HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025.0904.HCAC_Packet
NOTICE OF MEETING
REGULAR MEETING
HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION
Chair Tim Yoder
Vice Chair Vacant
Commissioner Bob Burns
Commissioner Peter Gallagher
Commissioner Bonnie Kline
Commissioner Toni LePoer
Commissioner Vacant
TIME:
WHEN:
WHERE:
4:00 PM - REGULAR MEETING
DOORS OPEN 15 MINUTES PRIOR TO THE START OF THE MEETING.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2025
FOUNTAIN HILLS COUNCIL CHAMBERS
16705 E. AVENUE OF THE FOUNTAINS, FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ
REQUEST TO COMMENT
The public is welcome to participate in Commission meetings.
TO SPEAK TO A CONSENT OR REGULAR AGENDA ITEM, complete a Request to Comment card and hand it
to the Clerk prior to discussion of that item. Include the agenda item NUMBER on which you wish to
comment. A separate submission is required for each agenda item. Request to Comment cards will not be
accepted once the Commission deliberations begin. Submit a Request to Comment card prior to a public
hearing agenda item.
TO COMMENT ON A CONSENT OR REGULAR AGENDA ITEM IN WRITING ONLY, complete a Request to
Comment card, indicating that it is a written comment, check the box on whether you are FOR or AGAINST
a consent or regular agenda item, and hand it to the Clerk prior to discussion on that item. A separate
submission is required for each agenda item.
TO SPEAK TO CALL TO THE PUBLIC, complete a Request to Comment card and hand it to the Clerk. Speakers
will be allowed three contiguous minutes to address the Commission. Verbal comments should be directed
through the Presiding Officer and not to individual Commissioners.
This Request to Comment card, and any information you write on it, is a public record subject to public
disclosure.
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1. CALL TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
3. CALL TO THE PUBLIC
Pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.01(H), public comment is permitted (not required) on matters NOT listed on the
agenda. Any such comment (i) must be within the jurisdiction of the Council, and (ii) is subject to reasonable
time, place, and manner restrictions. The Council will not discuss or take legal action on matters raised
during Call to the Public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action. At the
conclusion of the Call to the Public, individual councilmembers may (i) respond to criticism, (ii) ask staff to
review a matter, or (iii) ask that the matter be placed on a future Council agenda.
4. STATEMENT OF PARTICIPATION
The Statement of Participation may be read or disseminated in another way at each Regular Commission
meeting, and will consist of the following: Anyone wishing to address the Commission regarding items listed
on the agenda or under “Call to the Public” should fill out a Request to Comment card located in the back of
the Council Chambers and hand it to the Executive Assistant prior to consideration of that agenda item.
Once the agenda item has started, late requests to speak cannot be accepted. When your name is called,
please approach the podium, speak into the microphone, and state your name and if you are a resident for
the public record. Please limit your comments to three minutes. It is the policy of the Commission to not
comment on items brought forth under “Call to the Public.” However, staff can be directed to report back to
the Commission at a future date or to schedule items raised for a future Commission agenda. It is also
requested that applause be kept to a minimum to avoid disruption of the meeting, to maintain decorum,
and provide for an equal and uninterrupted presentation.
5. REPORTS BY COMMISSIONERS
6. REGULAR AGENDA
a. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of History and Culture Advisory
Commission June 4, 2025, Verbatim Meeting Minutes
b. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Public Art Applications
c. UPDATE: Historical Registry for the Fountain
d. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: 250th Anniversary of USA
e. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Historical Art and Essay Contact Recap of FHUSD
Board Meeting
f. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Public Art Identification
g. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Future Agenda Items and Presentations
7. NEXT MEETING DATE - OCTOBER 1, 2025
8. ADJOURNMENT
Dated this 27th day of August, 2025.
Patti Lopuszanski, Executive Assistant
The Town of Fountain Hills endeavors to make all public meetings accessible to persons with disabilities. Please call (480) 816-5100 (voice) or (800) 367-
Meeting Packet Page 2 of 15
8939 (TDD) 48-hours prior to the meeting to request reasonable accommodation to participate in the meeting or to obtain agenda information in large
print format. Supporting documentation and staff reports furnished to the Council with this agenda are available for review in the Clerk's Office.
