Historic Commission

Tuesday, December 17, 2019 I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7:06 pm. Present: Nancy Flannery (Chair), Barbara Dutton (Vice Chair), Steph McGrath (Secretary), Linda Moran, Bob Purdy Absent: Emelie Engling, Andrew Welker Public Comments: none II. Approval of Minutes Minutes of the November 19, 2019 meeting were approved as amended on a motion by Bob, seconded by Barbara and passed unanimously. III. Old Business A. Wheaton’s History Bike tour: Nancy informed the Commission that she is on the bike commission’s agenda for January to participate in their planning discussions. B. Steph confirmed that the “Down at the Depot” marker text and design are finalized. Nancy has requested an estimated invoice from the manufacturer but advised that the Commission will need to wait to authorize production until the final estimate is submitted. C. Bob updated the Commission on the CA&E site marker. Nancy has contacted Rene at Nameplate who said that reducing the word count will still not allow the use of two photographs. The Commission discussed using a credit line for the photo. Steph brought up the rights and reproductions issue. Bob will contact the website from which he downloaded the image for clarification and contact the City for final approval of the text and photograph use. A motion to approve the sign text was made by Linda and seconded by Bob. The vote for the motion was as follows: Nancy, Bob, and Linda = aye; Barbara and Steph = nay. The motion passed. Nancy then said she will check with the assistant city manager and city attorney regarding a credit line which Steph advocated earlier in the discussion. D. 2020 Preservation Month lecture dates are now in the Wheaton Public Library calendar system. Offering a third lecture was considered, but deemed it would require too much effort with our other scheduled activities for Preservation Month. The Commission discussed the possibility of scheduling another lecture at a different time of the year and all thought that was a better idea. E. Altering the Pride in Preservation sign design discussion was tabled until Andrew can attend, since he raised the issue. The Commission needs to determine what the desired change(s) should actually address. F. Reducing the number of commission members back to seven was discussed. This would mean a quorum would be met with only four members attending. Nancy brought up the difficulty of having a quorum with the larger number of members. Steph wondered how a tie vote would be decided with an even quorum of four. Nancy thought the chair would  have the final decision or a double vote but this question should be referred to the City Attorney. Several commissioners offered instead to work on recruiting new members to bring the Commission to full membership. G. Social media update: Nancy has met with the Media Department and was informed that all Historic Commission social media needs to go through the city staff. During this meeting, it was agreed that the Historic Commission will provide a list of dates and historic events in Wheaton for posting on the City’s Facebook page. Linda and Steph agreed to bring a list to the next Historic Commission meeting. H. The Landmarks Illinois Most Endangered List deadline is January 31, 2020. Nancy and Steph will complete an application for two Wheaton properties to bring to next month’s meeting. I. Nancy spoke with Mayor Suess recently about the home history research sessions. His feedback was very helpful and suggestions to improve the home history research sessions were discussed. IV. New Business A. The annual report draft was distributed by Nancy. Some edits were suggested. Nancy will make changes and send out an updated version to the Commission. V. Commissioner Comments None VI. Adjournment Steph moved to adjourn, Linda seconded, the motion passed unanimously; the meeting concluded at 8:40 pm. 2