Historic Preservation Committee
Meeting Minutes – November 10, 2011
A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee (“HPC”) was held on Nomember 8, 2011 in the meeting room at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall. In attendance were Co-Chairs Tom Dagger and John Grossmann, and Peggy Bulfer, John Lester, Roberta Matalon and Bridgid Walsh. Jess Mahony, Beth Mauro and Borough Council Liaison Blair Bravo were absent.
Approval of Prior Meeting’s Minutes
The Committee approved the minutes of the October 12, 2011 meeting in the form distributed to the Committee in advance of the meeting.
Treasurer’s Report
On behalf of the Treasurer, Chris Sheasby, John Grossmann reported the following financial information.
Opening Balance as of 10/11/11: $19,773.96
Debits:
$462.00 Erie Landmark for 3 Hapgood plaques
94.16 Mountain Lakes Market for Library Staff Dinner
Total: $556.16
Credits:
$200.00 1 Hapgood plaque
20.00 2 Walking Tour CDs
Total: $220.00
Closing Balance as of September 11/9/11: $19,437.80.
Peggy Bulfer stated that she has over $2,600 in receipts for books, note cards and Walking Tour CDs that are yet to be given to Chris for deposit.
Archivist’s Report
Pat Rusak was unable to attend the meeting, but sent an email ahead of time reporting the following: “1.Town Club had asked for a guided Walking Tour in April. 2. The 50th Mtn. Lakes H.S. Reunion borrowed the big blown pictures from the archives then invited me to present us (HPC) with an old aerial map of, we hope, Mtn Lakes. 3. Was asked to be on the Morris County Heritage Commission but declined their offer.”
With regard to Item #1, John Grossmann pointed out two ways of offering the tour: 1) With several HPC members taking turns at various stops providing narrative highlights, speaking informally off the cuff and from notes as we did once before for a Town Club outing. 2) Using the recorded version of the walking tour, splitting what’s likely to again be a large group in two, and playing the audio walking tour stops through the speakers and iPods at the library. The general feeling: yes we’ll accommodate Town Club, but we need to discuss options with them and also the fact that the majority of those who started did not last to the end of the previously led tour.
Centennial Report
No report.
Public Comments
None.
Old Business
Historic Preservation Ordinance & Upcoming 11/14 Borough Council Meeting – Tom Dagger reported on plans for the Ad Hoc Historic Preservation Ordinance Committee to present its ordinance proposal to the Borough Council at the meeting on Monday, November 14. HPC members were encouraged to attend.
Salvage Trailer – In advance of the Saturday Oct 22nd workday, John Grossmann and Tom Dagger invited local builders Gary Goldsmith and Tom Menard to examine the contents and provide guidance on what to keep and what likely would not be worth saving. Both builders agreed that most of the windows – all energy inefficient single pane design – were unlikely to be reused by homeowners. Especially worth holding onto: any chestnut trim or molding; distinctive hardware; oak flooring; also second floor pine flooring. Also in advance of that date, Gary Goldsmith dispatched a work crew to repair the leaky roof of the trailer right by the entrance. The crew spent six hours on the job and used $50 of materials and Goldsmith donated the $440.00 in time and materials to the HPC. The Committee thanked him and his crew for their assistance.
On the 22nd, which coincided with the fall trash day, high school senior John Dagger, who took on the trailer clean-up as an Eagle Scout project, led morning and afternoon Scout crews and was assisted by high school junior and Girl Scout Keara Walsh. Joan Nix was on hand much of the day to help with toss-or-save decisions and identifications. The crews took out all of the doors and windows and much of the molding and flooring. The mostly emptied trailer was then swept clean. Items to be saved were fixed with ID numbers, measured, and photographed, and returned to the trailer. Small items were batched in plastic tubs bought to organize and protect them from the elements. For the first time in years, there is room to move about the trailer and actually see what’s there.
The workday concluded late in the afternoon with a new padlock closing the trailer. The plan is to display much of the salvage inventory on the HPC website—including photos and the dimensions of items – so homeowners can more easily “shop” for replacement items. Keara Walsh predicts that she’ll have the web page work done in the first quarter of 2012.
Tom Menard offered to have his crew make shelves for one wall of the trailer that would further enhance the storage of salvaged items. This, too, would likely be done in the winter.
Additional work, perhaps a follow-up Boy Scout effort in the spring, might focus on the removal of nails from floorboards. This would help facilitate storage, make future handling of the materials less dangerous, and encourage the use of this flooring. Rather than using claw hammers to pull out the nails from the top of the boards, Gary Goldsmith recommends using vice grips to pull the nails by their pointed ends down through the boards.
5K Race and HPC Participation – John Grossmann reported he manned the HPC table at the 5K Race and sold two Walking Tour CDs.
Oral Histories – John reported no change in status.
Centennial Book Sales – Peggy Bulfer reported that once again she was out of signed copies of the book. John said he’d contact Patty Herold so that she could get another box of signed books to Peggy ASAP.
New Business
HPC presence at rescheduled Laker Voices Dec 3 and 4 – John Lester volunteered to man an HPC table at the door for the Saturday performance. Beth Mauro volunteered to do so for the Sunday afternoon performance.
Ongoing sale of Centennial merchandise – The Committee agreed that the HPC would be the logical recipient of any unsold Centennial merchandise once 2011 comes to an end and the Centennial Committee disbands after conceiving and organizing and executing such a varied and creative batch of 100th birthday celebrations and commemorative merchandise. Storage? Another matter, to be discussed later.
Other Matters – The discussion then briefly branched into other possible new merchandise the HPC might want to look into. John Lester suggested a calendar with historic photos – something that would need to be produced by at least September of the year before; and Brigid Walsh suggested paperweights.
Date for Next Meeting
The Committee decided not to meet in December and scheduled the next meeting for January 12th at 7:30 p.m. downstairs at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.
Minutes prepared by John Grossmann and Tom Dagger.