Historic Landmarks Commission

MORGANTOWN HISTORIC LANDMARKS COMMISSION MAY 16, 2018 The meeting was called to order at 7 pm in the Public Safety Building by Jeanne Grimm in Shannon’s absence. Those present were Jeanne Grimm, Bill Kawecki, Jessica Eichlin and Kathy Hanko. The minutes from the April meeting were approved. The CLG Training in conjunction with the WV Preservation Alliance is scheduled for September 20-22 in Parkersburg at the Blennerhassett and Commission members were urged to attend to fulfill our annual training requirement. Work on the Cemetery Rehabilitation Workshop scheduled for September 8th continues. The contract was approved by SHPO and put out to bid. We will need to find a place to meet for classroom training before the hands-on part at the Oak Grove Cemetery. We will also need to provide a box lunch. The Chancery Hill Grant is on schedule. Christie Venham, the consultant submitted her draft report by the May 15th deadline and SHPO has 2 months to return with comments. Jeanne met with Jennie Boulware before she finished her commitment to WVU to get the information that she had on the survey for this grant. The work on the Decker’s Creek Pedestrian Bridge continues. The bridge was constructed off site and set in place last week. It was painted and they are working on the deck and approaches. Video of the project is on the City’s website. Jeanne shared a picture postcard of the Power Station of the WV Power Traction Co that shows the area where the new bridge is located. There is no further information on plans for the Warner Theater/lower High St area. Phase II Stone Wall Project revisions were completed and returned to SHPO. There is no new information on the signage at Indian Park. There is no sign and the Kiwanis are no longer responsible for it. BOPARC has recently mowed the grass. Bill will check on the arrangements for upkeep and responsibility. The Commission decided not to replace the damaged sign in the basement of the Court House due to the cost. Kathy contacted the Morgantown History Museum and they are interested in placing it in the museum. The WV State Culture and History Commission owns it and are willing to loan it to the City. A loan agreement it being arranged. Shannon has sent a letter to the City of Morgantown to check on the status of the brick street replacement of South Walnut Street that was scheduled to be done during this construction season. After last month’s meeting, Jessica checked on the location of Zackquill Morgan’s home. It was not at the location that Mr. Hastings was inquiring about. Jeanne reviewed the WV State Cemetery codes in response to another question that he had raised. Courtney Zimmerman has been selected to the work on the Sabraton Survey Grant and her contract is in process. Bill is gathering figures for next year’s budget. It should be at least the same as last year and possibly a little more. Jeanne is working with SHPO to identify topics for future workshops. She has also developed an idea for next year’s MHLC Roundtable in March with an emphasis on genealogy research. It will also include reports from the consultants that are doing projects for us and someone from SHPO to do a training section. We will plan to hold June’s meeting in the classroom of the Public Safety Building so that we can see a GIS map with the locations of the areas that have been surveyed. Jessica is drafting a proposal for maintaining a Facebook page for the Commission. She will have more information at the next meeting. Meeting was adjourned. Submitted by Kathy Hanko