Historic Preservation Committee

Meeting Minutes – January 8, 2015

A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee ("HPC" or the "Committee") was held on January 8, 2015, in the basement meeting room at the Mountain Lakes Library. In attendance were Co-Chairs John Grossmann and Tom Dagger, Pat Rusak, Mike DeWitt, Lesley Karczewski, and Ginny Cassidy. Absent were Katy Roberts, Margaret DeWitt and new Borough Liaison Dan Happer.

Approval of Prior Meeting’s Minutes

The minutes of the December 11, 2014 meeting were approved in the form in which they were distributed to the Committee, with one minor correction.

Treasurer’s Report

John Grossmann presented the report prepared by Chris Sheasby:

Opening Balance as of 12/9/14: $30,110.11

Debits:

$388.40 Erie Landmark for 2 plaques

$136.62 Pat Rusak for Historic Pictures

$13.50 Pat Rusak for Historic Pictures

$538.52 Total Debits

Credits:

$58.00 Two Historic Pictures

Closing Balance as of 1/7/15: $29,629.59

Archivist’s Report

Pat Rusak reported that with the aid of a borrowed slide projector she will view two carrousels of slides of unknown contents passed on to her from Briarcliff School to see if any of them have historical significance.

Borough Liaison Report

In the absence of 2015 Borough liaison Dan Happer, there was no report.

Old Business

Borough Website Redesign

Mike DeWitt reported that his inquiries with the Borough webmaster had resulted in the correction of a couple of small, easily fixed typos. But still needing to be addressed are the Committee’s more substantial concerns about the "whereabouts" of various HPC content and an understanding of what portions of the many HPC pages the Committee will be able to make changes to and update on its own.

New HPC Volunteer Alex Gotthelf

John Grossmann reported that Alex Gotthelf had told him that he would be willing to serve on the Committee. John asked Gotthelf to email him a brief bio and his reasons for wanting to serve on the Committee and said he would pass that necessary information on to our Borough liaison to present to the entire Borough Council.

302 Boulevard Notice of Intent to Demolish

Tom Dagger reported no news from the homeowners and the Committee decided to wait at least several weeks before inquiring about their plans for the house.

Transition of HPC Account to Borough Administration

John Grossmann said he and Tom Dagger are still awaiting word that the Borough has switched its accounts to PNC bank.

Morris County Historic Preservation Grant

Lesley Karczewski reported that the grant she had applied for was not successful. She said only five applications were accepted and $17,000 was distributed among them. The reason given: the lack of a recent CAPES report and an insufficiently detailed description of the Committee’s long-range goals.

Lesley said she would follow up with the Morris County contact person for grants to ask for guidance, including, perhaps, a template of sorts, that could help direct the Committee’s efforts to draft a statement of long-range goals should it decide to seek another grant. She offered another possible grant request, for software that would make it much easier for researchers to search the digital cache of Mountain Lakes News.

Lacking the grant money for a laptop and software to categorize archive contents, the discussion turned to what should leap to the top of the archive digital preservation projects. Pat proposed it should be investing in high-resolution scans of the old home photos. She said she would determine the scope of the project so the Committee could price the job. Pat would do so with her Boonton source and Lesley would get a second quote from a company she has done business with.

The Committee then engaged in a discussion of what it would take in terms of time and commitment to undertake a more thoughtful—perhaps "retreat" style dedicated approach to the task of establishing a statement of long-range goals. With new member Katy Roberts absent, and prospective member Alex Gotthelf not yet aboard, the discussion was tabled until the February meeting.

HPC Sign for Events

Pat Rusak said she had not yet priced a banner to attach to the front of an HPC table at future town events. She said she would try to do so by next meeting and report back. Ginny Cassidy suggested it would be a good idea for the HPC to have a brochure of its mission and projects to hand out at such events. John said that the Committee produced such a brochure years ago and thought it is currently available at the Library. He said he would locate a digital copy.

HPC Articles for Mountain Lakes Living Magazine

Margaret DeWitt was not present to provide a listing of possible stories for 2015. John Grossmann expressed his hope that she could email such a list in the coming week or so.

New Business

In the spirit of the prior long range goals discussion, Mike DeWitt raised the possibility of the HPC playing a more active role helping the town maintain its character by documenting the town's public architecture and infrastructure and setting community wide standards. With such base-line documentation and input from the HPC, the town could better take historic considerations into account when considering future construction and renovation projects.  

Date for Next Meeting

Thursday, February 12, at the downstairs meeting room in the Library at 7:30 p.m.

Minutes prepared by John Grossmann and Tom Dagger.