LAKE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
December 12, 2015 10am
Gibson Museum & Cultural Center
LCHS Officers & Directors present: Voris Brumfield, Kimberly Haynie, Bonnie Skee, Jackie Ridgel, Fred Castaldo, John Parker, Nick Voegtly, Patricia Wilson & Phil Smoley. Committee chairs & guests present: Greg Dills, Mark Bredt, Marina Vedovi, Sarah Ryan & Karola Kennedy.
The meeting was called to order by President Voris Brumfield who also led the Pledge of Allegiance. Introductions were done. The minutes of the October 10, 2015 board meeting and the November 15, 2015 Thanksgiving meeting were opened for discussion. John moved to approve as submitted, Nick 2nd and the minutes were approved.
Marina Vedovi let us know that she may be interested in being District 1 director and asked about the responsibilities of the position. After a discussion Jackie nominated Marina to that position, Patricia 2nd and all were in agreement. Her position will be voted on by the general membership at our next meeting. We still need to find a qualified President and District 5 director.
Financial Reports: Our balance in our working account is $8393.14. There were several deposits from Ely. The Whiskey tasting event was a big success along with a $1000 anonymous donation. Also the quilt raffle raised $892 and the ongoing Fiddler’s Jam donations. We also had book sales and the profit from the Thanksgiving dinner. Fred will email a spreadsheet showing income & expenses.
Our ETrade account balance is $30,956. The 10/30/15 dividend was reinvested. Fundraising is of the upmost importance.
The State reports required by Kamala Harris’ office have been completed. The raffle permit has also been renewed. An audit will be scheduled with CPA Marlene Wentz.
Museum Report & Facilities Update: Mark Bredt from Gibson Museum said they are semi-dormant since the Valley fire in September. Events and exhibit committees are still working behind the scene. Marina said when volunteers are there working guests do come in and they intend to get back to their Wednesday, Friday & Saturday schedule in January 2016. Gibson has received donations totaling $5500 recently. They have a problem with the heater and the County will be taking care of that. The shed out back is still in progress but the directions are somewhat difficult.
Nick noted the step up and step down into the room we were holding the meeting was a hazard. There were several suggestions. Nick will write a proposal to hopefully alleviate it before there is a problem.
Christmas in Middletown is scheduled for tonight.
Proposed changes to MOU with LCHS: Mark Bredt indicated Gibson Museum & Cultural Center wants autonomy because Gibson cannot make an agreement or contract with anyone based on the MOU we have with the County of Lake. The most recent problem was Mark wanting to do business under Queqe Publications at Gibson Museum publishing the Middletown Mercury News. Mark indicates Gibson does not want to have to ask the LCHS for permission when they decide to do something.
This subject is too much to discuss at a board meeting therefore a committee was formed made up of Kevin Engle, Patricia Wilson, John Parker and Nick Voegtly. We do not want conflict, just protection. Mark said that is a perfect example of the problem. Kimberly is concerned about giving autonomy. Marina said everything that has been done has been Gibson’s. The Gibson group did not have the MOU information. Voris followed the MOU between the County and LCHS regarding Ely Stage Stop. We may need a MOU between Ely and LCHS and Gibson and LCHS. Mark feels it should be policies & procedures rather than an agreement or MOU.
Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum: The blacksmith shop is closed in. Ely is having a Christmas Marketplace on December 19th in the barn. 10 vendors are scheduled. Greg will be there for tractor rides and Santa is also going to be there.
Books: Phil has a $300 wholesale order. We need to link all three websites and have 1 book sale account with PayPal. Postal History is one of our best-selling books and we are in need of more, however they are out of print. We asked Phil for a breakdown of costs in order to get more printed.
PEG digitalization: John made a motion to request Kevin Engle to obtain raw footage from Alan Markowitz with a schedule of the videos he has done and get a copy of the jump drive. Nick 2nd and all approved.
Membership: We currently have 390 members. Nick provided us with the number of members who are still active that joined in every year since 1972, however the total number that joined each year was not available. Voris will try to send a letter to members asking for donations.
Valley Fire artifacts retrieval: Property owners must either sign a right of entry with the County or arrange for private clean up within 30 days of County notification. The last day will be January 7, 2016.
A discussion was continued about the use of the LCHS letterhead. When requests come in they will be forwarded to John Parker and he will respond on his own letterhead instead of LCHS. John indicated he is not trying to get work by sending these letters and if he waits for the board to approve, it will be too late to respond. The issue was specifically the Hoberg “go fund me” request and a letter sent for funds to preserve archeology on 130 burn sites.
Kimberly feels he should email the board for an OK. Nick suggested the routine requests from California Environmental Quality Act are OK for John to respond to and all agreed. Karola Kennedy and Sarah Ryan are guests from the ELEM Rancheria and wanted to make sure we know that they think John is a gem and they would like the LCHS to be more involved. Turn around time on these issues is critical and they feel John’s letter for funds was timely.
Voris will ask Jan Cook to write a letter thanking everyone who participated in our events this year. The renewing members will be listed in the Pomo bulletin.
Greg Dills received a call from Leone Neumann asking about the Neumann fence.
John is applying for curation status with the Federal government and will meet with Tony Pierucci. Nick has applied for two $500 grants from Chevron due to him volunteering for LCHS.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:36pm.
Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Skee, recording secretary.