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11-17-22 MinutesPage 1 of 6 SCHERTZ HISTORICAL PRESERVATION COMMITTEE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2022 6:00 PM MEETING MINUTES Committee Members in Attendance: Patricia Barnes Becki Babcock Sue Boissonneault Robert Durham Barbara Hall Christopher Hormel Pete Perez Dr. Miguel Vazquez Roz Wise Committee Members Absent: Patrick Holmes Tricia Whitman Judy Womack City Representatives in Attendance: Brian James Cyndi Simmons Jill Whittaker CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 6:02 PM by Chair Patricia Barnes INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS Robert Durham, Patrick Naughton, and Sue Boissonneault, and Jill Whittaker introduced themselves. DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION ITEMS 1. Minutes – Consideration and/or action regarding the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of October 27, 2022. (P. Perez) • Roz Wise noted a duplicate on a motion at the bottom of page 2. Roz Wise would also like her purchases of $113.16 for the car show added to the expenditures chart on page 5. Sue Boissonneault motioned and Miguel Vazquez seconded to approve the minutes with the corrections. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Fund Expenditures – Consideration and/or action regarding the submission of member expense vouchers and approval of fund expenditures. (P. Perez) • No new fund expenditures. No action taken. 3. Committee Member Shirts (P. Perez) • New shirts with new logo? • Baseball caps with new logo? • Magnetic name tags? Pat Barnes suggested we order new shirts with the new logo. Cyndi Simmons reports that the magnetic name tags cost $9.00 each, the embroidering is $10.00 per shirt and/or hat plus the cost of the shirt and estimates the cost to be $40-50 per person. Brian James suggested that we have the name embroidered on the shirt as opposed to purchasing the name tags. Chris Hormel motioned to purchase new shirts for those who need them and have them embroidered with the new logo and their name. If you already have a new shirt, the name can be added. Roz Wise seconded. Motion passed unanimously. NEW BUSINESS Page 2 of 6 SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS 4. By-Laws (C. Hormel, Coordinator) • Review and approve only highlighted areas. • Page 2, Article III, Membership, 3.1 – Adding that three of the members may be non- residents provided that they live in one of the following counties: Bexar, Guadalupe, or Comal. • Page 2, Article IV, Meetings, 4.1 – Adding that meetings will be held on a monthly basis except for July or December, the November meeting to be held the third Thursday of the month, and the meeting time will be to 6:00 PM. • Page 5, Article XIII, 13.1.a – Items costing more than $250 do not require pre-approval by the SHPC; however, the SHPC may choose to deny the request for reimbursement. • Page 6, Article XIII, 13.1.d -- Cyndi Simmons reports that she added the tax-exempt process to as well as the form in Appendix D) Roz Wise motioned and Pete Perez seconded to approve the Bylaws as written. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Books/Calendars Report – Consideration and/or action regarding book sales activities during the last quarter and other fiscal activities. (R. Wise, Coordinator) • Nothing to report. No action taken. 6. Car Show 2023 (P. Perez, Coordinator) • Nothing to report. No action taken. 7. Main Street Restoration (P. Perez, Coordinator) • Nothing to report. No action taken. • Subcommittee Members • Pat Barnes, Ex-Officio • Becki Babcock • Patrick Holmes • Chris Hormel • Miguel Vazquez 8. Landmark/Historical Properties/Cemeteries (P. Perez, Coordinator) • Nothing to report. No action taken. • Subcommittee Members • Pat Barnes, Ex-Officio • Sue Boissonneault • Bob Harmon • Becki Babcock • Miguel Vazquez • Chris Hormel • Patrick Holmes • Pete Perez 9. Newsletter/Remembrances (R. Wise, Coordinator) Page 3 of 6 • Roz Wise reports that Dean Weirtz had published the newsletter/remembrances on a quarterly basis and occasionally would have a special edition. He would interview people personally or would pull the information from the genealogy room in the library. She has copies of the newsletter and the library has copies as well. It was suggested that we might want to reproduce the 2012 issues and restart. He would collect emails for the distribution list. • Becki Babcock suggests that we simply incorporate this project into the web and Facebook publications and will take on this project and will now be the Coordinator for this Subcommittee. • Cyndi Simmons reports that they are archived on the city website through the Boards and Commissions page. • Miguel Vazquez suggests that we get that information out because no one really knows that it exists on the city’s website. • Chris Hormel suggests that it be referenced in the Schertz Magazine. Roz Wise advised that in the “Looking Back” section of the Schertz Magazine. 10. Heritage Days Picnic (R. Wise, Coordinator) • Suggests that we cancel this event. 