OCONOMOWOC HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Board Minutes/July 10, 2006

Museum

OHS Members Present: Valerie Davis, Chuck Herro, Nancy Lins, John Fishleigh, Pam Thomas, Ed Johnson, Barbara Elwood-Goetsch, Betty Hancock, Ray Maurer, Fran Durkin, Mary Hart, Duane Thorsen, Ann Zimmerman, Marjorie Day, Don Wiemer, Ruth Behling, Margie Krauski, Diane Johnson, Duane Hoffmann, Dorothy St. Thomas and Hilton Neal.

President Ed Johnson opened the meeting at 4:02pm.

Secretary’s Reports: It was noted that the spelling of the furniture store mentioned in the artifacts report in the June minutes should be Lyke Furniture, not Light Furniture. Don Wiemer moved and John Fishleigh seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the June 12, 2006 board meeting with the correction noted. Motion carried. Pam was thanked for her secretarial role with the board.

Treasurer’s Report:

• John Fishleigh distributed the P & L Budget vs. Actual through June 2006.
• P & L for June 2006, showed total income of $520.43 and expenses of $3,287.31 for a net income of -$2,766.88. Checking account YTD is at $1,368.02 and savings YTD is $19,876.44. Certificate of deposit is $60,000 and the Vanguard Index Fund is at $6,665.51
• Don Wiemer moved and Nancy Lins seconded a motion to accept the Treasurer’s report. Motion carried.

Development Committee:

• Public Awareness-No response from the Enterprise as yet but Gabe at the Focus thinks it is a great idea and will print our pictures when they have space. We have turned one picture in and it is ready to be printed. We will have more available soon for them to print when they have room.
• Joint Display with Pabst Farms-Don Wiemer reported the ball is back in Denny Daggett’s court. Denny returned the book he borrowed from Don, but didn’t have anything to report at that time on the joint display.
• Doorways of Oconomowoc Poster: Margie Krauski’s committee met and came up with sixty doorways of interest. Thirty-eight of them were sent letters with a legal waiver that would allow us to take photos of their doorways to use on the poster. Doug Stern helped Margie with the letter. She has received two back already with a yes. Even though they agree, it doesn’t mean their doorway will be on the poster, but each one will receive an 8”x10” picture of their doorway. The legend will be on the back of the poster on an 8 ½”x11’ sheet of paper to identify the door by address and its historical interest or significance.

Because a previous quote on cost was $25-$30 per poster, Margie checked with Kinko’s and they will send it to California for a higher quality, high gloss paper, 18”x 24”, at a cost of $1.35 each if we order 500 posters. After 6 months of giving the poster to $100 and above donors we could sell them to the public for $20 each. Possibly we could have the poster framed for a larger donation. Hilton Neal made a motion to approve (not to exceed) a $1,500 budget for this committee to operate on. Duane Thorsen seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Museum Operations:

• Visitors: 117 visitors since last meeting. 57 were walk-ins; 41 were from Little Lambs Daycare and 19 Questers from Illinois. Museum was closed 3 days in June due to docents not being available. Thank you to Dorothy St. Thomas and Nancy Lins for helping docents out in June.
• Building Maintenance: Duane Hoffmann spoke to Swede from Swede’s Masonry and he is looking at the balcony crack. Water was found on the floor upstairs because the furnace/AC was plugged up. This is the second time this happened. Valerie called Pat’s Heating and they came and fixed the problem. The floor ended up being warped but no artifacts were damaged. Valerie felt we should have Pat’s come out 2 times per year to check the furnace and air conditioning. The Board requested Valerie to call Pat’s Heating and request a maintenance agreement and an estimate on a high-energy furnace. She will notify Hilton when they are coming in.
• Ed and Valerie need to get together soon to coordinate a schedule for the four months she will be gone. Valerie said the new displays are already scheduled and being developed but the tours and meetings scheduled during those four months will be a problem. Someone needs to be in charge of that area while she is gone.
• Valerie reminded board members to check out our website. Thanks to Don Wiemer it has developed into a great spot to visit. If you can’t get to a meeting you can always go to the website. Thank you again Don for all you do for the Historical Society and the museum.

Artifacts:

• Marjorie’s report is in the newsletter. Duane Hoffmann spoke to Stan Christiansen regarding moving the elk. Stan said it weighs over 1,000 pounds and cannot be tipped. Either the doors have to be enlarged or a bubble put over it so it can stay outside. Stan will help move it when we are ready.

Membership:

• Barbara Elwood-Goetsch reported the membership list has been updated since the last board meeting. Delinquent members from 2002-2003 have been dropped. The free membership list was evaluated and all the US and Wisconsin Legislators were added. Barb is still updating email addresses and volunteers. Currently we have 323 members (singles and couples) with 45 delinquent; 8 organizations with 1 delinquent and 39 free memberships.

Newsletter:

• Newsletter ready to be mailed, will go out tomorrow.

Docents:

• No report addressed issue in newsletter

Speakers:

• July, 2006: Keith Franz—Venerable Historical Fire Department
• October, 2006: April, 2006: Joe St. Thomas—Oconomowoc School System and/or Town of Oconomowoc.
• January, 2007, Don Wiemer.
• April, 2007-Tenative-Chuck Herro on Marjorie Ward Baker

PR:

• Ray Maurer has publicity for July Quarterly meeting handled, but will need more information on Ice Cream Social and raffle to get to the newspapers.

Local History Committee:

• Met on June 15^th at 10:30am at the museum. Lavinia Rockwell letters should be done this week. The June Library display was excellent, especially the two paintings done by WW II prisoners while working at the pea cannery. The committee will not meet in July or August.

Special Events:

• Ice Cream Social: Diane Johnson thanked Mary Jane Kamber for an excellent notebook to follow and to Ray Maurer for his help in getting a sign on the Village Green. Diane checked into the purchase of tables from Sam’s Club. Their 8’ tables cost $69.74 and a 6’ was $44.84. We will need 6 tables for the social and then they could be used at the museum since they are light enough for Valerie to handle by herself. Hilton Neal moved to purchase 6 8’ tables. Marjorie Day seconded the motion. Motion carried. Diane will check on price of Sam’s 4’ tables, but we will probably use card tables instead.

Diane also hasn’t heard back from Denny Daggett regarding Pabst sponsoring the Ice Cream Social. Poster samples were in the book and will be reprinted and members will pass them out in the community. Pricing will remain the same: $2/single scoop; $2.50/two scoops; $3.25/sundae and $3.25/Root Beer float. A sign up sheet was passed around for the board to volunteer for the social and it will be passed around at the Quarterly meeting.

• Raffle: Valerie hasn’t gotten the tickets yet. They should be here by the Quarterly meeting and she will mail them to members. Next year the raffle license and tickets should be acquired sooner.

Valerie would also like to have an in house raffle for a “Fire Basket”. She would like assistance in acquiring items for the basket…anything associated with hot or fire would work. This will be raffled off at the January Quarterly meeting as this is the most attended meeting.

Old Business:

• Computer: Nancy Lins hasn’t purchased a computer for the office as yet, she is waiting for the price to come down in the fall. Since it was not budgeted for this year it will be put on hold for next year’s budget.
• DVD’s: on hold for now.

New Business:

• Ed will meet next month with the nominating committee to pick new directors and 3 officers to be elected at the October meeting.

Don Wiemer moved and Mary Hart seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 5:13pm.

Next Quarterly meeting is Saturday, July 29^th at 10am at the museum.

Next Board Meeting: Monday, August 14^th at 4pm at the museum.

Respectfully submitted,

Pam Thomas/Secretary