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HomeMy Public PortalAbout01-21-2016 Minutes HCC Regular Meeting Minutes Hillsborough Cemetery Committee Thursday, January 21, 2016 9:00 a.m., Town Barn Present: Chair Ken Ostrand, Evelyn Poole-Kober, Jane Gaede, David McCullough, Vice Chair Ashley DeSena, Lisa Williams Absent: Archivist Bartow Culp Staff: Ken Hines, Jamie Johnson, Stephanie Trueblood Item 1: Call meeting to order, and confirm presence of a quorum Chair Ostrand called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. He called the roll and confirmed the presence of a quorum. Item 2: Consideration of changes, additions or adjustments to the agenda There were no changes. Chair Ostrand approved the agenda. Item 3: Approval of minutes from November 12, 2015 meeting Motion: Mr. McCullough made a motion to approve the minutes from the November 12, 2015 meeting. Second: Ms. Williams seconded the motion. Vote: Unanimous Item 4: Guest Speaker: Stephanie Trueblood, on matters concerning the cemeteries and the Historic District Commission Ms. Trueblood gave an overview of the Certified Local Government (CLG) grant process and her role as the grant coordinator for the Town of Hillsborough. All grant applications through CLG must receive approval by the Historic District Commission. The CLG grant process starts in October and continues through November with approval from the HDC. After their approval, the preparation of the grant material begins. The CLG grant requests should only be for work over $10,000. The town can find $750 to $1,000 for developing a brochure without going through a difficult grant writing process. Because of the grant process tangle, state employees in the State Historic Preservation Office proposed grant funding a workshop highlighting a local cemetery. The state wants to include a Ground Penetrating Radar sample, information about the Presbyterian Church’s archaeological investigation, and Dean Ruedrich’s restoration work. They do not want Dean Ruedrich to teach anyone to repair stones. They want him to talk about repairing stones and possibly clean or discuss the process of cleaning the stones. 2 They will open up the cemetery to state preservation commissions and the Cemetery Committee would attend. Twenty to thirty people may come if open to all 100 counties in North Carolina. The event would be great for tourism because the attendants and their guests would stay in local hotels, eat food in local restaurants, and shop in local stores. Ms. Trueblood suggested dividing up the event with several sessions as listed below:  One session on preservation, cleaning and care with Dean Ruedrich  One session for touring Hillsborough and the Old Town Cemetery  Archaeology (this session may take a while)  Ground Penetrating Radar demonstration (three hour block)  Registration, name tags, snack, lunch – all take blocks of time The state will take care of public information, marketing and advertising for the event. The town will put together smaller details for the event such as food, photocopies and other administrative tasks in addition to organizing the facilities and hopefully getting positive publicity. A representative from the Cemetery Committee will need to go before the HDC and present for approval at their February 3, 2016 meeting and all materials are due by tomorrow, January 22. Vice Chair DeSena will go before the HDC to present this project. The total amount needed for the event will be $1,500 and this number was generated by Michelle in the state office. Ms. Trueblood asked the state office if the cemetery workshop CLG grant application will create conflict or competition for the HDC’s grant application to expand the historic district that will be submitted this year. The state office assured Ms. Trueblood that since they came up with the idea to fund the workshop that it would not create a conflict for funding. Ms. Trueblood presented the mockup for the Margaret Lane Cemetery interpretive sign to each committee member for review and comment. The center text was generated by Mr. McCullough and Betty Eidner. Mr. McCullough mentioned that there is some additional text missing from the center section of the sign and that it needs to be updated. The map on the sign is from a brochure found at Town Hall. The graphic designer, Devon, hasn’t done the graphic design portion of the sign yet. Ms. Trueblood mentioned that the map is fascinating because you don’t realize that there are that many graves in the cemetery or what the stones represent. Ms. Trueblood asked the committee if the sign should remain green or if burgundy and gold would seem more fitting. She went into more detail about the other interpretive and wayfinding signage throughout town. Ms. Trueblood mentioned that she is a colors person and that she preferred the green. Ms. Poole- Kober indicated she liked Ms. Trueblood’s idea for colors. There is a call out bubble on the sign that asks the reader to interact with the environment. This callout bubble needs to be filled with a question. The committee members can email Ms. Trueblood ideas for the callout bubble question as the sign will be going through the editing process over the next four months. Chair Ostrand mentioned: The tombstones are no longer here. What do you think about that? Ms. Trueblood asked the committee members to decide what should go across the bottom of the sign. Should it say, “Hillsborough” or “Town of Hillsborough?” Ms. Poole-Kober said it should say “Hillsborough.” Mr. McCullough said “Town of” isn’t needed. 