MINUTES OF MOUNT VERNON HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
June 15, 2022
The Historic Preservation Commission met at Mount Vernon City Hall, and via Zoom on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Commissioners present were Janet Budack, Mary Evans, Duane Eash, Donnie Moore, Wade Squiers, and Guy Booth. Leah Rogers called in via telephone. Also present was Edith Dawson.
The Minutes of the June 4, 2022 meeting were approved.
The design review item on the agenda is an application from Shane Amundson to install a chain link fence on his property located at 724 5th Ave. NW, Mount Vernon, IA. This is in the Ash Park Historic District. The chain link fence will be the same as the chain link fence approved for Ben Knake at the June 4, 2022 meeting. They will be sharing a portion of the fence that is on their adjacent property line. Upon motion by Janet Budack, seconded by Donnie Moore, the Commission approves a certificate of no material effect for the installation of a black chain link fence pursuant to the application for certificate of appropriateness.
Under new business, Mary Evans reported that she has talked with Grace Chamberlin about the commission’s facebook page. The page does need to be kept active, which means there should be some updating and usage on a weekly basis. Because Grace is on a leave from the Commission, Mary suggests that we contract with Addie Pacha to keep the facebook page active and updated for the rest of the summer. Addie has agreed to do this, and charge a nominal fee of $200 for the work she will be doing.
Mary will prepare a contract for Addie and the Commission to sign. Upon motion by Mary Evans, seconded by Janet Budack, the Commission approves the hiring of Addie Pacha for the sum of $200 to keep the facebook page active.
Under old business, Mary Evans presented the proposal for the collecting plan of the Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Commission and for the proposed deed of gift. Both documents are important to the Commission as it outlines what types of artifacts the Commission will be willing to take in as contributions that reflect the history of the community. Because of storage space, the Commission has limited artifacts to printed material and photographs, unless there is an important artifact that would not fit this description but should be within the control of the City. The Commission also discussed how we can work with people who have historical artifacts that should be preserved, but we are unable to receive. Mary has a good list of alternate sites for physical artifacts, such as furniture, equipment, or other bulky items. This will be located in our files, and perhaps on our website, so the Commission can be encouraging to anyone who has information and objects that should be preserved.
Upon motion by Janet Budack, seconded by Duane Eash, the deed of gift and the collecting plan were approved as official documents of the Commission. Duane Eash reported on his viewing of the Jennifer Price presentation of the amendment to the college district plan. He found it very interesting and very well done. The amendment was approved at the Summit. He indicated there were other presentations that were extremely interesting, and has forwarded a copy of a video regarding one of the interesting objects of a watering trough in Des Moines.
There was also a reminder that Duane will be presented his seminar on porch columns on Saturday, June 18 at the Buresh Center. Edith has volunteered to video the presentation so it can be preserved in our records.
The next meeting of the Commission is tentatively scheduled for July 2, 2022 at 9:15 a.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Guy Booth, Secretary