OCONOMOWOC HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Board Minutes/February 12, 2007

Wilkinson Conference Center at Whitman Park

OHS Members Present: Marjorie Day, John Fishleigh, Pam Thomas, Ed Johnson, Barbara Elwood-Goetsch, Betty Hancock, Don Wiemer, Duane Hoffmann, Ray Maurer, Mike Schutz, Terry Ladwig, Ann Zimmerman, Barb Hirsch; Doug Stern and Nancy Lins.

Acting Vice-President Don Wiemer opened the meeting at 4:02pm.

Secretary’s Reports: Betty Hancock moved to accept the minutes of the January 8, 2007 Board meeting and Terry Ladwig seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report:

• The P & L Budget vs. Actual for November 2006 through January 2007 was distributed.

• P & L for January, 2007 showed total income of $9,594.88 and expenses of $2,693.88 for a net income of $6,901.00. Checking account balance as of 1/31/07 was $3,823.63, Savings account $48,135.48, Certificate of deposit is $62,274.87 and the Vanguard Total Index Fund is at $7,705.70 for total cash assets of $125,900.31.
• Nancy Lins moved to accept the January 31, 2007 financial statement. Betty Hancock seconded the motion. Motion carried.
• Ed Johnson reported receiving a letter from Craig Schiefelbein, representing OAF, with a check for $4,000 from the Bertrand’s Endowment Fund for sustaining support of the Historical Society.
• Ed also stated all tax returns have been sent.

Administrator’s Report/Museum Operations:

• Visitors: 65 members attended the Quarterly meeting at OMH and 25 people visited the museum in January.
• Volunteers: Carol Lamm will be maintaining the Society’s scrapbook. Volunteer Appreciation breakfast has been set for May 1^st. Developing a list and meeting time for Operations & Maintenance, Construction and Exhibits committees. Would also like an Exhibit Plan Committee to be formed with a 3-year time frame for members to be able to plan for future exhibits.
• Inquiries: The man who bought Marjorie Ward Baker’s Rolls Royce called and is looking for a picture of Marjorie in the car. Duane Hoffmann suggested Nancy contact Gary Fleming as his father was Marjorie’s chauffer and should have memorabilia regarding this. A call also came in regarding the Nugent family and was referred to Marci Skerpca.
• Programs: Received a request from the Oconomowoc High School for their Composition Class to visit the museum today. A scout troop would like to visit on February 17^th and a Brownie troop on March 29^th.
• Correspondence: Hilton Neal has completed the Annual Report for Wisconsin History.
• Exhibits: The Heritage Trails Questers have changed their exhibit location so the dentist’s office will remain. That area wasn’t large enough so they will take the space around the corner from the Bank exhibit. We will need signage for visitors to find the new Library exhibit. Milt continues to work on the Munger Studio but needs assistance with the construction.
• Repairs: 1.) John Radtke worked on the electrical repairs, but the light at the bottom of the ramp is not fixed as yet. He will wait until it is warmer. 2.) Mainz Plumbing came to look at the water heater and said it needs to be replaced.
• Miscellaneous: 1.) Thanks to Ray Mauer, the city will plow snow on the sidewalk up to the steps. 2.) There has been a mouse or mole infestation, traps set and 3 were caught. No food items will be left out in the future. 3.) Nancy was advised to call the Chamber for the Ice Cream Social date so she can apply for the raffle license in the future. 4.) Fire extinguishers have been checked.

Membership:

• Barbara Elwood-Goetsch reported more new members have joined the Society since last month. We now have 360 members, 13 organizations, 3 delinquent, and 41 free memberships. Currently there are 88 delinquent members on the books. Post cards will go out this month to remind past due members.

Artifacts:

• Acquisitions:

The Rhodee family gave the Historical Society both Legion Band and family artifacts. Marjorie feels we should do an exhibit on the Band and/or the Rhodee family in the future, as they have been so prominent in the Oconomowoc area.

We have also received a painting that the donor says is a Mary Noonan, although it is unsigned. She was an area artist in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.

The Grinrod family is still checking to see if one of them wants the sink their father used from that exhibit.

Ed Johnson received a call from Joel Timmel in Naples Florida. He is sending artifacts to the museum from the Valentine Estate.

Local History Committee:

• Betty Hancock reported that the committee met on January 18^th at the Oconomowoc Village Hall. Hilton Neal and Nancy Lins attended. The Committee is studying yachting on the Lakes and Barb Hirsch has finished reading a book on the Nagawicka Yacht Club. Hilton suggested purchasing a book from each of the area Yacht Clubs from the artifacts budget for the museum.
• We will have a display in the Library showcase in March on the Olympics on Fowler Lake in the 1930’s. A Rhodee family display would be good possibility for the next Library showcase. It would be an asset to use empty downtown storefront windows for displays also.
• Rae Kinn reported that the library has old films of skating events and Nancy Lins suggested they be put on a DVD for the museum.
• Next meeting will be on February 15^th at 10:30am at the Oconomowoc Village Hall.

Education Committee:

• The committee plans to provide tours for area students and keep the lines of communication open with the Public School staff because teachers are not sure what to expect when a museum tour is scheduled. They need to be encouraged to get their students to the museum.
• The committee also plans to put units of work together for the students, create a traveling exhibit for the community and develop a Scouting Day.
• In mid January Barb Elwood-Goetsch sent emails to the 4^th grade teachers as they deal with Wisconsin History in that grade. One teacher met with Barb at the museum and wants to bring 75 students to tour. She will need some volunteers to help. Ruth Behling gave her the information she started to accumulate on the current displays to incorporate into 10-minute discussions for each volunteer to share with the students.
• Barb also met with 17 High School students at the museum this morning. They were there writing essays on something historic. Barb made bookmarks for each of them.
• The Education committee meets again on February 19^th.

Elk Project:

• Duane Hoffmann reported that weather has halted the project for now. It has to be 60 degrees in able to work on the elk.
• Duane also stated the Lac La Belle Golf Club, now Rolling Hills Country Club, as being the second oldest golf course in the state. As a member of the golf club he fears a lot of the memorabilia is in jeopardy of being thrown out and there is a lot of history there. He plans to talk to the new owner and also feels the Local History Committee could do a lot with studying this subject.

Speakers:

• April 2007—Tony Rajer
• July 2007— Chuck Herro “The Gilded Age—Extended”.
• Still working on October speaker.

Old Business:

• Don is still working on getting a price for the new door lock. The original price was $1,500 but was last quoted at $588. He feels he can still do better.

New Business:

• Don Wiemer met with Terry Ladwig regarding creation of three new committees: Exhibits, Construction, and Operation and Maintenance in the near future. Terry Ladwig, Nancy Lins and Don Wiemer later met and discussed the committees we currently have, what committees are needed and defined committee responsibilities. They hope to have the new committees in place by the start of the next fiscal year. Guidelines for the Education committee will be established and the membership list will be used to tap into members who stated an interest in being a part of a committee before we loose them. Once committees are established and start meeting, a written report of the meeting will be sent to board members previous to the board meetings. Hopefully this will eliminate a lengthy board meeting if directors have the reports ahead of time.
• Nancy recommended we have bookmarks or business cards made with the email and website addresses on them to give out to the community.

Ed Johnson moved and John Fishleigh seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 4:52pm.

Next meeting will be Monday, March 12, 2007 at 4pm at Wilkinson Conference Center at Whitman Park.

Respectfully submitted,

Pam Thomas/Secretary