Individuals Present: Jennifer Ehle, Jerry Neath, Harriet Persons, Myron Bacon, Jean Hanson and Mark Hanson

A.  Call to order: Mike Bacon, co-chairman at 3:19 p.m.

B.  Approval of Minutes from September 16, 2004 meeting.

C.  Announcements

1.  Rutland Center Church and Cemetery has been accepted on the National Registry of Historic Places.

2.  Jean and Mark baled the straw left on our new land and Jean mowed it flat.

3.  Myron, Jean and Mark have added new plastic to south-facing windows. Committee agreed it would be good to do the same to the north facing windows.

4.  Communication with architectural intern Jason Ekstrom re next steps

Next week he will meet with Arlan Kay. They will write a report. This we will take to the Historical Society, either late in the year or early next. Once the report is approved, we can begin the restoration project. They have provided a Scope of Work/Wish list.

5.   State historical society conference coming Oct. 22. Very worth while says Jennifer and Myron.

6.   Received a couple of interesting donations

a.  Harlowe Wolfe from Springfield Oregon, sent a note:

"I am a graduate from Rutland Grade School 1930. That makes me 86 years old. A little boy 12 years named Anderson, a victim of TB of the spine, died about 1928 or 29. The teacher shut down the school and we walked a block to the church and the funeral. This is very vivid in my memory."

b.  Leonard Thompson: half brother of Harlowe Wolfe:

"School teacher was Cassie Johnson.  Went to Rutland school with Hubbard kids, Noyce boys, Ruth Turner Otteson (married Oren Otteson), Leo Heifel, Charlotte Knight (lived across from school Soderholm, Victor and Hansal."

7.  Committee: we need to do a recording of these people who still have memories of the church.  Leonard Thompson came to our Open House would be excellent.  Would be good to have an organized form that one could use to guide an interview.  Suggest we leave a recorder with our subjects so they can record things as they think of them.  Also would be good send people a list of the questions we expect to ask.

8.  Myron reported on our October event to the Town Board.

9.  Jean will send a letter to the Herman Anthony family asking their advice on the wording we should use on the plaque that we will erect noting their contribution of land to the cemetery.

D.  Old Business

1.  Review of October Open House and Tour

a.  People were very pleased with the event.

b.  Agreed that we should do this again.

c.  Jennifer has prepared a good narrative description of the event.

d.  Other programs: could do a civil war theme...had a young man at our activity who was into civil war re-enactment.  Could have a re-enactment event on the grounds.  We have 12 civil war veterans buried in the cemetery.  Could publicize the names, saying we're look for ancestors to those veterans.

e.  Could also do a more generic genealogical meeting.  Help people find their relatives, share information we have and perhaps pick up some new material.  Could ask Oregon Area Historical Society if we could do a program on Civil War veterans...program could be a shown how to do genealogical history on civil war veterans, then do a tour at the church.  People may not realize that there is a computer at the WI Veterams Museum that provides info on anyone who fought in the war.

f.  Could also do a group interview where we invite people to come in on a Sunday afternoon to be interviewed about their families or learn more about those who are buried there.

g.  We need to create a calendar of things we need to do for 2005.

2.  Arnold Alanen, UW Department of Landscaping has agreed to help us find a student landscape architect, but size of our project is an issue. Should we look to local talent?

This is not something that Peter could do.  He suggested we go to the Landscape architectural school. Peter thinks a student could do the job.  He also said there is a lady who is a landscape architect who lives near Brooklyn on Union Rd: Cheryl Schmidt.  She's also a horticulturist.  Myron will contact her.  Generally speaking, landscape architects don't know much about plantings.  Peter would be willing to donate his services to plan for plants after the landscape design is done, and he could contribute some materials, others at cost.  Peter's partner knows about historical planting and might give us some ideas.

3. Publicity updating community on our progress

a.  Mark wrote press releases and provided pictures of Oct. 1 Open House.  Not sure of publishing success.

b.  Could do a press release on the national registry.  Committee decided to wait and see if our Open House release comes out.

4. Church maintenance needs

a. Move old stoves to another building for safety?

b. Clean out lawn mower, old paint cans etc?

Someone on the town board said they might have storage space.  Jean Hanson and Phil Peterson also have space.  If Jason and Arlan agree, we said we would arrange the movement of the stoves, the pulpit and perhaps some of the chairs.  Myron will call Jason.  We can then talk with someone on the Board.

5. Preservation District

a.  Myron found In the Dane County Ordinances there is a Historical Overlay District

"The purpose of the historic overlay district is to effect and accomplish the protection, enhancement and perpetuation of such sites and structures which represent or reflect elements of the county's cultural history, and to safeguard the county's historic and cultural heritage as embodied in such sites...

b.  According to Myron's understanding of the overlay district concept, we could have the church and cemetery property rezoned as part of a historical overlay district.  Myron thinks we should go ahead and ask the town to do this. He will inquire about what will be required.

6. Historical Cooksville Trust:  Jennifer circulated a brochure they use.  She thought the format of the brochure they use is worth consideration by us.

7. Jeffries Foundation:  Still considering our application.  Myron has been in email contact with them.  A grant to prepare a history of the property and the community is possible.  They do not offer grants for restoration.

E. New Business:

1. Scope of Work/Wish List provided by Architecture Network, Inc. (Jason Ekstrom)

a.  The committee did not have time to review the list in any detail.  We had concluded that the report from Jason and Arlan would be more useful.

b.  Next steps?

1)  We may have a report from Jason that we can take to the Historical Society.

2)  At our next meeting the monthly plan can be designed to include what we will be doing on the restoration.

2.  Donation categories:   We have been talking about recognizing our contributors by creating a series of categories under which we could organize those who have contributed:

Myron suggested the following levels.  The Town Board had no objection to this concept.

Platinum ($4000 and up)

Gold ($2000 to 3900)

Silver ($1000 to $1900)

Bronze ($500 to $999)

Benefactor ($100 to $499)

Supporters ($0 to $100)

Friends (annual donation of $25)

Some groups publish such a list annually, reporting only those who have contributed that year.  We agreed that our donors will be listed every time we publish the list.  And we agreed that some kind of a plaque should be set up on the property to honor those who have contributed.

F.  Next Meeting: November 18 at 1:00-2:30 p.m. at the Historical Society Building.

G. Adjournment: 4:40 p.m.

Prepared by:
Mark Hanson
October 14, 2004