PRESENT
Commission: Loren Baker, Shirley Binkley, Matthew Connor, Ken Dean, Rosalie Melnick, and Erik Solveson
Excused: Kimberley Bauman, Roger Easton
Staff: Lori Flemm, Amber Raney
Public: Diane Dean, Lee Thompson
Historical Society: Dick Yates

AGENDA
No additions or deletions to the revised agenda.

 

MINUTES
The October 3, 2011 minutes were approved and placed on record.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 
A message from the Olympia Historical Society regarding Calendar of Events was forwarded to the Commissioners.

PUBLIC COMMENT
a) Lacey Historical Society: Dick reported that the Lacey Historical Society is fully supportive of the Thurston County through the Decades project and will support the Lacey Historical Commission in any way they can.

 

b) Others: No report.

CORRESPONDENCE
Lori received a thank-you letter from Dee Corwin with the Friends of the Lacey Library regarding Amber’s help with their display at the beginning of the month of October.  Rosalie read it for the commissioners.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Saturday, November 19, 1:00-4:00 p.m.: McKinney House clean-up.  Chris Baird with the City of Lacey will be available to help get rid of the larger items such as the fridge, bed frame, etc., and will bring a generator in order to help light the interior.  Lori will send out a reminder email.

OLD BUSINESS
a) Fundraising brochure for the Lacey Museum at the Depot: Amber presented several options for placement of the logo on the cover of the brochure.  These were narrowed down to two options, with the suggestion that she then remove the color of the logo and replace various aspects of the design.  She will re-work the two options and send samples to the commissioners via email.

 

b) Olympic Model Railroad Society site visit report: On Thursday, October 13, Lori and Amber visited the OMRS site at the Thurston County Fairgrounds and spoke with two members of the group and received a tour of the facility.  The display is impressive and quite large.  It is not a historically accurate replica of a region/city.  Due to its size, the basement may not be sufficient for both storage of our collection and the train model.  Given the first floor plan space available, it appears likely that we would need to reduce the size of the model to allow sufficient space for other exhibits.  Shirley suggested, however, that we contact the Society to discuss the possibility of contracting with members to create a historically accurate snapshot of the Lacey area, including the depot and racetrack, etc.  Lori will contact Shannon with our concerns and ideas for possible partnership.

 

c) Adopt policy revisions for Recognizing Historic Events, Places & People: This policy was discussed previously with no action taken.

 

Motion: Adopt the policy with the changes as noted.
The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.

NEW BUSINESS
a) Review work plan and goals for 2011: The commissioners reviewed the plan as established at the end of 2010 for 2011.  Many of the goals were met, but much less accomplished on the new museum project than planned.

 

b) Discuss work plan and goals for 2012: The decision was made to keep all goals for the new museum in place and make that the number one priority.  In addition to this, the following items were identified as being goals for 2012:

 

• Place a sign at the new museum site that reads something to the effect of “Future Site of Lacey Museum at the Depot”
• Historic Property Inventory – finish remaining 19 homes for inclusion in current inventory
• Himes Diaries – continue with digitization and transcription should we receive the second round of the grant from Thurston County
• Cabin – continue with research as time allows
• Educational Outreach Program – Matthew is currently re-structuring the program and will share the new direction he is taking at the December meeting
• Thurston County Through the Decades – committee members to work on this project, scheduled for May 12 at Huntamer Park

 

c) Key accomplishments for 2011: Lori passed out the list that she compiled highlighting the accomplishments of the LHC during 2011.  It was unanimously approved.

 

d) Recruit membership for Thurston County Through the Decades: Members selected were: Co-Chairs Diane Dean and Matthew, Roger (via a conversation with Amber that afternoon), Amber, and Erik.  A meeting is scheduled for the committee on Monday, December 5 at 5:00 p.m. in Council Chambers, prior to the regularly scheduled LHC meeting.  Diane will invite Karen and Anne to attend in order to discuss what the other members of the heritage community will contribute to our event.

COMMITTEE REPORTS
a) Depot: No Report.

 

b) Depot Art: No report

 

c) 2012 Depot Fundraiser Performance: Currently pursuing other performers.

 

d) Thurston County Through the Decades: Committee selected, meeting scheduled.  See above.

STAFF / MUSEUM REPORT
1. On October 5, Amber, with the help of volunteers and City staff, relocated numerous artifacts from the museum to the off-site storage on Bowker St., freeing up space in the downstairs storage room for Lacey Historical Society supplies.  This, in turn, helped in the on-going organization project for the current collection.

2. On October 11, Amber met with St. Martin’s University professor Dr. Aaron Goings regarding the possibility of starting an internship program between the City of Lacey/Lacey Museum and St. Martin’s History Department.  The intent of this project is to create an on-going partnership between these institutions.  Two students are set to begin the program in January, pending approval from the City of Lacey.  Dr. Goings will be bringing his class into the Lacey Museum for a tour on November 9.

3. Amber and Lori visited the Olympic Model Railroad Society’s facility located at the Thurston County Fairgrounds on October 13.

4. On October 17, with the help of Lanny Weaver, Amber installed an exhibit at the Lacey Timberline Library for the Friends of the Library.

5. Amber organized a tour of the Washington State Archives for Dr. Goings with Lanny Weaver, with the intent of presenting Dr. Goings with a more in-depth look at the holdings, and also to help foster discussion of possible internship projects.

6. The Pioneer Cemetery Association held a meeting at the Lacey Museum on October 26 at 6:00 p.m.

7. On October 31 Amber met at the museum with members of the Lacey Historical Society and City of Lacey grounds maintenance staff in order to discuss the memorial plantings located on and around the museum grounds.  Shirley Dziedzic, Co-President of the Lacey Historical Society, presented Jason Simmonds, City of Lacey, with all of the information that the society has maintained since the beginning of the project in an effort to keep everyone informed of where each dedicated plant is.

COMMISSIONER’S REPORT
Rosalie reported that she had recently concluded a trip back east and was constantly impressed by the amount of documentation that can be found on the histories of communities back there.  She reported that it renewed in her an interest in documenting what we can of Lacey’s past for future generations.  The commissioners agreed.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Loren reported that he received a card in the mail regarding the continued closure of Carpenter Road and wondered about the contractor’s staging area at the site of the new museum.  His concern was that they would not be finished soon and that people would be confused as to whether or not construction had begun on the new museum.  He wondered if the Commission could prevent future use of the site for such projects.  Lori assured him that schedule for the Carpenter Rd. project shows it is completed in 7 months or less, and that it would have no impact on our project.  She also reassured him that survey of our property can commence while the staging continues.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT
No Report.

ADJOURN

Meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m.