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01-16-2020 HPC MIN�lk Meeting of the River Heritage Preservation Commission Elk River City Hall January 16, 2020 Members Present: Chair Debra Mortensen, Commissioners Joshua Fox, Zachary Griffiths, Lance Lindberg, and Tony Mauren Members Absent: None Others Present: Planning Manager Zack Carlton; Council Liaison Jennifer Wagner I . Call Meeting to Order Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the meeting of the Heritage Preservation Commission was called to order at 6:04 p.m. by Chair Mortensen. 2. Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 3. Consider January 16, 2020, Agenda The following items were added to the agenda: New Event Addition, Kids Activity Brochure, Cemetery Tours, and Name the Elk Contest. Moved by Commissioner Fox and seconded by Commissioner Mauren to approve the January 16, 2020, agenda with the additions listed above. Motion carried 5-0. 4. Minutes of July 25, 2019, meeting Moved by Commissioner Mauren and seconded by Commissioner Lindberg to approve the July 25, 2019, meeting minutes. Motion carried 5-0. 5.1 Jackson Street Water Tower Mr. Carlton presented the staff report, stating the city was awarded a grant in the amount of $136,367 to help fund the restoration and painting of the Jackson Street Water Tower. He stated the grant required a city's match of $25,000. He presented this grant award information to the Elk River Municipal Utilities (ERMU) Commission meeting and they authorized $90,000 in funds towards the restoration I leritage Preservation Commission sleeting Elk River Cite Hall January 16, 2020 project, which will cover the $25,000 city match amount. He stated the remainder of the funds will be placed in a fund for future property maintenance, and added that city staff is working on documentation for ownership of the water tower being transferred from ERMU to the city. Mr. Carlton stated he will be meeting with Kodet Architectural Group the next day to discuss next steps and he hopes to engage Kodet for this restoration project as they have completed all the architectural drawings and are fully aware of all aspects of the project. He invited HPC commissioners to join them for the meeting. Mr. Carlton also discussed an upcoming conference call on Feb. 5 with the Minnesota Historical Society for discussion and guidance of the grant funds. He stated he didn't have a project timeline, but he felt the goal will be to complete the restoration and landscaping by the end of 2020. Mr. Carlton stated there will be future discussion and decisions for the HPC and ERMU on creation of a historical landmark and noted this may happen in conjunction with ERMU's 100 -year anniversary in 2020. He stated General Manager Troy Adams is very keyed up for this event and the water tower restoration occurring and has some great ideas for the site. Chair Mortensen asked if she should proceed with setting up a 501(c)3 to collect money going forward. Mr. Carlton stated a non-profit could be set up for broad HPC activities in general, not specific to the water tower project as it's fully funded. He noted there is grant money available that will cover other incidentals such as plaques or historical markers for the water tower project. He stated if a park were to be created at the water tower site, Parks and Recreation would probably maintain the grounds. 5.2 Discuss Website Articles Mr. Carlton presented the staff report. He requested any feedback for the 3`d article submitted by Commissioner Mauren along with ideas for future articles. Commissioner Lindberg stated he was interested in highlighting the battles between the Ojibwe and the Dakota people as referenced in a book written by William Warren. He stated he would like to write an introduction to go along with Mr. Warren's great description of what took place plus the very early history of the settlement in the area now known as Elk River. The HPC also discussed the topics of the boxcar murders, a murder at a Hungarian wedding, the relationship between Dayton and Elk River, and the Swedes of Meadowvale. 5.3 Oral Histories Mr. Carlton discussed the list of names of those who would provide a good oral history and asked if anyone else should be on the list to please notify him. He stated �� leritage Presen-ation Convnission Meeting Elk River City Hall January 16, 2020 they have audio and video equipment available for check out. Mr. Lindberg stated the Sherburne History Center would prefer audio files. He is very interested in completing these histories. 5.4 County/History Center Partnership 5.5 Bylaws Discussion Mr. Carlton presented the staff report. The HPC discussed meeting frequency and agreed they should meet more often than four times per year. HPC members also discussed the importance of producing action items and presenting their activities to the City Council to keep them apprised of HPC activity. It was the consensus of the HPC to begin meeting every other month, continuing to meet on the third Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m., and form sub -committees with both HPC members and non-members alike to work on projects between the commission meetings to produce results to the City Council. The non-members may be people who have an interest in the functions of the HPC but don't necessarily have the time commitment to be a full-time member. HPC members would be respectful of open meeting laws. The HPC discussed adding additional members and were interested in increasing the number of members from five to seven. They discussed having a representative from the Sherburne History Center as one of the additional seats. It was the consensus of the HPC to increase the number of members from five to seven members with one of those seats specifically for a Sherburne History Center representative. Mr. Carlton explained how non-members would be identified and added to sub- committees that are formed by the HPC. Mr. Carlton discussed an important part of formerly adopting their bylaws is crafting a mission or purpose statement of the HPC. He explained the current ordinance is very specific and includes requirements regarding the responsibilities of the HPC to review plans and specifications and make recommendations to the city council. He noted he can't remember the last time the HPC