Draft Minutes

31^st Meeting

Montana Heritage Commission

February 13, 2002

Mountain West Bank Real Estate Office, Lower Level

2021 North Montana Avenue, Helena

COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:  John Lawton (Acting Chair), Arnie Olsen, Diane Rice, Jeff Safford, Mark Simonich, Bill Howell, Patrick Keim, Judy McNally, Maureen Averill, Jeanette McKee

Others present:  Jeff Tiberi, Karlee Smith, Linda McClure, John Boles, Jerry Fox, Suzie Johnson, Jay Russell

Call to Order, Welcome, Introductions, Approval of Minutes – John Lawton called the meeting to order at 9:35.  Introductions were made.

Karlee reported that she received the following corrections to the minutes from the December 4, 2001 meeting: 

On page 2, in the paragraph titled "Salaried Positions", the first sentence should read "Mark Simonich reported on his assignment from the previous F&M Committee meeting to have his personnel staff review the two curatorial positions for exempt status."

The 3rd sentence should be revised to read "Mark said that we can offer to provide compensatory time as opposed to paying overtime, but these extra hours would still have to be paid at 1.5 times their hourly rate."

On page 5, in the paragraph titled "State Park Futures Committee" there are a couple of spelling errors.  Committed in the first sentence should be changed to Committee. And in the next sentence one "yet" should be removed from the sentence.

On page 3, paragraph 2 under Montana History Foundation section, 3^rd sentence – Jay Russell wanted to stress that the $300K is the number one priority for MHC funds in the campaign, but not for the entire campaign. Jeanette moved to accepted corrections

MOTION:  A motion was made to approve the minutes for the December 4, 2001 meeting with corrections.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Director’s Report

Jeff Tiberi gave a review on Alder Gulch improvements in 2001.  More than $3.6 million was pipelined into this project—$2.4 million in state funds and $1.2 million Foundation dollars.

·         To date, over 100 buildings have been worked on out of a total of 248

·         Processed more than 4,000 artifacts at the curatorial center

·         Filming revenue brought in $ 15,000

·         Sustained double digit increases in earned revenue for the 4^th year in a row

·         Installed the first half of fire hydrant system in Nevada City

·         Rewired the Opera House

·         Fairweather Inn is scheduled for rewiring

·         Resort tax revenue is up slightly while Yellowstone Park visitation was down 3%

·         Virginia City has held its own during the current recession

·         Completed a strategic planning document, archaeology, I&E Strategy.

·         Soil analysis and visitation study was done

·         Reeder’s Alley was acquired, valued at nearly $700,000

·         Sue Ford Bovey Trust real property donation framework has been set($320,000).

·         We have 19 initiatives in the works.  The Virginia City Street Lamp Project is one of them.

2001 may be one of the top ten years ever experienced in this gulch. We have increased our assets by $1 million but our liabilities have increased also.  It will be difficult to repeat the progress of 2001.

Patricia Finnegan, our Green Thumb worker, passed away. Also Randy’s step dad has passed away. 

Items of concern:

·         Asbestos in Bonanza Inn.  We have received three bids to remove it. The highest was $19,800 and the lowest was $2,500.

·         Quality control of special events needs constant attention. 

·         Requests from concessionaires for maintenance assistance/changes were overwhelming. The next request will ask for emergency maintenance items only.

·         Funding for lamps - $3,600 was raised.

Portable Acuostiguide – This is a portable hand-held wand used for audio tours and interpretation.  The 25 wands rent for $900 per month.  Jeff Safford asked what we would have to charge.  Jeff Tiberi said he has not run the numbers yet.  Jeff Tiberi will explore programming options.  A donation of $10,000 has been received for this project.  We will also look at purchasing the products rather than leasing.

FEMA Grant – FEMA has a $30,000 grant available and they have asked us to apply.  We would need $10,000 in matching funds.  The grant dollars are for applying fire retardant/proofing on roofs.  We will propose to use our man lift for our portion of the in kind $10,000 match.