11. SHPC Webmaster (B. Babcock, Coordinator) • Nothing further to add (refer to #9) 12. City Museum Discussion (P. Barnes) • Per Bylaws, Article II, Purpose: “The objective of the committee will be to create a City Museum to contain pictures, artifacts, and other historical items related to the City’s past.” Pete Perez reports that he has been on the committee for 13 years and the idea has been discussed many times and were never able to secure a building. The items that were in storage had to be given away or given back to the donors due to not having storage. Chris Hormel suggested that a subcommittee be formed or merge with the Main Street Restoration Subcommittee. Jill Whittaker asked if we’ve taken inventory of the items that would be housed in a museum to determine how big of a building would be required to form a museum. Brian James commented that he also suggests that a subcommittee explore this topic. Suggests that we ask why we want a museum. What is it we’re trying to accomplish and why is a museum the best way to do it. It would be helpful to understand a bit more about what’s involved in a museum. For example, can you name a museum in another community that you envision our museum to be like. If you can’t, it probably says we need to define what this concept of the museum is. Not to say it’s not of value, but again, why do you want to do this? What is like? What’s involved for them – volunteers, operating budget, where do the funds come from, how many visitors come through a year, is it the best way to accomplish what your initial goal was which was probably to educate people about the history of the community. What similar sorts of museums have you been to in the last year Page 4 of 6 in a community in Texas? Pat Barnes responded that she went to the one in Georgetown – it wasn’t very big – but it was on Main Street and there were a lot of people walking in and out. Brian James suggested we ask, why does it get traffic? Is there a lot of foot traffic in downtown Georgetown? Roz Wise commented that the Mayor of Selma, Tom Daly, invited our group to tour their Harrison House Museum on Saturday, December 3 from 3-6 PM. She thinks we need to go and see what it’s about to give us an idea if our direction. OLD BUSINESS REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 13. Request by Committee Members that items be placed on a future agenda • No new requests 14. Requests by Committee Members to the City Manager and Staff for Information 15. Announcements by Committee Members • Chris Hormel suggested that the subcommittees all meet on the same day (possible the Thursday after this meeting) in a round-robin-type format (back-to-back). That would give us two weeks to continue to work before we meet here. If we use our time wisely, in 1 ½ hours we can attend multiple subcommittee meetings in one evening. And he’s not suggesting that every subcommittee needs to meet every time. It would just be a planned time to come together. Pat Barnes asked that all the coordinators work together and design/plan how the business is conducted by the subcommittees. Chris Hormel will send an email asking the coordinators to work on setting a regular time. • Chris Hormel asked that a Word format of the Bylaws be sent to him. Cyndi Simmons commented that this current working version needs to be approved by City Council and will be put on the December 6, 2022 agenda and after that time she will send it to him. • Roz Wise asked for an update on printing prices for the books. Brian James reports that we have received quotes for printing from various vendors. The photo history/brown book, 200 copies, the least expensive quote was $4,003.38. For the yellow book, 200 copies, 200 copies, the least expensive quote was $1,692.00. The pricing would change for fewer copies, but most likely the price per book would increase. Miguel Vazquez remarked that these prices are if we don’t make any changes; however, changes need to be made. Brian James responded, yes, these prices are for the material as generally presented to the vendor. If we add 5 chapters and it equals 70 additional pages, the price will increase. His suggestion is to make updates and edits and once we get the final version, we can re-price. Additional discussion on the books. There are 4 boxes of the brown books remaining (approximately 12 to a box). Brian James suggested that we focus on selling the books at different events. Jill Whitaker commented that as an entity, the committee has had a significant change in leadership recently and that as an entity, you may want to “circle back” and as a group ask, “Why are we here?”. Obviously, there’s love and passion for the history of Schertz, but all the things you’re doing are spokes on this wheel of how we can get the word out, but what is the word? We have a copy of the brown book and with flipping through the Page 5 of 6 pages, it’s a lot of information and there’s a lot of errors/typos. For sure we don’t want to reprint the brown book at this point. It’s also very expensive but it has a lot of pictures and information that could be pulled out and put into a display. She agrees with Brian James that as an entity we may want to refocus on what are the priorities. If you’re not solid on “the word” to start with, it’s hard to sell something you don’t know what is. The book sells the history, but it sounds like we need to regroup and refine what the history is and add to it. Does the car