Meramec Valley Historical Society

Public Notice posted in accordance with 610 RSMo as amended Date/Time Posted: Friday, May 5, 2023, 2:30 p.m. Meramec Valley Historical Society 300 Hoven Dr, Pacific, MO 63069 Wednesday, May 10, 2023 5:00 PM This meeting is open to the public. The meeting will be streamed live on the City of Pacific YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9dxzhHQWbPuIQJC1N6TSig 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Minutes 4. Public Comments 5. New Business a. Election of a Chairman 6. Old Business a. Red Cedar Update b. Plaques c. Volunteers/New Hires 7. Reports a. Alderman b. Research c. Director of Tourism 8. Miscellaneous 9. Adjournment  CITY OF PACIFIC Meramec Valley Historical Society Meeting 300 Hoven Dr Pacific, MO 63069 April 12, 2023 at 5:00p.m. Call to order: The regular meeting was called to order at 5:00 pm by Chairman Titter. Present for the Meramec Valley Historical Society: Jeff Titter, Donna Graham, Wayne Winchester, Bonnie Post, Dennis Oliver. Absent: City Staff: Tourism Director O’Malley, Community Development Clerk Wilson, Aldermen Scott Lesh Approval of Minutes Motion by Donna Graham, seconded by Wayne Winchester to approve the minutes from February 16, 2023. A voice vote was taken with an affirmative result. Treasurer Report No new report Public Participation No public participation New Business A. Budget Tourism Director O’Malley said that the committee had requested $10,000 be submitted for approval for a budget. She also put together a wish list for stuff at the museum. She knows not everything is going to happen, but she aimed big. She did request $60,000 for the historic walking tour with plaques. She said the committee had told her they would like to have plaques put on the historic buildings around town. She would like to put a QR code next to the plaques that people could scan to get more information about the building’s history. It would be it easier to up the information on a website rather than replacing plaques. She thinks they will have to ask local businesses for help with purchasing the plaques, but added it onto the budget request since there about 40 buildings and general cost would be about $1,500 per building. She says they may only get a few buildings done this year depending on budget, but it’s a start. Chairman Titter said he suggested $10,000 to Kelly for the Committee because that could help if we want to reprint any books or create any postcards that could be sold at Red Cedar. Wayne Winchester says that he donated plaques to someone for the Red Cedar and the Winchester Building. He is not sure who has them, but he did donate them and one point. Bonnie Post says that City Administrator Roth had put in the administrative committee a report that their committee money, what was $7,000 before the shelves and laptop, he wasn’t sure where it was going to be whether in the general fund or not. Tourism Director O’Malley said she thinks that is still a decision to be made. Chairman Titter says that right now it’s in a restricted account. He would imagine if it goes to the general fund that it would still be a line item as the Meramec Valley Historical Committee. Donna Graham said that she believes that is what City Administrator Roth had said. That it would be a line item. Bonnie Post says that in the minutes it says that the committee had not spent any money since 1 they came into the city. Tourism Director O’Malley says that is as far back as they looked but it could have been even further back than that. Chairman Titter says that in the past if the committee needed anything they would take it to the City Administrator and he would approve it out of the general funds. Bonnie Post says she’s curious since they haven’t made any significant requests if they could possibly get the funds for the plaques bumped up on the wish list. Tourism Director O’Malley says that it would be in the Board of Aldermen’s hands. The committee can submit requests for whatever they want for board consideration. Chairman Titter asks Bonnie Post if she has a list she would like to submit. She says not at this time, but she believes they are going to talk about the plaque project at tonight’s meeting. B. Building Plaques Bonnie Post requested quotes from Linda and Andrew Bruns here in town and also researched some online. She also has a third quote coming in but she doesn’t have it yet. She has Dennis Oliver’s old quote for a 13 x 16 plaque that has a limited amount of characters on it, todays price is $1,960 for that same plaque. She believes those prices from before had been from 2019. Ms. Post says that Sue and Chris Niemueller worked on a project for the bicentennial and she has those 10 that were already done. She says it’s a starting point. The pictures that were included in the committee packet are examples of plaques. She questions whether they want bronze or a different material. Chairman Titter thinks they need to come up with a standard that there are not several different styles of plaques out there. He says the bigger they get or the more words on them the more expensive they are. He agrees with Tourism Director O’Malley that if they get something with a QR code then the plaque could have a brief synopsis and then go to the website for a more detailed history with