Project Children – Project Children from Ireland will visit Virginia City this summer. This is a program, which brings Catholic and Protestant young adults together to work on projects.  Jerry Fox has said, residents are responding to our request for room and board.

Commission Education - Rosana has asked that education be included in each Commission meeting.  John Ellingsen will talk at our next meeting regarding the mining history of Alder Gulch, and today we will have a presentation by John Douglas, U of M Archaeology, on the findings of the past two summers in Virginia City.

Frontier House Promotion – Travel Montana has bought ten second advertising before and after each show of Frontier House in the Seattle market.  They will have the web site and the 800 number with a link to our Frontier House.  The Frontier House series premiers on April 29 to May 2, 2002, and our exhibit opening is scheduled for June 1, 2002.  All are invited to the opening for the Frontier House exhibit.

New Logo – John Ellingsen has created a new logo for Virginia City/Nevada City that will be available to all the various groups in VC.

Future Planning – Jeff Tiberi reported that, unless additional capital dollars are found, it is likely we will institute significant budget cuts and staff layoffs in 2003, affecting especially the federally funded positions.

Jeff asked for Commissioners to consider volunteering in May to supervise the Elderhostel crew.

The 58th Session is coming up and strategic planning needed.

Arnie Olsen suggested preplanning for grant matching; we need discussion on how we will use the reserve money to match funds.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Executive Committee – Rosana Skelton – In Rosana’s absence, Jeff Tiberi reported on the Executive Committee meeting of February 12, 2002.

·         Review and adopt the Strategic Plan as revised at the December 3, 2001 Commission work session. 

Motion:  Jeanette McKee made a motion to approve the Strategic Plan as revised at the December 3, 2001 Commission work session.  Mark Simonich seconded and the motion carried.

John Lawton noted that strategic plans are not a binding contract, but a guideline.  Jeff Safford commented that Jeff Tiberi should not be responsible for hands on day-to-day, but remove hands on and just state Jeff Tiberi is responsible for day-to-day site management.

Motion:  Jeff Safford made a motion to adopt the Strategic Plan, with the above correction. It was seconded and approved unanimously.

·         Jeff Tiberi pointed out that with the change in Commission meeting dates for today’s meeting, we will not be meeting on March 5^th as originally scheduled.  

·         Staffing Issues – Jeff Tiberi reported that the Executive Committee agreed that hiring a Site Manager and an Interpretive Specialist is desirable but there is currently no funding for these positions.  It was suggested to keep the idea on the table for future.  Jeanette McKee suggested looking for creative solutions such as partnerships and volunteers.  She also stressed that our goal is not just making money, but making a good experience for the visitors.

Maureen questioned whether we are trying to provide a museum or a living experience.  She said we should continue to study staffing issues and to prioritize dollars accordingly.  Arnie Olsen said he would commit Ellen Baumler to conduct an interpretive training session for volunteers and staff to help us include more interpretation in the visitor experience.

·         Executive Director’s Goals for 2002 – Jeff Tiberi referred Commissioners to a handout listing his goals for 2002.  Jeff explained that his first goal was to concentrate on following the McKay strategy Implementation Chart.  He pointed we are about a year behind the tasks outlined in the Implementation Chart.  Jeff said that one of his goals is to provide flexibility in the 2002 budget to allow for interpretation. An additional goal of seeking partners was added.

·         Master Plan Committee – Jeff said he had requested $20,000 in the CY 2002 budget to begin working on a master plan.  Jeff suggested that we might want to set up a Master Plan Committee.

·         Committee restructuring – Jeff reported that the Executive had worked on the committee restructuring based on Commissioner’s response to this issue.  The new committee structure is as follows:

The Preservation & Interpretation Committee would also include one person to represent the Montana Historical Society and one person to represent Virginia City.  Jeff Safford commented that these positions should be broken out topically—one person representing preservation and one person representing interpretations.  Arnie suggested using the same person representing those areas consistently for clear communication.  Jeff Tiberi said he would talk to Rosana about this. 