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ITEM 6.a.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 9/4/2025
Meeting Type: History and Culture Advisory Commission Regular Meeting
Submitting Department: Community Services
Prepared by: Patti Lopuszanski, Executive Assistant
Staff Contact Information: Phone: 480-816-5148
Email: plopuszanski@fountainhillsaz.gov
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language)
CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of History and Culture Advisory
Commission June 4, 2025, Verbatim Meeting Minutes
Staff Summary (background)
The intent of approving meeting minutes is to ensure an accurate account of the discussion
and action that took place at the meeting for archival purposes. Approved minutes are
placed on the town's website and maintained as permanent records in compliance with
state law.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
Risk Analysis
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
Staff Recommendation(s)
Suggested Motion
FISCAL IMPACT
Fiscal Impact:
Budget Reference:
Funding Source:
ATTACHMENTS
1. June 4, 2025 Verbatim Meeting Minutes
Meeting Packet Page 4 of 15
HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION
JUNE 4, 2025, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION
JUNE 4, 2025
A Regular History and Culture Advisory Commission meeting was convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the
Fountains at 4:04 p.m. in an open and public session.
Members Present: Chair Tim Yoder; Vice-Chair Susan Obst-Dworkis; Commissioner Bob Burns;
Commissioner Bonnie Kline; Commissioner Toni LePoer; Vacant Seat
Absent: Commissioner Peter Gallagher
Staff Present: Recreation Manager Ryan Preston; Executive Assistant Patti Lopuszanski
Meeting Packet Page 5 of 15
HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION
JUNE 4, 2025, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES
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YODER: Thank you. I would like to call the June 4, 2025, meeting of the History and Culture Advisory
Commission to order at 4 pm. May I have a Roll Call, please?
LOPUSZANSKI: Chair Yoder?
YODER: Here.
LOPUSZANSKI: Vice Chair Obst-Dworkis?
OBST-DWORKIS: Here.
LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Burns?
BURNS: Here.
LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Kline?
KLINE: Here.
LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner LePoer?
LEPOER: Here.
LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Gallagher is absent today.
YODER: Okay, thank you. The next item on the agenda is Call to the Public. Patti. Do we have any
requests to speak?
LOPUSZANSKI: We have no Call to the Public. We will be addressing an agenda item change. So if I
may go into that explanation: The commission by three quarters vote of all members present may
suspend strict observance of the Commission rules or other policies and procedures for the timely and
orderly progression of the meeting, provided, however, that a simple majority of the Commission may
cause a change in the order of items on the agenda, what we are asking is for item 10 to be presented by
the International Dark Sky Discovery Center. They will be providing information on their two public art
applications.
YODER: Is that very good? Thank you. May I get a motion to move the agenda? Item 10,
Consideration and Possible Action: Public Art Applications before Reports by Commissioners on the
agenda?
OBST-DWORKIS: I'll make the motion.
second.
YODER: All those in favor.
ALL: Aye.
YODER: Any opposed?
LOPUSZANSKI: Motion passes 5-0 to change the agenda item order from Item Number 10, moving up
before Reports by Commissioner.
YODER: So, I'd like to welcome Joe Bill to answer questions on the International Dark Sky Public Art
Application.
BILL: Thank you. I am happy to be here, and I should introduce you. We have some people here. You
may have met, but Jerry Butler is on our board, and he's our construction liaison, so he's been working
hard on trying to meet our requirements. And John Craft is a vice president on our board, and we have a
brand-new executive director who started with us on May 1. So, it's our first employee. Oh, that's right,
my wife, Nancy, is the treasurer. Oops, now I'm in trouble. I introduced Brad. Brad Feldman, I get
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maybe I didn't give his name. Brad Feldman, sorry, happy to answer questions if you have any, or how
would you like me to proceed?