pictures. Tourism Director O’Malley recommends not having the QR code on the plaque itself since technology is always changing, but have it hanging near the plaque. Dennis Oliver joined the meeting at 5:10pm Dennis Oliver is brought up to speed on what has been discussed so far. He says that he agrees we need to create a standard and then he could have one made up for his building so they could see it. Chairman Titter asks Tourism Director O’Malley how much she requested on the budget. She says $60,000. Chairman Titter says that he understands how the budget process works, so they will have to wait and see how much they are approved for. Dennis Oliver said that if no budget was approved, he would just pay for his building’s plaque. Chairman Titter suggest a subcommittee to discuss a plaque standard and set parameters. Dennis Oliver and Bonnie Post volunteered to be on the subcommittee. C. Volunteers Tourism Director O’Malley says they are definitely needing volunteers now. She needs people to come and go through pictures and papers for their interactives. She says she has one volunteer who is coming up to help put together 15 shelves, but could use more for that project also. Chairman Titter asks anyone watching on YouTube if they are interested in volunteering to contact Tourism Director O’Malley. Bonnie Post asked if the high school or East Central College has any students who may want to volunteer. Wayne Winchester suggested reaching out to the scouting troops. Chairman Titter suggested putting a call out on social media. D. Family Research Website Tourism Director O’Malley says that this is a website recommended by Robert Daniel. He said he could get it for us to look up family research history. We need to make sure we have a static IP address and it 2 has to be displayed on a sign somewhere that we have the Family Research website that the community can utilize for free. She wants to know if that is something the committee would be interested in having on the computer. She says it’s similar to ancestry.com but claims to be more user friendly. Donna Graham asked if we get IT support from the city. Tourism Director O’Malley said yes that we do. Motion made by Dennis Oliver, seconded by Donna Graham to approve getting Family Research website on the computer. A voice vote was taken with an affirmative result. Old Business Tourism Director O’Malley gives a Red Cedar Update. She says the contractor would be tomorrow around 11am to hopefully finish up a few things. Bays is supposed to be out by Friday to hook up the internet. She is waiting on Brenda to get the high-resolution pictures. Derek drove out there the other day, but they have been unable to get a hold of her. She cannot send the panels off until she has those high-resolution pictures. Once the panels are sent off it will take 3-4 weeks to get them back finished. She received a price for the tops of the interactives, so all they need approval then she can get those ordered. They are also a 3–4-week turnaround. She says that if all of these things happen this week then they could be in a really good place by the end of May. Donna Graham asked how the children’s section was coming along. Tourism Director O’Malley says it’s ready for us to move into it. The projectors are hung, but since we don’t have internet, we can do anything with them. She can’t put everything together just yet because they don’t have occupancy. She has two potential hires for Red Cedar, genealogy, and events. She is still looking for more. She says you can work anywhere from 6-25 hours a week, so it’s not a huge commitment. Bonnie Post asks if we have any marketing photos of Red Cedar Inn on the city website. Tourism Director O’Malley said that we do not. She has not had time and that is why she needs the volunteers. There is a ton of research to be doing right now. Reports A. Treasurer Committee reviewed the March statement provided in their packets. B. Research None to report C. Director of Tourism Tourism Director O’Malley said that the Tri County Senior has a small cannon they are offering for our collection. It is an inside piece. She doesn’t see a need for it right now, but may be cool for later on down the road. If the committee is ok with it she will ask them to hang on to it until they are ready to use it. The laptop is in…Yay! That will help Jeff, Donna, and I next week when they come to help me start to slowly put stuff in as we all learn the program. Misc Chairman Titter asked Aldermen Lesh if there was anything he would like to share. Aldermen Lesh said that he is temporary the liason for the committee and wanted to know if they would like him to take anything back to the board. Budget was resounding answer. Bonnie Post asked if anyone knew when the genealogy room would be functional. Tourism Director O’Malley said no. Hopefully next week they can get the shelves built and put in. The computer is there but ArchTech still needs to install it. 3 Bonnie Post asked if the neon Red Cedar sign had been approved. Tourism Director O’Malley said yes and it has been ordered. The old sign that has been refurbished is going to be hung inside the building. Adjournment Motion made by Donna Graham, seconded by Dennis Oliver. A voice vote was taken with an affirmative result. Meeting adjourned at 5:35 p.m. 4