show add to the sharing of the story of the City of Schertz? Let’s refocus – why are we here, what is our mission – so that all the action we are taking (subcommittees) are all focused on that mission and being more specific. Changing the leadership has left the group having to pull things together haphazardly and not as efficient as it could be. The great ideas will refine during the subcommittee meetings. As the liaison from Council, we want to make sure that we’re supporting you and we do want to make sure that our commissions and boards are doing the things we see as the vision and that’s why the Bylaws have to go back to them for approval. Everybody’s heart is in the right place, she just wants to make sure that you don’t spin your wheels and 12 months later we are still talking about the books. Miguel Vasquez asked Jill Whittaker how the Main Street Restoration is coming along and how are we going to participate. Jill Whittaker responded that the Main Street Committee has its own mission and vision – infrastructure and supporting businesses. The fact that it’s happening is good for the SHPC and you should be paying attention to what’s happening. She doesn’t think there’s a mixing and mingling at this point that can occur. There’s a separate grant that’s available for historical properties. The SHPC can get the word out that grants are available to residents. Brian James commented that for the historical grant, they’ve approved broadening to the landmark properties. He suggested that at the next meeting, he can provide a 10-minute overview of the historic grant program which is under the SHPC purview so everyone understands what it is. The Main Street Committee has a focus and likely one of the roles that Dean Weirtz served was that he would offer up thoughts from a historical aesthetic perspective and it would be good if someone from the SHPC attend those quarterly. Brian James advised that all of the historic grants have gone through this committee and we haven’t had one in a while – a few years. • Brian James suggested that we focus on the items that are most important to the committee, and from what he’s heard these include: o Car Show o Monthly Newsletter o Book Edits o 2024 Calendar • Sue Boissonneault commented that thanks to Jill and David Scagliola she has Schertz pins to hand out to everyone. • Roz Wise announced that she’s working on the “Looking Back” articles for 2023 to be submitted the first of December. If you have any articles to submit, please send them to her. 16. Announcements by Chair/Co-Chair (P. Barnes/P. Perez) Page 6 of 6 • Pat Barnes remarked that she and Pete Perez are working very hard to move the committee forward and in order to do that, we need to let go of the past. She is counting on each committee member to be a working part of this committee. You are all very talented and we can do some really good work here. Let’s focus on what we need to do and work as a team. Starting in January, she wants to see us move forward. • Pete Perez has shirts left over from the car show and would like to sell them for $10.00. • Pete Perez remarked that when he and Pat took over as Chair and Vice-Chair, we didn’t really know what we were doing, but we’re not going to let this committee go down. So, if you can just bear with us, we want to bring this committee back to life and do what we’re supposed to do. Jill Whittaker responded that she loves the passion and enthusiasm – it’s just hard as you have a huge task in front of you and so many things have been started and it’s okay to let some things go. Less is more. If you do a few things really well and build a value for yourselves for the committee, people will want a book from the Historical Preservation Committee, they’re going to want a t-shirt. Once they know what you’re about and who you are and the value that you add, those things are in demand. It seems you are in reverse right now – trying to push things and get people to want them – what you want to do is create demand for something and then give them something that they’re already desiring. Your hearts are in the right place. Please let us know what we can do to help with resources or ideas. We’re here to make sure you have what you need and we’re not going to let you fail. Pete Perez remarked that he’s lived here 65 years – longer than Schertz was even a city. He’s not going to let the city go down without the truth. He believes it’s his city and wants people to know the truth. There were 500 people here when he was a kid and now it’s over 37,000 people and no one can tell him the history of Schertz because he lived it and he wants to make sure people know it the right way. Jill Whittaker asked if he had documented his oral history yet. Pete’s father is 85 and still alive and they know Schertz. Jill responded that it doesn’t matter how big we get – if our hearts stay with the history, it's always going to feel like a small town. • Sue Boissonneault asked if she could get five car show t-shirts to give to the judges. • The next meeting will be Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 6:00 PM in the Bob Andrews Conference Room. ADJOURNMENT Pete Perez motioned and Becki Babcock seconded to approve adjourn the meeting at 7:14 PM. Motion passed unanimously.