PRESTON: Yeah, I think if you're able to take us through the presentation that we got up there, I think
that's the application you guys had,
BILL: I think that it’s here somewhere. Is it this one? All right. Very good. Thank you. Okay, let me run
through this. Okay, we're presenting three art pieces that will hopefully fulfill the public art
requirements. The Cowboy Artist sculpture we're calling is called Brush With the West, and that is a
sculpture that was done by Doug Katonak, and some of you may know him. He's got a lot of history in
Fountain Hills, and so he is donating that piece to us, and he's very excited about having it in a
prominent place where people can see it. So, he's a fine older gentleman, that's for sure. And then the
second piece is a backlit, semi-precious gem art piece that was donated by someone in Fountain Hills
who is kind of into GEMS a lot. And this is going to be a very special piece that will be visible 24/7 by
our front door, it is going to be backlit, and we'll have information in there about the different kinds of
gems from around the world that were used to create something that looks like Saturn. It's quite an art
piece. And then we're going to be resetting the ancient man, which we moved to accommodate
construction. We're going to put it back pretty much to where it was to begin with. So that's the other
part of the plan. So, moving on, you can see here the proposed placement, the cowboy artist is going to
be kind of in an area on the way to the Discovery Center. As you go from the drop-off area and walk
along that sidewalk toward the Discovery Center, we're going to have a place where it will be
positioned. And the course this. Saturn art piece, the gem Saturn, that's going to be in our entryway by
the front door of the Discovery Center. So, let's continue, if we can. Okay, so here's the Brush With the
West sculpture, and years ago, it was on the Avenue of the Fountains, and then it was moved because of
things that were being developed there. And so, the fact that this might be reappearing, as I mentioned,
that could tonic is ecstatic about that, and it's we're going to have to kind of work on building a pedestal
for it, kind of like the one you see in the second photo there. It's a triangular one with a nice plaque
talking about Doug Katanik, the artist, etc. So that's the plan for that. And see it here. Okay, well, this is,
I won't go through this, but there's quite a bio about Doug Katanik, and he has quite a history. Again, as
I mentioned with Fountain Hills, he's done a lot for the community, and I think it wasn't too long ago he
was at a town council meeting where he was recognized for what was it? Anyway? You remember he
would I know I can't remember what it was, but he's just a nice older gentleman, that is. It's just that he's
so pleased that we're working on this for him on his behalf and the Gem Saturn art piece, this gives you
an idea of what it will look like. And so, you can see, I did a little Photoshop because this isn't built yet,
by the front door, but fortunately, I know a little Photoshop, so you can see what it will look like by the
front entrance. It's going to be backlit, as I mentioned. And we're also going to try to create a separate
plaque. See that upper right photo, and there's that, plus a little additional information that we'd like to
have next to it or below it, for people who are interested in knowing, well, what kind of gem is that, and
where did it come from? So, kind of a supporting smaller plaque that explains what's in that piece. And
let's see now we've got an okay, so this artist, I won't go through this, but if you read that, this person, in
fact, we had the opportunity to see a number of his art pieces, and it is an amazing thing that he's doing
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with all these precious gems to create various kinds of art pieces. And this is Ancient Man, and I think
many of you are familiar with that, because it's been there for quite a while, near the museum. And as I
mentioned, we had to move it, which we did, and we will move it back. So that's the plan for the ancient
man. And let's see here. Oh, that's the end. I didn't realize I should have had another slide says the end.
So, are there any questions that maybe I can answer for anybody?
LOPUSZANSKI: If I may, let the commissioners know you do have a packet that does have some of
the appraisal documentation that we received today. So, if you have any questions regarding that as well,
I'd want you to know they're there for you.
YODER: Okay, thank you. I don't suppose I have a question, but more of a comment. This looks like
this is a great addition to the culture here in Fountain Hills, yes, along with, of course, primarily the
whole planetarium.
BILL: We're excited about that. Yeah, great work. Okay, thank you. Any other questions?
KLINE: I was just wondering, is there any expense to the town of Fountain Hills for doing any of this?
BILL: I don't believe so at all. No, because we must pay for the installation as it is our property, right?
Yeah. I just want to make sure with the treasurer, the answer is no.
KLINE: Okay, well, I'm all in favor. I think they're wonderful works of art, from what I can tell. Thank
you.
PRESTON: Yeah. I know this is the first one we've had on this commission. And one of the things
we’re looking at is placement, the art piece itself, the art pieces themselves, and whether it is good to
give our recommendation to the Town Council to move forward with the public art contribution.