·         Business Plan Committee - Jeff Tiberi commented on the goals of the Strategic Master Plan and the Business Plan, suggesting both should be combined.  We need to look at infrastructure, interpetive paths, traffic patterns, parking, signage, and pedestrian circulation and develop business plans for each property/business, and decide what is missing.  Fish Wildlife and Parks have just completed a Master Plan for Bannack, which cost $70,000.  We do not have the money for this.  Jeff said Madison County Planners indicated they would be willing to work with us.  Arnold Olsen noted if we take in outlaying areas and include federal lands, perhaps we could easily obtain federal assistance. The Commission asked Jeff to prepare a suggested course of action on how to proceed with the master plan for presentation at the June meeting.

·         58^th Session of the Legislature - Diane Rice mentioned that this would likely be a very tight session as there is no additional money available.  Arnie said sometimes there is wisdom in backing away and not being as present.  He said the whole issue of Virginia City should wait at least one more session until our funding is closer to running out.

The question was asked whether we could dispose of some of the properties that are less useful to the project?  Jeff Tiberi said that would likely create a cloud over us because any revenue brought in would go to the Historical Society’s acquisition account.  Mark Simonich added that we are going to continue to face authority issues in this manner, and Virginia City is supposed to be run as an enterprise.  He saw no reason not to seek help from the Legislature, as long as we did not ask for money. A suggestion was made to create a committee to scope out funding issues.  Jeff Tiberi will work with Diane Rice and Dale Mahlum to formulate a plan/proposal for the June meeting. 

·         Commissioner and Commission Roles - John Lawton will have a draft policy on roles for commissioners ready for the next meeting. 

·         Major Decisions and Guidelines of the Strategic Plan – Jeff referred Commissioners to a handout outlining a draft Major Decisions Guidelines. Rosana Skelton and Jeff Tiberi will meet and decide which items are major decisions.  Pat Keim made a comment of concern regarding situations in which only the majority of commissioners can request items to be on the next agenda. The draft will add a statement to clarify this. (Note: These words were added to the policy: “The purpose of this policy is not to limit items that may be on the agenda. Any Commissioner may request an item to be on the agenda, either before a Commission meeting or during the meeting under “New Business”.”

Motion: A motion was made to adopt the Major Decisions and Guidelines as amended. It was seconded and the unanimously passed.

·         Finance & Management Committee – Maureen Averill – Maureen Averill reported that the Finance & Management Committee had met the day before.  Based on their recommendations, the 2002 budget will be based on a zero increase in both revenues and expenditures from the actual year end figures for calendar year 2001—$1,255,000 was expended and the total earned revenue was $267,347.  How money expended within the $1.255M is Jeff Tiberi’s responsibility.  The Finance Committee recommends Reeder’s Alley revenue and expenditures remain separated from Virginia City/Nevada City and that the Reeder’s Alley budget/expenditures be kept on the state’s fiscal year to eliminate converting numbers to calendar year. Jeff Tiberi told the group that tourism for 2002 is estimated to be zero growth, at best perhaps a 2% increase.  Jeff said that if any additional monies become available during the year they will be brought before the F & M Committee as a budget amendment. At this point in time there are a number of items that have been discussed and will be added to the $1,255,000, including the audio tour, the street lamp project, Reeder’s Alley (as a separate budget), SAT expenditures, the BLM grant, the NPS building preservation video, and the NPS training schools. 

Motion: A motion was made to approve the calendar year 2002 Budget.  The motion seconded and passed unanimously.