had been tasked with that. He stated the downtown redevelopment would be reviewed by the HPC. Broaden the mission and purpose statement. Commissioner Fox discussed in his opinion the purpose of the HPC is to encourage, inform, and promote knowledge of the history of Elk River to the community. He noted they haven't done much reviewing of projects as noted in the current ordinance and hoped to broaden their responsibilities and duties. Heritage Preservation Commission Meeting Elk River Cit} Hall January 16, 2020 Chair Mortensen discussed the 501c3 process she worked on and the language she wrote up could be shared with the group to review. Mr. Carlton stated that could be reviewed and crafted at the next meeting. Commissioner Mauren noted in the year he's served the HPC hasn't had a project that needed review and recommendations so he asked if other responsibilities could also be included in their mission. Mr. Carlton stated yes other responsibilities could be included but the city council would have to approve any requested monies if needed to complete those responsibilities. The HPC discussed past projects requiring their review and input and noted there haven't been many. Mr. Carlton stated he will include a draft bylaw document for the HPC to review at their next meeting. 5.6 New Event Addition Commissioner Mauren explained his experience of getting involved in developing relationships with online discussion communities with people who have similar interests and then meeting up with them in person in a casual, open house -type get- together. He discussed the Facebook group called Growing Up in Elk River, noting it was a positive group of people discussing Elk River history, sharing stories, memories, and photos. He suggested the HPC getting involved in this group and schedule an open house to allow bringing this positive online community to a physical place. Commissioner Mauren stated he asked the owner of Olde Main Eatery to donate their space at their restaurant for the first event. He stated the restaurant owner, who is willing to donate the space, has good insight on hosting events and suggested bringing a future event to Guardian Angels or somewhere similar, or have the event at city hall. Commissioner Mauren asked about starting a subcommittee. He noted there would be very minor expenses for things such as copies of pages from the Sherburne History Center or for refreshments. He also asked Commissioner Lindberg if he felt this was a good suggestion since Commissioner Lindberg is active on Growing Up in Elk River Facebook group and knows many of Elk River's public figures. Commissioner Lindberg noted a lot of people in that group don't live in Elk River, but he felt it would be a good idea to host something for people to share stories, photos, and memories. The HPC discussed times when a get-together would draw the most people and noted during Elk River Fest or before a summer concert along with the downtown tour. Councilmember Wagner noted the group has 3500 members on that page and is very active and would have great conversations to have. She commented that even if the HPC doesn't have projects to review and recommend, it's suggestions like �� Heritage Preservation Conurilssion sleeting Elk River City Hall January 16, 2020 these to provide PR pieces and keep the viability of the group going and noted this would be a good opportunity for subcommittee members to help. 5.7 Kids Activity Booklet Chair Mortensen discussed her kids walking tour brochure and activity booklet for ages 5+ including various history -type workbook activities. She discussed ways for the kids to complete activities to earn a badge and stated she has some information on a home computer but it's not connected to the internet. It was the consensus of the HPC to have Chair Mortensen put together a draft outline of the language for the kids activity booklet and sending it the following Tuesday so it could be distributed to the rest of the commission and they could begin reviewing it prior to the March meeting. The graphics portion of the booklet would also need to be created. 5.8 Cemetery Tours Chair Mortensen discussed scheduling the cemetery tours during the second and third weekend before Halloween for both kids and adults to participate. She explained having 5 people dressed up at each cemetery rotating cemeteries each weekend to portray some notable person buried there and speech about their life. She stated if it gets very popular, they could charge for the tour and then pay something to the interpreters. She also suggested a hayride and providing juice and cookies after the tour to talk and socialize. She felt this would be a draw for people not living in Elk River and could bring people in to shop and spend time in Elk River. Mr. Carlton asked if this would be a good opportunity to form a subcommittee. Chair Mortensen stated she felt this would be a good opportunity for forming a subcommittee as they would need members to plan these tours, find volunteers, research the buried, provide historically correct scripts, and find or create costumes. Chair Mortensen stated she needed to check with each cemetery to see if a tour could take place. Commissioner Fox offered suggestions for the researcher and script writers, noting the difficulties of drafting scripts for actors to use as first -person interpretation is difficult to do without coming across as authentic. He suggested the actors use scripts that discuss events and the ways people did things during a certain time period. He felt this would make it easier to phase in the cemetery tour as it would take a lot of research for actors to memorize to put on an accurate show. UMO Heritage Preservation Commission Meeting Elk River City I fall January 16, 2020 5.9 Name the Elk Contest Chair Mortensen stated she thought it would be fun to have a contest to name the elk statue located on Main Street. She learned the elk was owned by the dentist/orthodontist office. The HPC discussed other possible elks in the city for a possible contest. 6. Adjournment There being no further business, Chair Mortensen adjourned the meeting of the Elk River Heritage Preservation Commission at 7:34 p.m. Minutes prepared by Jennifer Green. 4(l Tina Allard City Clerk Debra Mortensen Heritage Preservation Commission Chair IN.—I