YODER: I agree that this is a nice thing. And it's especially poignant that a piece from Doug Katonak,
who's been out here since I was a child, is included.
BILL: Thank you. He still has his little workshop at his house, and he showed us a lot of other stuff.
He's so proud of what he's done, and he should be.
OBST-DWORKIS: I just have a quick question from the picture, I was trying to Ori and myself, but I
can't quite see where the Ancient Man is going to be reinstalled. Is that where it was?
BILL: Yeah. So, because there's no marker there exactly where it was, but we know where it was, it'll
be put there. Yeah, right.
YODER: Anybody else?
PRESTON: The only thing then you guys can do, if you guys are done with questions. I think Bob
might have a comment, but then you would just motion in for a vote to approve the application.
BURNS: I would move that we recommend that we approve the public art application for the Town
Council to approve the application.
YODER: I’ll second. All those in favor?
ALL: Aye.
YODER: Any opposed?
BILL: Awesome. Thank you.
LOPUSZANSKI: Motion passes 5-0 for the Consideration of the Public Art Application to move
forward, for your recommendation to the Town Council.
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YODER: Thank you very much for coming in, taking a little time. All right, moving on to the agenda,
Item number four, Reports by Commissioners. Do we have any reports? All right, we'll save all our
talking for a little bit later. Let's move on to the agenda. Item number five, Consideration and Possible
Action Approving the Minutes from the last meeting. May 7, 2025. Does anybody have any changes to
the minutes? Can I get a motion?
KLINE: I’ll make a motion to approve the minutes.
LEPOER: I’ll second it.
YODER: All those in favor?
ALL: Aye.
YODER: Any opposed?
LOPUSZANSKI: Motion passes 5-0.
YODER: Okay. Next up. Update on the Historical Registry for the Fountain Workgroup. Boy,
we've had a lot of movement on that.
PRESTON: I can jump in, or if you guys want to say what you guys have contributed so far, then I can
update where we are with that since the last meeting.
YODER: Why don't you just go ahead, you know? Perfect.
PRESTON: No problem. So, since we were last year, we've made a lot of headway on it. I know we've
got the complete narrative, now we've got the list of dates that we were able to attach to that. So, Bob,
thanks for providing the narrative as well as the bibliography. And Tim, we've got your dates as well as
you answered a few of those other questions. You're able to help us get those areas of historical
significance. And then what we've been doing on our end is compiling all that into the form itself,
moving a few things around, using your areas of historical significance. Basically, we had to tie those
back into the narrative so that we had a narrative that fits with basically the wording that they are
looking for within both SHIPO and the national registry for historical places. So, we've put all that
together right now. We're kind of working with one of our staff on the maps, on the boundary locations,
and things like that. So, once we finalize the maps and put everything together, we will go ahead and
submit straight to what the way it works is, we push this through the state. We still need the state to
approve whether we can then push it to the national they have already approved our initial application
on the state side. Now, basically, what they need to do is make sure our national application is up to the
standards they think it needs to be to succeed on the national level. So that's where we're at this point,
and soon, probably early next week, is, my guess is when we will be putting our first draft of the
complete application to Dr Collins, who's the one who's reviewing it. We're expecting it to get it back a
couple of times and then eventually get it approved. Push onto national. I believe there is. The way the
national looks at these is so in DC, they do it quarterly. They look at all these applications. I believe the
next one's in July. We're trying to squeeze it in for that July. Otherwise, it's pushed in November. Once a
national gets it, it’s about a six-month turnaround before we know one way or the other. It's about a six-
month process. So again, at the suggestion of this commission, we were wanting to get it, to put it as part
of that 250th celebration. So that's why we kind of upped the timeline a little bit, and why we're pushing
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a little harder, considering you guys are on break until September after this. So, so that's kind of where
we're sitting now. Again, you probably won't see it come back to this commission before we submit it,
but all the work has been pushed you. Tim and Bob have been working hard at work, getting us all that
information. So, thanks. We really appreciate that.
YODER: Thank you. I was curious. I mean, I was just reading between the lines. I was wondering
why, you know, we received that notice from you. Like, okay, we're ready for you to get this all done,
but that makes sense, and that's great. It was a lot of unknown to us, but this whole July date makes
sense. Then now you know, right?