3 Additional edits were requested for the text and Ms. Trueblood explained that Catherine Wright does text edits at the very end of the mockup process when making signs and that there could be multiple mockups over the next four months before the text editing process will begin. Item 5: Budget considerations update: Ken Hines Mr. Hines indicated the committee could afford brochures when the text is done. The committee will also need to print more New Town Cemetery brochures because we are completely out at this time. These brochures must be printed on higher quality paper because they are stored outside. Mr. McCullough asked if a historical section could be added before new brochures were printed. Mr. Hines mentioned that the font could possibly be decreased but all information about the rules and regulations of the cemetery need to remain on the document. If possible, we need to add a line about removing Christmas decorations. Vice Chair DeSena suggested removing some photos. Ms. Williams, Chair Ostrand and Mr. McCullough will work on adding a historical section to the current New Town Cemetery brochure. Next year’s budget includes Ground Penetrating Radar and $10,000 for stone repairs. There is money for the rock wall repair at the Old Town Cemetery. More than likely, grounds maintenance will only be contracted out one more year so stones will be better maintained. That decision is ultimately up to the town board. Due to the trees in the New Town Cemetery being a safety hazard, the Town Manager asked Mr. Hines to schedule a tree crew to cut the limbs and vines sooner rather than later for the health of the trees, safety of the public and the preservation of the stones. There is $2,000 budgeted for the former Margaret Lane Cemetery Committee. Ms. Poole-Kober mentioned using it for replacing the Cedar trees. Ms. Poole-Kober exited the meeting at 10:00 a.m. Item 6: Discussion of Old Town Cemetery (OTC) National Register of Historic Places application and Study List research update. [K. Ostrand] Chair Ostrand hopes to have a partial draft ready in the spring. He is researching thirty linear feet of Masonic records at UNC, if anyone on the committee would like to assist. Item: 7: Inscriptions and epitaph copying at the OTC, August 8 and 20, 2015 [K. Ostrand] Chair Ostrand indicated that using volunteers for copying the inscriptions and epitaphs created issues. Some signatures were difficult to read and instead were translated and written out and not spelled as they were written on the tombstones, such as “died” was used instead of “dyed.” Item 8: OTC Stone and Wall Repair: status update [K. Hines] This item was covered in Item #5. Chair Ostrand added that there were several areas where stones were slipping out of the wall that have been pushed back. Item 9: Walking OTC Brochure: status report [A. DeSena] Vice Chair DeSena has been in contact with Town of Hillsborough Public Information Officer Catherine Wright about the Walking Brochure for the Old Town Cemetery. She needs additional direction in sifting through contradictory suggestions from individual committee members before moving forward with 4 edits. Ms. Wright indicated that space is limited and she needs direction from the committee to determine the top priorities for content. A large amount of text placed on the document will mean a smaller map. The brochure is an 8.5”x14” sheet of paper that must include the town’s logo and branding, a map with burials chosen to be highlighted, and any text that is of priority to the committee about the Old Town Cemetery. Item 10: Steward Reports: MLC, OTC, NTC. Ms. Gaede reported that she’s noticed the stones in the Old Town Cemetery getting lighter over time. Vice Chair DeSena stated she missed the last meeting and would like to hear more about the stream restoration subject in the New Town Cemetery. Mr. Hines stated he is not sure if it’s going to be happening any time soon because of the new stormwater utility fee. Mr. Hines and the Public Works Department may attack the Kudzu issue with a backhoe. Item 11: Subcommittee Reports, and especially from Signage [D. McCullough] and others. The signage mockup for the Margaret Lane Cemetery was presented by Ms. Trueblood under Item #4. Mr. McCullough added that they tried to find more photos of the people who may have been buried in the Margaret Lane Cemetery for the sign but were unsuccessful. Item 12: Set next meeting date [All] The committee members suggested potential next meeting dates be March 30, March 18, or March 23 at 9:00 a.m. Ms. Johnson will check the meeting room reservation calendar and let the committee members know the next meeting date. Item 13: Adjourn Motion: Mr. McCullough made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:41 a.m. Second: Vice Chair DeSena seconded the motion. Vote: Unanimous Submitted by: Jamie Johnson, January 29, 2016 Amended by: Jamie Johnson, March 18, 2016