Motion: Mark Simonich made a motion to approve the Reeder’s Alley budget.  It was seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Railroad Advisory Council - Jeff Tiberi reported we now have enough trained personnel to operate additional weekends.  The 2002 schedule will include Memorial Day weekend, another weekend in June, every weekend in July and August and Labor Day weekend.  There is also money set aside for advertising this expanded schedule.  Jeff noted the cost and maintenance of running Locomotive 12 train vs. the gas-powered train is more, but the revenues should also be greater. Jerry Fox mentioned that the increased train schedule will increase tourist/visitor length of stay and also interpretations on trains with speakers would be a valued addition. 

Archaeology in Virginia City – Dr. John Douglas, U of M gave a very interesting slide presentation of some of the artifacts found in Virginia City over the past two summers, and explained the process and work he and his students performed last summer.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Preservation and Interpretation Committee – Jeff Safford

·         The Frontier House – Jeff Safford reported that Linda Peavey and Ursula Smith are involved with a book on Frontier House.  Ursula was also one of the consultants who helped with the filming project.  The introduction in the book mentions credit for rescuing Virginia City from developers and refers to Virginia City and Nevada City as two jewels in Montana.  The authors would also like to give a presentation in Virginia City with a book signing, and would like to talk about their role in Frontier House. 

The Frontier House Exhibit Opening is scheduled for June 1.  The opening will include a ribbon cutting ceremony in Nevada City for artifacts from Frontier House.  The Frontier House mini-series premiere is scheduled on PBS for April 29th, 30th and May 1.  It will be shown in 2-hour segments each evening.  The new book will be released at the same time. 

The magazine “American Girl” featured an article about Frontier House.  Jeff Safford said it was a beautiful and well-written article. He mentioned publicity for Frontier House seems to be heading in the right direction. Jeff Tiberi said, two of the three cabins are ready, the third needs a floor.  Bill Howell suggested when still photographs of the actual movie sets become available they are hung in the Frontier House cabins.

·         Oral History - Jeff Safford reported on the process of “downloading” John Ellingsen.  He now has 400 hours of interviews on tape and has one tape left to transcribe.  This includes 423 pages of text, and he’s just about finished transcribing.   Jeff expressed the need to have John do a Virginia City/Nevada City house-by-house visitation interview.  Karlee suggested using a videotape to do this.  Jeff Tiberi will follow up on this.

Ad-Hoc Advertising Committee – Diane Rice – Diane she is encouraged and impressed by last year’s promotional efforts.  She attended a tourism panel recently and the conclusions are as follows: 

·        Montana has not been hit hard by the recession.

·        75 % of our visitors will come by car.

·        2002-2003 will be the years of recovery from the economic slump.

·        Travel will be a family affair.

·        People will rather drive rather than fly.

·        They will stay close to home.

·        Promotional discounts will help attract visitors.

Mark Simonich told the group about Travel Montana’s promotional campaign this year—“Your Own Back Yard.”  The campaign features Virginia City in some TV spots, which are very well done.  Diane added that Clint Blackwood with the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission estimates that commemoration will start July 3 & 4, 2005 to July 25, 2006.

Karlee Smith gave a report and a handout on the 2002 Advertising Program.  She has received information about the development of a Lewis and Clark passport.  This is an information guide showing Lewis and Clark’s journey through southwestern Montana.  Jerry Fox with the City of Virginia has agreed to split the cost of an ad promoting Virginia City.  PBS of Missoula will also be broadcasting an hour-long show, which will advertise the History Camp. 

Diane suggested that the Ad Hoc Advertising Committee be dissolved, in light of the past meetings and progress made to work together on advertising/promotional issues.  Maureen Averill suggested keeping it active and review progress again this next fall.  Jeanette McKee questioned how we track visitors—how they hear about us.  Karlee answered that each publication lists a different extension number, so we know where they heard about us by which extension they ask for.  Judy McNally suggested we might come up with some kind of exit polling.  Karlee said she was thinking about providing some type of a suggestion card, which could include some questions about advertising/ promotion.  Bill Howell suggested a PSA human-interest story or historical episode or travelogue.  He said has these contacts and will inquire about it.  Karlee reported that Western Montana – University of Montana, did a survey last summer, which we offer a $1 discount at the Nevada City Gate to each individual who completed the survey.  We just received the results and have not yet analyzed the information.  Karlee referred to the Gold West Travel Guide, which has a full cover color ad for Virginia City on the back cover.  In addition, there are 14 photos of Virginia City locations throughout the guide.