PRESTON: And it's something we discovered about a day before I sent you the email. So, yeah,
BURNS: Ryan, so that would seem that, well, even a number in November, consideration by them,
might still get us in ahead of July 4?
PRESTON: No, November should be fine. We prefer not to operate on the should be fine. So obviously
getting in earlier would be better. And I think, I think we can't hit that date. So, I think,
BURNS: Yeah, but I'm just thinking, you know, let's make sure the application in the format needs to
be, rather than trying to rush if we have, you know, but I'm sure you're doing a good job, and we'll have
it the way it needs to be. But, yeah, that's,
PRESTON: What I've been working on the past couple of weeks. And it's also being passed around the
staff throughout as well. Get different eyes on it, making sure it's where we want to be before we send it
off.
YODER: This is like when we submitted it to the state. I remember we did some work on the form. I
wrote, I think I wrote that narrative, and then later, you showed us, I think, literal copies of the actual
submission, and it was completely different and very professionalized. And so that's what you're doing
now, or the staff is going to make sure it happens correctly.
PRESTON: and plugging in all you know, the longitude, the latitude, the acreage, the specifics on the
park where, you know, the horsepower of pumps when they're originally boots, things like that. So,
YODER: Very good. I'm hopeful for that. It'll be a cool feather in, oh, people like, right off the top of
my head, I'm thinking about Kevin Snipes and how happy he'd be to have that fountain registered there,
you know, on the National Register. That'd be cool.
PRESTON: I think Susan's trying to jump in.
OBST-DWORKIS: Yeah, I just wanted to make sure I understood. So, the staff is taking care of the
completion of the application, so that you can submit it before the July deadline, so we don't need to go
over any of it and won't see it until we come back, correct?
PRESTON: There's a chance I may reach out to the work group again, but as an agenda item, you
probably will not see it again before it gets sent out. That's correct.
OBST-DWORKIS: And it's not necessary for us, too, right?
PRESTON: That's correct.
YODER: So, can we have this as an agenda item then, just automatically when we get back in the
subsequent months, just so we can kind of keep track of it?
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PRESTON: Yeah, there'll be an update. There probably won't be any action items for that, but we will
have an update on the agenda for sure. And I think I have a note that one of the questions at the last
meeting was, will this affect what we can do with the park, what can we do with the fountain? Will this
mean we can't develop on it? It doesn't. This is a, this is a, what's the word I'm looking for? Right? Yes,
it's exactly. This won't affect anything of that.
YODER: Okay, let's move on to item number seven, updating the 250th anniversary of the USA, July 4,
2026, activities,
LOPUSZANSKI: If you all turn to Page 27, and scroll down, it does have the information I received
from Bob, from this work group, with some great details.
BURNS: And I'll just jump in here and say that these were all ideas that came to mind after. After I
talked to Bonnie and Susan in our meeting, I was kind of expecting or thinking that one of them was
going to put together their notes from what we discussed in the meeting. And I think Bonnie got it out
this morning. But yeah, this, I think everything here just kind of looks like, you know, some stuff that
wouldn't be too difficult to implement or terribly expensive. So, you know, I don't know what anybody
else thinks, or whether staff think they are workable or any of them aren't, but so that's, that's my
thoughts on this list. And you know, if Bonnie wants to contribute what she put out.
KLINE: I am sorry I didn't get that to Patti sooner. So, some of the other things we talked about, or
maybe a program for President's Day, rededication of the president statues, maybe with a color guard
flag raising by maybe the VFW, or Sons of America, or another group like that. We also talked about
maybe, maybe the Fountain Hills Theater might be interested in doing a show, or maybe the children's
theater with a patriotic theme. The idea being that these are events put together by other groups, but
maybe they could be kind of coordinated and publicized and by the town of Fountain Hills. So, it's more
like a complete package. We talked about the Rotary’s flags and the park for Memorial Day. Maybe a
community band or community course would like to do something patriotic, and check with the river
time museum to see if they have any suggestions. Oh, yeah, and we talked about it, time capsule, time
capsule to be buried on July 4, maybe coordinated by Parks and Rec, or maybe a scout troop, or
something like that. We also talked about a patriotic theme for the pump house wall art, and maybe
something with the Thanksgiving parade and speakers at the Community Center. So, they're all things
that were just kind of brainstorming. Need to talk with other groups to see what their plans are and see if
we can pull it together as a more complete package.
