Historical Commission Meeting
Present: Sue D., John C., Bob C., Roseann B., Mike D., Mark C.
Absent: Adrienne B.
I. Town Flag/Presentation to the Select Board: Brimfield resident and the creator of the town flag for the town, Nick Niemiro, joined our meeting to present the flag to the commission. Two flags were recently created, one paid for by the SB and the other by the BHC. We discussed presenting the new flag for the town to the SB in a ceremony. We discussed holding it at an event of some kind and tabled the discussion until another meeting. Nick offered to keep the town's flag for the time being.
II. Appointment of Mark Conners: Mark was welcomed back to the BHC as a full time voting member. Sue D reported the website has been updated to reflect this.
III. Blight Properties project: We discussed separating this project from the BHC and creating an "Ad Hoc" committee for those concerned about abandoned properties. Anyone interested is welcome to participate and should contact Bob or Mark.
IV. Town Records: Mike reported that they are about 70% done with the vault and will then move to the second floor of the Town Hall. New archival boxed have been purchased and will be put to use for storage. The group is still working on this once per week and Mike brought in his computer to show examples of what has been cataloged to date. Our new filing cabinet will be used for storage of archived materials. The group working on this project meets on Tuesdays from 10-12.
V. Wyles House and Windmill: Bob reported that he toured the Wyles house with the parish priest. It was offered to the BHC that historical information/artifacts of interest to town history could be recovered by the Historical Commission. The house will need to be sold. John suggested the inside be photographed for a record of what it looked like. Bob reported that the maintenance on the windmill has been completed for this year. Bob suggested taking BHC members for a tour and would arrange this via email for next week.
VI. September Newsletter: Mike was congratulated for another successful newsletter for the month of September. An article about the common was suggested for October.
VII. Old Business:
A. Annex/Town Hall: It was discussed that there have been so many plans, reports, and opinions about the buildings with lots of confusion over conflicting statements. Roseann suggested applying for a grant from the Mass Preservation Fund regarding a feasibility study and would like to bring this idea to the building committee and SB. There was BHC support for this idea and it was suggested that an email be sent to be on the agenda.
New Business:
A. Todd Smola's chicken dinner bbque tickets were discussed. See Bob for information.
B. Plaque program: Mike asked Mark to take this project back on. We need to look for a vendor for plaques people can order for their historic properties. Our current vendor is out of business.
7:13 pm Motion to adjourn made by Sue D., and seconded by Roseann.