Jerry Fehrenbach has informed the Commission that his campground was for sale.

Town of Virginia City Update - Jerry Fox – Jerry reported that Virginia City has the largest ad count in the Gold West Travel Guide.  Jerry is already getting calls for reservations for family reunions.  He said this summer has a great outlook and the resort tax should see an increase.  As far as the Olson case, no news is good news.  The planning board is updating their comprehensive growth policy plan.  The sewer application was for a grant and loan package.  The city is still waiting for a decision from EDA.  If the loan doesn’t come through they will have to apply for a CDGB grant.

Virginia City Preservation Alliance - Suzie Johnson - They are optimistic about this coming year as well.  They are working on a grant for the Hangman’s Building. The Oral History training seminar for March 15 and 16 is progressing.  Jodie Foley from the Montana Historical Society will conduct the training.  The Victorian Ball is in the planning.  Suzie asked for suggestions for Wednesday evening programs.  VCPA is also applying for a small grant from the National Trust to pay for historic site development.  She said this would be a good year to run the Titanic Dance Workshop.  The Victorian Gardens, behind Jon and Ricki Scott’s is developing nicely.

Montana History Foundation Report – Jay Russell passed out a Montana History Foundation report.  He pointed out that the Capital campaign has raised $1,170,800 to date, of a $4.5 million campaign. The Heritage Commission projects total $1,262,000.  Jay reported that the Foundation accepted the donation of a Virginia City lot, for MHC valued at $2000.  Funds for the Virginia City Street Lamp project have been raised and paid for. The membership program will move ahead in March with a mailing and recruitment. The program is in the hole now, but next year Jay anticipates a positive balance because expenses will diminish.  Maureen Averill asked Jay and Arnie about the new museum building, and how that money is being raised.  Arnie replied that they have several partners who are working together in the fund raising but to this point the Foundation is not involved.  Jay said his focus is on the current campaign.  Diane asked about the capital reserves monies and how it works with the SAT grant monies.  Jeff Tiberi explained that we have not had to tap into any capital reserves for the SAT grant match because the Foundation already received $100,000 to use for the beginning stages of the project.

Dashboard Exercise – Jeff Tiberi - Jeff Tiberi referred to the dashboard exercise he asked Commissioners to comment on.  Jeff wanted to know how the dashboard exercise could be modified to suit the Commissioner’s needs.  Jeff Safford said he would like to see two dashboards, one financial and the other dealing with programs.  The programs dashboard would show indications of new interpretations, and increased visitor statistics listed as some of the options.  Maureen would like YTD actual expenditures and listed preservation of buildings.  Jeff and Karlee will develop a new prototype dashboard, realizing that it will change as time and information need change.

Public Comment

John Boles asked about an article in Montana Standard on 2/28/02.  It stated that the State Parks Futures Committee is examining all State Parks and are looking at whether it makes sense to look at Virginia City as a State Park.  Jeff Tiberi said the Governor has formed the futures committee to perform a ten-year review.  Arnie Olsen said the auditors have requested the committee to look at issues of overlaps between agencies FWP and Historical Society.  We don’t know what their recommendations will be. 

John Boles also clarified that the State does not own Virginia City, but the state only has holdings in Virginia City.

John Boles requested that some Virginia City staff might train as first responders through the Sheridan Hospital. The Virginia City Cake Walk fundraiser is February 23, 2002.  John thanked Commission for the addition on Star Bakery building. He said we all will benefit from this project.

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 1:45.

NEXT MEETING - June 11, 2002 in Virginia City.