Greater
March 27,
2008
The
regular meeting of the Greater Dover Historical Society was called to order by President
Madelyn Shermeyer at 7:00 p.m. at the
The
program proceeded with the swearing in of Board of Director member, Ron Botterbusch, who
was absent from the February 21 meeting due to illness.
President Shermeyer introduced Mr. Botterbusch as our guest speaker to
present a program on the civil defense during World War II.
The text of the presentation is attached to the minutes as Addendum A.
President
Shermeyer presented the February minutes and asked for any additions or corrections to the
minutes. There were several corrections made
(on pages 1, 2, 3, 4) and a motion to accept the minutes as presented as corrected was
made by Ron Botterbusch and seconded by Larry Law. All
voted in favor and motion passed.
TREASURER’S
REPORT
Joyce
thanked all the members for the excellent response on turning in the volunteer hour
sheets. The total hours were less than 2006
but we were not building the blacksmith shop which resulted in more volunteer hours. For 2007, the total volunteer hours were 3,984
compared to 4,271 for 2006.
The
treasurer’s report for February 2008 was presented by Joyce Law:
Balance
as of February 1, 2008
$9,884.18
Deposits
for February
433.74
Expenses
for February
189.03
Balance
as of February 29, 2008
$10,179.23
Joyce
asked if anyone recalls when West Manchester Historical Society agreed to pay one half the
cost of the website. Joyce cannot find records
in our minutes and neither can
Joyce
reported she received a letter in response to her submission of the IRS 8734 form stating
we will be notified in 190 days if the society qualifies as a publicly funded
organization.
Archivist
Report -- Dr. Drawbaugh was absent. Gayle
Heagy reported she has not received any new items, but Joyce Law gave her more of the
transcribed Stouch diaries. Jay Stouch has
given Joyce all the remaining diaries. Gayle
has a document for Jay Stouch to sign tonight; President Shermeyer and Lori Koch will
attest after the meeting concludes.
Webpage
Report – Brett Pfleiger was not present at the meeting. President Shermeyer reported
she emailed Brett that she has all the blacksmith shop items in order and ready to give to
him to post on the website. There are a lot of
photos of the open house and dedication, but not all will be posted to the website. President Shermeyer stated she has permission from
June Kinsey to use her open house newsletter article on the website. We will also use the information from the
dedication booklet.
Historian
Report – Cindy Snyder was not present at the meeting.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS
Blood
Root -- President Shermeyer reported she has been going through the first book and made
some notes. She reported that once Mr.
Botterbusch is feeling better, they will get together to review the books. We must use the same pictures that were in the
original book.
Adopt-a-Highway
– Lucia Hrinyak reported the March 8 pickup date was rained out and the next date will
be Saturday, April 5 at 8 a.m. at GDS Controls (rain date will be April 12). Lucia encouraged members to sign up since April is
an obligatory month.
Landscape
Committee – Lucia reported the committee met last fall to make plans for this year,
including maintenance of the chestnut tree. Lucia
stated it is the responsibility of the GDHS to water the tree on a weekly schedule from
May through the end of October, as per the recommendation by Gayle Heagy. The nursery gave Gayle a guarantee to replace the
tree if it died over the winter and does not bloom in the spring. The committee felt the responsibility of watering
the tree could be shared by members of the society, and Lucia will have a sign-up sheet
available in April. Joyce suggested that Larry
and Ted could water the tree on the Saturdays they are there for the open hours of the
blacksmith shop.
Board
of Directors’ report
Gayle
Heagy reported on an email communication from President Shermeyer regarding a poster for
campers at
Gayle
Heagy reported on a Historic York Preservation Award which is presented annually to recognize rehabilitation projects for careful attention to preserving
history. Individuals, families, businesses and nonprofits can be nominated. The awards are
given for careful and accurate rehabilitation that preserves historic appearance. They can
be given for exterior or interior preservation or preservation initiative for a
challenging project. Awards are given to the building owner, except preservation
initiative awards, which are given to the individual or group responsible. Projects must
have been completed in 2007. The awards will
be given out May 17 at the organization's 32nd Annual Meeting and Reception.
Gayle asked the membership for a vote to submit
the blacksmith shop for this award. All
members voted in favor to have Gayle complete the application and send it in before the
deadline.
OLD
BUSINESS
Adopt-a-Highway
– Lucia Hrinyak reported our two-year contract with PennDOT expires on May 17, 2008,
unless we as an organization choose to renew the contract.
Lucia indicated she will not be chair again and will allow another member to
fill that position. Unfortunately, we will
only complete 7 pickups by the time the contract expires due to the March date being
cancelled. The society needs to decide if this
is a project it wishes to continue. Lucia
reminded members that we are a volunteer organization and not all members can participate
in every project. Lucia feels the
adopt-a-highway project has run very successfully over the past 2 years with approximately
10 percent of the membership participating frequently.
Lucia believes we can continue this project as long as members participate
to the best of their ability. Lucia stated
that chairing the committee is very simple and straightforward. She has a lot of supplies that can be used for the
April pickup and any dates to follow. As
chairperson, you pick the date of the pickup, contact the liaison at PennDOT on the
Susquehanna Trail to request supplies (trash bags, gloves, orange safety vests) and notify
her of the scheduled date via email. After the
pickup is complete, the chairperson would contact the PennDOT liaison to notify her of the
number of bags, number of participants and where the trash bags can be picked up. Lucia asked if any member had questions or would
like to volunteer to be chairperson. The next
date for pickup after April will be a decision made by the new chairperson. April and October are the obligatory months and
there should be 4 pickups per year to fulfill the contract.
Melanie Green volunteered to be the chairperson. President Shermeyer thanked Melanie. Jeff Koch asked if there was a specific time of day
that supplies needed to be picked up at the PennDOT office.
