approve this if you need to change it because of a conflict of a quorum, as we've done in the past, and then we've looked at other dates that work but it's tricky. CORLETT: Thank you. So, is there a Motion to Approve the 2024 Meeting Dates? BURNS: Yeah, I'll move to approve that. GIBSON: I'II second. CORLETT: All right. Thank you, Bob and John. Those in favor? ALL: Aye. CORLETT: Opposed? All right. (Motion carried unanimously 7-0) Our meeting schedule is approved for 2024. Thank you. Two updates, at our next meeting, we collectively need to elect a Chair and a Vice Chair for 2024. It's not an action item here tonight. So, it's just for consideration, if you're interested in either of those positions, think about it. Think hard, I am not re -upping for Chair in 2024 because of travel schedules. So, I welcome others to consider the position. OBST-DWORKIS: And I will continue as Vice Chair if nobody else steps up, which is what happened to begin with. CORLETT: So, consider it you get some extra meetings with town representatives, but it's fun, good conversations, and good opportunities. So, we will nominate and vote on that at our January meeting. So, the final update is that our Next Commission Meeting will be on January 3, 2024, at 4 pm right here in the Town Council Chambers. So, if you have agenda items, make sure you get those to Patti by noon on Monday, December 18. Thank you for that correction. And with that, if there is no final business, can I get a Motion to Adjourn? MEADE: I make a make a Motion to Adjourn. YODER: I second. CORLETT: Thank you. All those in favor. All: Aye. CORLETT: We're officially recessed. Thank you! Having no further business, Chairman Corlett adjourned the Regular Meeting of the History and Culture Advisory Commission on December 6, at 5:02 p.m. - 15 - Transcribed by https://otter.ai HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION DECEMBER 6, 2023, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION David Corlett, Chairman ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: Patti Lopuszanski, xec Assistant CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the History and Culture Advisory Commission held in the Town Hall Council Chambers on December 6, 2023. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 3rd Day of January 2024. Q Patti Lopuszanski, Assistant - 16 - Transcribed by https://otter.ai