The Executive report was accepted as amended. Mary Blank gave the
Treasurer's report which was accepted as read.
“Meet the Candidates”:
A likely date for our "Meet the Candidates" program would
be March 11. Mary will look into the details and make the signs.
JoAnne Hartwell and Candy Wiggum will be involved. They know the
routine.
Painting The Grange (Murray Hall) exterior in the spring:
The inside dimensions are 28 by 66 feet with a 14 foot ceiling. It
should be painted colonial white. The sills need to have linseed oil.
Candy Wiggum, who is in charge of this project, asked that, if anyone
has ideas about how to raise funds for it, to please let her know.
MHS food sale at the town meeting:
Candy presented the idea we had previously discussed in a board
meeting and via e-mail, that we take over (from the library) the
vacated food venue at the town meeting. Johanna Kent, who has been
involved with it before with the library, cautioned that it is a huge,
complex task. Candy said that the women's group is willing to help us
by providing food. Loisanne proposed the possibility of "going
in" with another group and splitting the profits, and so having
the help and experience of others who have been involved before. For
information, we decided to contact Donna Chase who had been in charge
of the operation, and Jeannie Merwin who knows the prices and Sharon
Davis who is the one to talk to about possible participation by the
Women's Fellowship. (church group) Candy will make these inquiries,
and then, if we are all in agreement, we will proceed. Mary had
determined, from speaking with Richard Rock, that no other group has
yet come forward to take over the venue, and, if we decide to go
ahead, Mary will call Rock to lay claim for us. Johanna reminded us
that we will need four to six people there at the town meeting all
day.
Insurance: Working to reduce the cost without sacrificing
coverage -
Mary contacted many N.H. historical societies to learn what they
did about insurance and received a variety of answers, from Walpole
which carries a huge, expensive insurance package to Gilsum which
carries none at all. We must carry liability insurance of $500.00.
Mary has found a company called Ellis Insurance which, it seems, would
provide insurance for us for $650. 00 per year, only $150.00 over the
minimum we are required to pay. She will investigate this further. It
seems that we may be able to get out from under the tremendously high
cost of insurance which yearly consumes too large a part of our
budget.
Premier showing of completed Marlow Fire Documentary:
Loisanne received an e-mail from Tracy Messer explaining that the
premier showing of the Marlow Fire documentary will be held at a
meeting of the Cheshire County Historical Society in Keene on Monday,
April 24.
He is asking Yankee Magazine to do a write-up on it. Candy asked if
we can have a showing here to raise money and suggested that we put it
on the available Marlow web sites.
Publication of Minutes:
In order to let people know what's going on and, at the same time,
save money, Mary proposed that we e-mail the meeting minutes, the MHS
Executive Board minutes as well as the General Meeting minutes to the
membership and also post them on the Forum. To that end, she is
gathering membership e-mail addresses. Ira Hartwell is working on
this.
Selectboard's Request Regarding Grant Applications:
Loisanne explained that she had been asked to speak with the town
Selectboard to talk about the intentions of MHS in terms of historical
preservation and explained that, as she conveyed at the last Executive
Board meeting, the the Selectpersons requested the MHS withdraw its
registry of Murray Hall for LCHIP funds in favor of the town's
registry of Jones Hall for LCHIP, citing that the two applications are
in competition for the funds. She explained that her work with Jacqui
Fay for Jones Hall was for a N.H. Preservation Alliance grant, a small
grant for a feasibility study on Jones Hall, but also with the
understanding that the information would also eventually be used to
pursue other grants as well.
Mary explained the difference between a Preservation Alliance Grant
and an LCHIP grant. She explained that neither we nor "the
town" had actually applied for an LCHIP grant, but merely
sunmitted short proposals which would, hopefully, allow us to be
included on a list of active N.H. preservation projects which would
allow us to be notified of various new grants as the become available
and possibly be invited to submit a grant application for LCHIP funds
(money from the sale of N.H. vanity and moose plates). She said that
she had called a person in the office which deals with the LCHP grants
and learned that, because Jones Hall and Murray Hall are in different
categories, one practical and one aesthetic, any grant applications
for them would not be in conflict.
Loisanne explained that, at the Executive Board meeting, although
she had argued for agreeing with the Selectperson's request for
diplomatic and other reasons, the Executive Board decision was to
write a letter to the Selectpersons asking them to put their request
and reasons in writing so we could discuss it.
Loisanne went on to explain why she believes it would be as well to
wait before applying for a major grant at this time. Those who
distribute grant money for restoration and preservation are looking at
several points. First, they want to be assured that the buildings have
historical value and that they would be useful assets to the
community. Second, they want to be assured that the money is used as
part of a long-range plan, not a band-aid for a particular problem.
Through this long-range plan, they can be somewhat assured that their
investment is going to be protected. They want to see the entire
building's state and its context in the town. In short, to have a good
chance at receiving a large preservation grant, we should have a
feasibility study by a historic preservationist. (That's what the Preservation
Alliance grant application is for, and it has not yet been submitted.)
We should have a separate board/committee in place to plan, receive
the money, and distribute it according to plan. We should raise fund
to hire a grant writer to go after the big money for Marlow. This has
been done successfully in other communities, including small ones.
The plan should be long-range, and it would make sense to do what
was discussed at the MHS Annual Meeting on Sept. 15, 2005, to include
all of Marlow's historic public buildings in the plan. MHS does not
have the people-power to do this alone. If this is done, it needs to
be a community effort under the MHS umbrella. An on-going Marlow
Restoration and Preservation Committee needs to have representation
from all of the stake-holders.
This is what loisanne tried to convey in so many words: In the
meantime, no granting institution is going to drop major funds on a
board, organization or community without a clear written assessment of
its long-term needs, a plan for meeting them, and a plan for
preserving the result. We need to do first things first: feasibility
study, revival of the Marlow Restoration and Preservation Fund,
planning, fund-raising to hire a grant writer, and then grant
applications. Pam Little is researching the legalities for us.
Candy suggested that, as programs, we have more home-grown
story-telling, citing the "Wild and Wooly Experiences" as a
highly successful program. She asked for topic ideas for this. She
suggested tales from school. Loisanne suggested camp and camping
stories.
Rather than adjourning formally, the meeting drifted into a work
session in which we addressed and stuffed envelopes for the membership
drive. We were still at work well after 9:00 PM.