A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee was held on Jan 11, 2007 at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.  In attendance were Co-chair Andy Bulfer, John Grossmann, Maria Iacullo-Bird, Pat Rusak, Chris Sheasby, and Borough Council Liaison Ellen Emr.  Absent were Laura Fitzgerald, Margarethe Laurenzi, Joan Nix, Brigid Walsh, and Co-chair Peggy Bulfer.

Opening Items

• Introduction of new Council Liaison -- Ellen Emr has been appointed to be the new Borough Council liaison.  Emr said a few words about her support of Historic Preservation.
  
  
• Review of Membership Roster -- Andy Bulfer distributed the original ordinance defining the HPC.  It specifies that membership shall be limited to nine members.  With Bulfer's appointment and Joan Nix's resignation, the Committee is now at full strength.
  
  
• Minutes Approval -- The minutes from last time were approved electronically prior to the meeting.
  
  
• Treasurer's Report -- Treasurer Chris Sheasby reported the following financial information for the period Dec 06 2006 through Jan 11, 2007.
  
  

  Opening balance (11/01/2006)	$2693.93
  Revenue	$0.00
  Expenses	$0.00
  Closing balance (12/06/2006)	$2693.93

  
  

Old Business

• Status of Oral Histories -- Margarethe Laurenzi was not in attendance and could not give a report.  John Grossmann will check with her.  Grossman said the transcription of the David Higgins interview is completed.  It has been reviewed and approved by Higgins and sent to Andy Bulfer to be put on the Web site.  Grossmann conducted an interview with Josie Pitcher on Dec 19.  He plans to transcribe it himself as he has done in the past.
  
  
• Updating the Master Plan -- The Committee decided to defer discussion of the Donato letter until next time to insure key members would be available to discuss it. Ellen Emr and John Grossmann had not received copies and Chris Sheasby volunteered to provide them to them.
  
  
• Audio Walking Tour -- John Grossmann reported that he and Tom Dagger have not made perceptible progress on the audio walking tour since last time.
  
  
• Status of the Picture Scanning -- Andy Bulfer has put many of the photos that had been scanned by he and Pat Rusak on the Web.
  
  
• HPC Brochure -- Andy Bulfer showed a design for the brochure done by Peggy Bulfer.  The Committee was quite pleased with it.  Another picture is needed for an empty space at the end.  The members of the Committee decided to all individually review the photos on the Web site and make recommendations for the additional picture.  Several fancy bordered paper options available from a paper supplier were also submitted by Peggy Bulfer but the Committee liked the basic blue stock on which Bulfer had printed her design.
  
  
• Updating the HPC Pages on the Web Site -- Maria Iacullo-Bird is still reviewing the material but promised to have something by next meeting.
  
  
• Public Awareness of the Historic District -- Pat Rusak and Chris Sheasby reported that they had discussed the proposed public awareness program with Borough Manager Gary Webb.  Webb appeared very supportive.  He plans to assemble a first draft of a 2007 budget package for the Borough Council meeting on Jan 22 and would like a concrete proposal with costs by early next week.

  Rusak and Sheasby showed photos of signs in nearby towns and discussed design and costs with representatives of the company that produces our house plaques which also manufactures street signs.  The Committee decided on the following action plan:

  1. Rusak will send photos of the red signs in Chester to Chairman Andy Bulfer;
  2. Sheasby will send Bulfer the cost information;
  3. Sheasby and Rusak will check with the Morris County Heritage Commission on the source and costs of their signs.  Do they get quantity discounts which we could somehow share in?  Do they give grants or any type of funding assistance?
  4. Maria Iacullo-Bird will look into grants and other possible sources of funding;
  5. Andy Bulfer will forward the material with a cover letter to Webb this weekend or early next week.

New Business

• Public Participation -- The Committee adopted by unanimous voice vote a policy for public comments at its meetings.  There will be a period for public comment near the beginning of each meeting.  Each individual who wishes to speak will be allowed up to 5 minutes.  Unused speaking time by one speaker is lost, it can not be used by any other speaker.
  
  

Date for Next Meeting

The Committee normally meets the first Wednesday of the month but an evening meeting time is inconvenient for many members.  So, as an experiment, the Committee decided to try a morning meeting.  The next meeting will be on Fri Feb 2, 2007 at 8:30 am in Borough Hall.

Andy Bulfer