YODER: That is a great list of items, and I honed in. A year or two ago, I sang with the Community
Chorus, and I just happened to see in the paper this week that they're doing, I think, two free concerts
here shortly; they are very receptive to these kinds of things. So, yeah, anybody else?
OBST-DWORKIS: Yeah, I just wanted to add as far as the Fountain Hills Theater, I they've been
approached and whether it's going to be with the youth theater or main stage production, and then
possibly doing 1776 again, or maybe George M but they have to bring it before their board, because they
pretty much have their 2026 2027 shows already scheduled. I just must get with them again.
PRESTON: Perfect, and kind of, I know we've got this work group going, and the idea is to get all these
ideas right. So, you guys are compiling these ideas. If you'd like them, you can discuss them. You can
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elaborate on them. We take notes. We're keeping a running list of these ideas. I mean, I'm not going to
go through each one, and, yes, no, it's like here in the meeting. But just know it's being passed along.
You know, everything's kind of being considered. I know the Time Capsules were mentioned a couple
of times. I believe we just did a time capsule five years ago. So that's probably one we probably won't do
again so soon, considering we just did one for the was it the 50th, I believe, just a few years ago. But all
these, you know, they're, they're all basically going in a list. It's kind of shocking. Going to approach
right now and then. With your help, we narrow down some of these, anything that needs to be set up a
year at a head ahead of a year in advance, that stuff we can start working towards. And I'll kind of get
more information for you on those as we're able to kind of react to what comes in with these work group
updates.
KLINE: Sounds good to me.
YODER: Very good. Okay, anybody else on that? Let's move on. Then the next item on the agenda is
the historical art and essay contest update, and I have a very short update on that. Peter and I will be
Peter's got a nice presentation put together. We're going to be on the agenda for the school board
meeting. I believe it's June 18, so it'll be another couple of months before I get the official word to
everybody here, I guess, on how that meeting goes, but I expect it to be simple and straightforward and
received positively. I did have a question or a comment for your townies, and that is regarding this.
When we propose this idea, we have the understanding that these flyers will be able, we will be able to
hand flyers to teachers, this brochure, thing that'll be ready in the fall by the staff will do that. Is that
right?
PRESTON: Yeah, we can put something like that together. That's not a problem. It's convincing the
school district to hand out flyers at this point. It's something they stopped a little while ago. But if you're
able to get it to the board, and the board agrees, and we can use it as part of the curriculum, I'm sure that
makes that a lot easier.
YODER: Yes, that'll be for sure how it goes, because it'll fit in with the curriculum. And when I say
flyers, I mean, you know, it'll go to each of the respective teachers, the history teachers, for example,
and or English writing teachers, art teachers, and they'll use them in their classroom and perhaps offer
them to students interested in and then related to that? Is there a possibility that that could be a link to
that brochure and could be put on the town website?
PRESTON: Yeah, and we'll run it. I don't know if you've seen the poetry contest for MLK Day. It'll be
very similar to that, so we'll have a dedicated page for it, so that's where people can go for information
and how to submit as well, because it'll mostly be online submittals as well.
YODER: I just didn't want to assume that's all.
PRESTON: and kind of, I know we spoke about tying this into the 250th celebration as well, if we get it
in this year, something that maybe I don't know if we've looked at that as far as the prompts, I don't
know if that was included at all, or if that's something that this Commission decided not to include.
YODER: Actually, that wasn't anything included in any of the prompts, right?
PRESTON: And it makes sense, because I think we decided to keep it local. So right, yeah, so that's
perfect.
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JUNE 4, 2025, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES
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YODER: There will be, you know, there everybody's going to be hyper. All the teachers and students, I
would think, will be hypersensitive to historical focus as the school year progresses this next year.
Okay? Anybody else? Okay. Next Item: Public Art Identification Update.