Lucia stated she did not address that issue as it was not a problem for her. Melanie said she works at Rutters on
Dover
Firemen’s Fair – President Shermeyer stated we need a chairperson for the fair
committee. Last year there were 3 co-chairs
(Kay Stitley, Lois Slothower, Carol Leathery). We
have tables and will be able to use the metal backdrop provided by Kay. President Shermeyer asked if there are 2 volunteers
willing to chair the committee. There were
none. President Shermeyer asked Norma if she
had a list of items we use for display and set-up procedures. Norma did not have anything in writing. Norma stated the table set-up was usually done on
Thursday night and the display items were taken in the night before the opening day of the
fair. Jeff Koch asked what time they opened up
the basement and Kay Stitley said you need to be there between 4:30pm and 5:00pm. One person must be there to open and/or close,
especially to take home the cash box. Kay
stated that Lori and Jeff Koch came up almost every night to help close up and it was a
big help. President Shermeyer said we need a
firm decision by April. Kay Stitley mentioned
it seemed we had fewer visitors and questions this past year than in previous years. Norma said this past year seemed very different and
Kay said the crowd did not seem as interested as in past years. Jeff Koch said the weather last year was nice and
he felt people spent their time outdoors instead of inside looking at displays. The dates for the fair this year are August 30 and
September 1-6. President Shermeyer stated she
is willing to help at the display, but cannot chair the committee. Norma and Joyce stated they felt some of the nights
we had too many volunteers at the stand; 2 or 3 volunteers for each night would be
sufficient. June Kinsey asked if it was
profitable for the society to have a display at the fair.
President Shermeyer stated we did sell some replicas and signed up a couple
new members. Harry Shermeyer stated he felt
the society should continue to have a display at the fair to gain exposure for the society
and promote the preservation of
Kay
Stitley mentioned that she and Norma Botterbusch attended the West Manchester Historical
Society meeting last Monday night where they were discussing how to increase their
membership. WMHS only has 24 paid members. They have a fairly good turnout when they host
speakers, but not at their regular meetings. In
President
Shermeyer reported the introduction page for membership applications on the GDHS website
has been updated and posted accordingly. Individuals
can access a link for the membership application from this page. The list of GDHS members has also been updated.
Storage
shed security – Harry Shermeyer took care of making corrections to the lock on the
overhead garage door of the storage shed. He
added pins and washers at the bottom of the door on both sides which must be removed
before the door will open. Harry will make
adjustments to the lock and latch on the side entry door once Bob Stitley gets the inside
bar frame installed. There were some
adjustments made to the lock on the side door by Harry and Bob Stitley after Lucia noticed
it was open several days ago. There was
nothing missing from the shed.
President
Shermeyer reported the security light at the blacksmith shop was installed by Marty Green.
Chestnut
tree – Lucia Hrinyak presented a sign-up sheet for the watering schedule for the
chestnut tree at the blacksmith shop. Lucia
reported that since there are only a few members on the landscaping committee, she hopes
other members closer to the park would volunteer to water the tree on a weekly schedule. The schedule runs from the week of May 4 through
September 28 – 5 gallons per week for a dry week and no watering necessary during a wet
week. Members should provide their own
watering can or hose. After a brief discussion
regarding the schedule, the following was decided:
Weeks of May 4 through July 20 – Madelyn Shermeyer
Weeks of July 27 through September 28 – Lori & Jeff Koch
(every Wednesday)
Gayle
Heagy stated the warranty contract from the nursery is a 1-year replacement until June 1. Larry Law reported that someone donated 3 garden
hoses if we want to use those for the watering of the chestnut tree. We will have to find a secure location to store the
hoses and Joyce Law asked if we could place a storage bin near the water faucet. It was determined it would not be feasible to
purchase a storage bin large enough to hold 3 garden hoses and be able to secure it to the
ground. Lucia suggested we see how the
volunteer watering schedule works out before deciding to use the hoses and purchase a
storage bin. Other storage options were
discussed and President Shermeyer stated she would put this on the agenda for the April
meeting.
President
Shermeyer reported she has the blacksmith shop photographs mounted on the burlap covered
board for the open hours in April. The
photographs are numbered to correspond with the descriptions listed in the pamphlet. Norma Botterbusch stated she has the storage bin to
put all the supplies in that are used for the sale table in the blacksmith shop. All the items will be assembled and placed in the
bin for the April open hour’s event.
Joyce
Law reported she received an email from the GDHS website from Mr. David E. Corbin from
President
Shermeyer reported we received correspondence from the Northern York County Historical
Preservation Society regarding their 175th year history fair and seeking
exhibitors for this event. The event is
Saturday, May 17 from 8am to 4pm.
President
Shermeyer reported that in January she was contacted by Jane Heller from the York County
Conservation Alliance. They were contacting historical societies they thought may be
interested. This group advocates for
conservation of green space, farmland, streams, creeks and rivers, recreational trails and
historic sites.
President Shermeyer stated contact was made initially through Ron
Botterbusch who passed it along to her; she said it did not appear to be something our
GDHS mission statement says we should be doing. President
Shermeyer copied the email and forwarded it to all Board of Director members; the Board
indicated they were not interested in participating and therefore no one from our society
attended the first meeting of this group. President
Shermeyer was contacted again by Jane Heller by phone indicating that she would like this
issue brought up again before the society and President Shermeyer did contact the Board
members again. Again, the Board indicated we
are not interested. The group advocates for
land preservation and that is not the mission of our society.
There
being no questions or any suggestions from the membership, the meeting was adjourned at
8:39 p.m. by President Shermeyer.
Respectfully
submitted,
Lori
Koch
GDHS
secretary