Historical Commission

Sterling Heights Historical Commission August 1 , 2019 40255 Dodge Park Rd Sterling Heights, MI 48313 Minutes of Meeting I. Call to Order Meeting was called to order at 6:03 p.m. by Mott. II. Roll Call Present: Cynthia Appleton, Nicholas Cavalli , John Connor, Douglas J. Harvey, Meghan Mott, Mark Schell, Bryan Wojciechowski Absent: none Staff Present: Tammy Turgeon, Library Director III. Approval of Agenda Motion to approve the agenda was made by Appleton, supported by Cavalli. Motion carried. IV. Minutes of June 6, 2019 Cemetery walk description should state “…will talk about the history of Sterling Grove Cemetery…”. Motion to approve the minutes of the June 6, 2019 meeting as amended was made by Appleton, supported by Cavalli. Motion carried. V. Communications/Reports/Correspondence A. Upton House Status The windows will be refurbished and/or replaced starting next week. New lighting will also be installed. The vendor for the wood floors has been contracted. The plaster and paint work will be done after the windows are completed. The Commission would like an alarm on the sump pump. Commission would like to schedule a sneak preview fundraiser for November and then the house would be open for everyone at Sterling Christmas on December 7th. The Commission would like to have alcohol at the fundraiser. Turgeon will contact Chamber of Commerce to see how this is done at other events to see if it is possible. Commission will need to research rugs to purchase for the floors. VI. Unfinished Business A. Names Project Meghan will share this info with Bryan. B. Oral History Conversion Project This project was completed by the Intern. A new intern has been hired and will start at the end of August. She will work with the Commission and also work on newspaper articles scanning and deduping. C. Historical Display in Library Mott has already put in her shelf. Connor and Cavalli still have to add. Mott is trying to get a display from UofM of photos of Holcombe Beach for the Feb 2020 – July 2020 display. Depending on the Library construction, this display may be unavailable starting in February. Once Turgeon has a schedule of work then she will let the Commission know. D. Historical Marker Program No new applications. Houses must be 60+ years old. E. City Bus Tour (June 8) Tours went well. Commission will do two next year at 9am and 11am. June 13th is first choice, June 6th second choice. The tour route may be updated. Turgeon will get date from Parks & Recreation. F. Cemetery Walk (October 19) Turgeon will ask about Cemetery Walk meeting at Senior Center instead of the Library. Turgeon will buy cider and donuts. We have tours at 2pm, 4pm and 6pm, cost is $5 and a limit of 20 people on each tour. There will be four characters – Meghan, Mark’s daughter, Nick’s friend, Mark’s daughter’s friend. There will be two tour guides – Cynthia and Nick. Turgeon will get a wifi hotspot and provide food for the characters. At least one of the characters needs to keep a car on site so that they can sit in there between each tour. Turgeon will ask SHTV to make 10 copies of a previous cemetery walk on VHS and convert to DVD. Turgeon will contact DPW to fill holes. Mott will let Turgeon know if lanterns or luminaria need to be purchased. G. Inventory / Policy Statement Appleton is working on a manual H. Purchasing Items for the Upton House  A Commissioner/volunteer is needed to research rugs and Christmas decorations so they can be purchased before the opening. I. Sterling Heights History Traveling Box Mott put this on google docs as a future project. Maybe an MCHA grant can be applied for? These are usually done in March. VII. New Business A. Upton House Displays The city history room will be the room with the television. The long room will be for community life. The cupola room will be for other house residents and the maps. The children’s items will be in the closet area. The office will be a work room for commissioners/volunteers/library staff. Cataloging will begin in January. B. Upton House Sneak Preview Event Commission would like to host a fundraiser for the Upton House and support its transformation to a museum. It would be a sneak preview event before the house is open for the public for Sterling Christmas. Target date would be November 19th from 5:30-7:30pm with remarks at 6pm. The backup date would be December 6th. Tickets would be $25 and limited to 50 people. The Commission would like to have beer/wine (2 drink tickets) and hors d'oeuvres. Invitations would need to be created and sent out. November 1st would be the deadline to know if it can be held in November. Suggestion was made to have the Mayor and also Representative Shannon speak (he was the Councilman at the time that proposed to provide the Historical Commission with a budget. Commission thought maybe could get sponsors for decorations. Turgeon will research to see if alcohol can be included in the event. C. Sterling Christmas Event will be held December 7th. VIII. Communications from Citizens MCHA wants to have a workshop about disaster planning. Turgeon will find out when the Programming Center will be available between mid-February and mid- March on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday from 9am-3pm. IX. Adjourn Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Cavalli, seconded by Connor. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. Next meeting: Commission decided to change next meeting date to October 2, 2019 at 6 p.m. at Library due to lack of availability. There will be meetings on September 10th and 24th at 6pm at the Library to work on the Upton House inventory. Turgeon will invite the new intern. The characters for the cemetery walk will arrange two practices in October to finalize the cemetery walk