LEPOER: I brought Patti the book today, from the beginning of 2024, of all the public art that was
given to me by Jenny Willigrod and Dori. So, it listed all the art as of the start of 2024, as well as a
thumb drive full of information from the gentleman who did the original round of QR codes. There are
videos that he has. There are links to videos on it, all kinds of other information that I just handed to
Patti, so I dumped a whole lot on her plate, which Patti, I'll help you sort through happily. And I have
more than I'm going to download onto a thumb drive, too, a lot of other stuff from public art, so as we
kind of start to sort through it and stuff. But I know that we need to get a count for getting the QR code
plaques, which is why I brought that book in to make it hopefully a little bit easier.
PRESTON: So perfect. And do we notice any we talked a bit about last time, anything that didn't really
have a whole lot of information about it? Because I pointed out we've got some similar stuff on our The
Fountain Hills public art website. There's that PDF you can download there, which is probably familiar
to you. You and I did notice a few of those are lacking any kind of detail. I don't know if we were able
to, with the work group, look through those and provide any additional offers that are included.
LEPOER: It is not, but if you have one in mind that I can certainly, like I said, I'll go dig through all the
public art information that Dory has on her Dropbox, and I can download all that as well and put that on
a thumb drive. But if there are specific ones that you know are lacking information, then I can pull that
out and be like, here's where you feel like there's a shortfall. But I'll download it and start looking, and
maybe I'll just sort through it myself so that you're not bothered, because I have access to that Dropbox
of Dori's that I can just go in and grab anything that we need.
KLINE: So, if you have a list of ones that have, you know particularly low amount of information, but
you have contact for the artist. I love interviewing artists and doing that kind of thing. So as long as it's
not too tight of a timeline, I'd be glad to do that.
PRESTON: As far as the contact for the artists, I'm not sure that we have any database of contacts for
the artists for it. I just know that we have an artist in the art piece. And if you look again on the public
art website, you could see pretty quickly which ones we don't have a whole lot of info for, but we'll see
if maybe that's a project for the summer, because we will talk about summer projects here that we can
look at, identify, and then maybe see what we can do as far as contact.
LEPOER: No problem, I have a lot of information at my fingertips, so I'll kind of dig into that over the
summer.
YODER: As we discussed, Item 10 earlier. Let's move on to Item 11: Review and Discussion of
Future Agenda Items and Presentations. I'll do one when we get back and talk about the school
presentation.
LOPUSZANSKI: If you want to send that information so we can update all the commissioners over the
summer, I could do that. We can always follow up on what that's going to look like for their curriculum
and have this item remain on the agenda.
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YODER: All right, either Peter or I, or both of us, will get in contact with you late in June, late this
month, after the main meeting. Our next History and Culture Advisory Commission meeting will be
September 4th, 2025, and the year will be more than half over.
KLINE: So, I know, I submitted the motion to approve the minutes, but sitting here looking at it, I see a
typo, and it should be O, R, M, E, not Orin Dam.
YODER: I believe they have addressed this before, that this is a transcription problem. It’s not okay.
They have the data, is that right?
LOPUSZANSKI: That would be correct. Yes, this is a transcription thing. Sometimes it doesn't pick up
spelling, but the content is there.
KLINE: Okay.
YODER: Okay, well, if that's all, then let's adjourn this meeting. Can I get a Motion to Adjourn the
meeting?
OBST-DWORKIS: I make a Motion to Adjourn.
BURNS: I'll second
YODER: All those in favor?
ALL: Aye.
YODER: Any opposed?
LOPUSZANSKI: Motion passes 5-0 for the Adjournment of the Meeting.
YODER: All right. The meeting is adjourned at 4:34 pm.
Having no further business, Chair Yoder adjourned the Regular Meeting of the History and Culture
Advisory Commission on June 4, 2025, at 4:48 p.m.
HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION
__________________________________________________
Tim Yoder, Chair
ATTESTED AND PREPARED BY:
____________________________________
Patti Lopuszanski, Executive Assistant
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JUNE 4, 2025, VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES
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CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the verbatim minutes of
the History and Culture Advisory Commission held in the Town Hall Council Chambers on June
4, 2025. I certify that the meeting was duly called, and a quorum was present.
Dated this 4th day of September 2025
________________________________________
Patti Lopuszanski, Executive Assistant
Meeting Packet Page 15 of 15