1.  Call to order by Jean Hanson, Assistant co-chairperson

Individuals present: Jerry Neath, Mike Bacon, Jennifer Ehle, Becca DuBey, Cindy Bacon, Jean Hanson, and Mark Hanson

2.  Approval of Minutes of the October 13th meeting. Minutes were approved with minor corrections.

3.  Communications to the committee

a.  Newspaper article from Wisconsin State Journal headlined "Benefit set to help restore church."

The report states, "A contribution from the Jeffris Family Foundation of Janesville is helping pay for part of the restoration (of the St. Augustine church in new Diggings). Another $483,000 is needed to complete the job."

Question: Should we explore sending a grant proposal to the Jeffris Family Foundation for our project?

Answer: Will not approach Jeffries Foundation until after we have met with the Board.

b. Portions of the Theodore Arthur Waterman biography, written by his wife, Ruth Waterman.

c. A letter from Mrs. Waterman that accompanied her donation of $2,000 to the Rutland Church restoration project.

d. Summary of donations to our project from Dawn George.

Bottom line shows $6473.14, which does not include the $2000 sent by Ruth Waterman.

e. A letter from Mrs. Walter S. Gollmar (nee: Ruth Morrison)

containing a $25 donation, information about family members buried in the cemetery and two pictures, one of the church and one of the school that was on the property at the corner of Rome Corners Road and Hwy 14. The church picture clearly shows the design of the porch. (Both pictures are now available on our website).

Mike suggested we begin accumulating materials that people have sent us in some kind of a book that ultimately could be published and perhaps sold.

The Waterman biography, the letters we receive etc. will thus provide a record of what we have learned. The Oregon Historical Society is willing to scan and copy photographs and documents relating to the church or Oregon.

f. An article from the Ann Arbor News, Sunday, October 19, 2003 titled, "Breathing life back into a Church."

The article described how people restore the Salem Walker Church in Washtenaw County near Ann Arbor, Michigan.

4.  Old Business

a.  Mission statement .

Change: last line of mission statement to read: ...and ultimately make the building available for public use.

Mission Statement:  Motion made and seconded to accept the mission statement as modified.  Motion passed.

b.  Brochure : Final form needs to be approved.

Change: Cover narration now to read:

You are invited to join us in our effort to restore the Rutland Center Church and Cemetery historic site.

c.  Printing the Brochure: Report from Mark

1.  Mark reported on the following bids: All were for 500 and 1000 copies

Kinkos, Madison: 28# laser paper: $490 and $980 plus .02 per sheet for tri-folding

Office Depot: 24# brite white paper: $490 and $790 plus .01 to fold

Insty Prints: 70# opague offset $617.50; $1212.25

Woodward Printing Services (Oregon): bid to follow

2.  Jennifer reported a printing project her husband arranged with Ink Works in Stoughton.
       $692 for 8 page 8.5 x 5.5" booklet, two sheets of 8.5x11 paper stapled. Four colors; very expensive paper.

3.  Student work: One person suggested we try the high school, but said they only do black and white.

4.  Other ideas Outfit in Ft. Atkinson, like a MARC Center, might do it. Jennifer will check with Ft. Atkinson.

d.  Distribution of brochure: who, how, when

We will distribute copies in the fall mailing to Rutland Township property owners if possible. Will create displays for use in area stores that include copies of the brochure.

5. New Business

a.  Email to Mike Bacon from Dale Beske, containing comments about the brochure and our mission.

1.  Dale was concerned about readers of the brochure being confused about how their donations might be used. Changes were made to allow contributors to specify where they wanted their funds to be used.

2.  Question: Is giving people an opportunity to contribute to the cemetery going to drain funds that could be used to restore the church? Committee not concerned about that because money will be needed for fencing, repair of broken stones, etc.

b.  Discussion of our presentation to the Rutland Town Board tomorrow evening.

Mike and Jean will present the mission statement and the brochure and talk about the need for an assessment.

c.  Key question: must restoration that we recommend meet modern building codes?

1. Becca called Steve Kittlested, the building inspector for Rutland.

If we want to cosmetic restoration, but not touch existing electrical, then don't have to meet codes. Thus, re-siding, installing new windows or a new roof can be done without meeting code.  Electric would have to meet code.  If want to go beyond cosmetics, would have to hire an architect.

2. Do we need a building permit? Becca will be checking on this point. We think yes.

d.  Application to state and national registries

1.  Cost of Registering with National groups.

Archival photographs needed for application. $1200 and $1500 but another person said that sounded "too low."

2.  Need an an assessment or "nomination."

A professional architect or engineer comes on site to survey the property and evaluate.  He/she would say what needs doing and what it would cost.

3.  Brian McCormick Jim Seewell are professional architects at the Historical Society who might be available to assist us.

4.  Time line for going through the registry processing:

a) Do survey and prepare nomination (assessment): four to six weeks.

b) Review by state: They meet quarterly

c) Place on agenda for national park service: Three to six months

d) Total: Figure about a year and a half. This will give us state and national registration

e.  Assessment of our building :

The committee authorized Becca to find out what it will cost for an architect familiar with historic building practices to provide a list of what the building needs and what it will cost to restore the building.  She is asked to provide that figure at our next meeting.  Motion : Becca should proceed to obtain a proposal for an architect to conduct an assessment of the church by the next meeting.

6.  Next Meeting:  Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. at the Oregon Historical Society

7.  Adjournment: 4:40 p.m.

Prepared by
Mark Hanson
November 5, 2003