Minutes
of the 29th Meeting of the
Montana Heritage Commission
September 11, 2001 – Virginia City, Montana
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Jeanette McKee, Arnie Olsen, Diane Rice, Jeff Safford, Mark Simonich, Rosana Skelton, Mary Oliver, Doug Monger, Dale Mahlum
OTHERS PRESENT: Jeff Tiberi, Karlee Smith, Pat Roath, Rod Gwaltney, John Ellingsen, Linda Hamilton, Jerry Fox, John Boles, Mick Welton, Samuel Korsmoe, Suzie Johnson, Karla Boyd, Nancy Allen, Rena Herman, Bill Doyle, John Benedict, Colin Mathews, Jeff Cleverley, Catherine Nemeth, Jon Scott, Rikki Scott, Jim Jarvis, Sheri Jarvis, Jerry Fehrenbach, Julie Johnson, Ed Chebul, Randy Kleindorfer, Ken Sievert, Carol Brown
CALL TO ORDER, WELCOME, INTRODUCTIONS, APPROVE MINUTES, ADJUST AGENDA – JEANETTE MCKEE – Jeanette welcomed everyone and introduced Mark Simonich, Director of the Montana Dept. of Commerce. Mark was appointed to the Commission by Gov. Martz as a result of SB80 legislation that passed to amend the Commission’s enabling statute. Mark will officially be on the Commission October 1.
Jeanette told the group that in light of news of terrorist attacks in Washington and New York, she would go through the agenda pretty quickly so everyone could attend to any needs arising from the crisis.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Executive Committee
Sue Ford Bovey Trust - Dale- Dale reported that he has been meeting with John Corwin and Dirk Williams of Wells Fargo Bank. They are the managing trust that is handling the Sue Ford Bovey Trust. They would like to donate 14 properties in Virginia City to the Montana Heritage Commission if the appraised value is a favorable figure for them tax-wise. The Trust is still negotiating with seven different parties who are attempting to claim the inheritance, but they are close to settling and the recipient(s) of the trust should be identified soon.
The Trust would like MHC to pay for the appraisal on the properties, which could cost from $10-20,000. Dale responded that if we pay for the appraisal and the recipients of the estate decided to sell the properties to someone else based on how the appraised value comes back, we would request that the appraisal funds be returned to MHC. Dale has already spoken to the executors about the liability of the Dudley Garage. Dale asked the Commission how far he should proceed, and asked for their guidance. Jeff Tiberi said he is checking out other appraisers and Mary Oliver said she would also work with Jeff to find an appraiser as she has several she uses out of Bozeman. The question was asked whether we have contacted our insurance regarding liability coverage on the properties. Jeff Tiberi said that we are currently paying about $2,800 to insure all our properties, so adding these parcels probably wouldn’t amount to much increase. [NOTE: since this meeting we received this year’s insurance bill which increased to $5,872 based on a new property appraisal done by Tort Claims.] The question was asked whether we have to go through the Land Board process. Jeff Tiberi responded yes, and that we’re shooting for the November meeting for the Sue Ford Bovey properties. Dale agreed this would be feasible. Jeff explained that we’re also tentatively scheduled for the September meeting for the BLM land transfer along the railroad, and the October meeting for Reeder’s Alley.--
Jeff Tiberi will have to work on an acquisition report for the Sue Ford Bovey properties. The Sue Ford Bovey trust has to be completed by the end of the year. This means we would have to call the Executive Committee together to vote on whether to accept the properties. Doug Monger suggested it may be better for them to do the appraisal so they can coach their appraiser.
Motion: Doug Monger made a motion to give the Executive Committee authority to proceed with culminating this trade so it can be presented to the Land Board at their November meeting. Mary Oliver seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Nominating Committee – Dale Mahlum – Dale reported that the Nominating Committee met and came up with a number of recommendations as follows:
1. The Commission will elect two officers - a Chair and a Vice Chair.
2. New Officers will be elected at the December meeting of odd years. They will begin serving their terms in January of even numbered years.
3. Officers will serve a one-year term, with an option for a one-year renewal. Renewals will be addressed in December of even numbered years.
4. The Nominating Committee is a permanent committee of the Commission. Three Commissioners will serve on this committee.
5. A maximum of five Commissioners will serve on any committee.
It is suggested that a Commissioner serve on no more than two committees.
Exceptions to # 4 and #5 include:
a. The Executive Committee consists of the Chair, Vice-Chair, and the chairs of the P & I, Capital Development, Governance, Finance and Management, and Railroad Advisory Committees. The Commission Chair is the chair of this committee.
b. The Executive and Nominating Committees do not count against numerical limits set in numbers 4 and 5 above.
A Commissioner cannot be the chair of more than one committee.
The question was asked about filling the two new commission spots coming open October 1. Jeff Tiberi said that each Nominating Committee member called some of those suggested, including: Judy McNally (Billings), Bob Brown (Missoula Historical Commission), Ralph Lapham, Connie Kinney (Butte Chamber of Commerce), Bill Spilker (retired realtor and art collector), Rick Dale (former State Representative with personal family connections to VC), Lorentz Grosfield (former Senator with interest in MT history), Pat Keim (BN-Santa Fee Railroad), Kevin Koostra-Manning (Billings), Cindy Staszak (former manager of Bannack, now with BLM Billings), Dean Folkvord (Wheat Montana, businessman/entrepreneur of the year, also lead in recent Made in MT campaign). Several of these people have expressed interest and have submitted letters of application/interest to the Governor’s office.
Dale reported that the Nominating Committee dealt with a lot of things that we needed to tighten up. Mark Simonich commented that the idea of having ongoing Nominating Committee is a great idea. He said that selecting committee members is a very long arduous process, so this will be very helpful for the Governor’s office to appoint interested and qualified people. The question was asked whether it is appropriate for commissioners or public to write to Gov. Martz supporting any of the names mentioned or to recommend any others. Jeff said that support for any of the names, or new ones would be welcomed.
Jeff Tiberi said there was also discussion about the Executive Committee size. Rosana suggested that the Nominating Committee discuss the size of Exec Committee again and bring recommendations to the December meeting. Jeanette said the Commission would officially elect a new chair and vice chair at the December meeting to begin in January 2002.-
The recommendations of the committee were not acted upon and will be reviewed at the December meeting.-
Capital Dev – Mary Oliver-
-Ad Hoc Fundraising Priorities - Mary gave a handout of fundraising priorities identified, and reported that fund raising priorities will be broad-based rather than focused to attract as many special interest groups as possible. Mary’s priorities committee has identified five main categories for fund raising: 1) Buildings, 2) Trains, 3) Collections, 4) Education & Interpretation and 5) Infrastructure. The question was asked about Attachment B of the hand out, whether the figures associated were accurate. Jeff Tiberi replied that they were somewhat educated guesses. Jeff pointed out another handout showing an assessment of railroad equipment and needs. -
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Doug Monger said he was fully supportive of the categories, but that for the infrastructure needs we might discuss the possibility that for every donation we rake off an infrastructure fee (some %) to go into general VC operations. He explained that it’s often difficult to fundraise for the infrastructure dollars, but this would be a way to accomplish the operations needs at the same time. Jeanette McKee stressed the importance of making donors very aware that this is our policy and to be careful not to earmark funds so we have flexibility to use money for highest priority needs. Colin Mathews commented that this may be handled by setting up a separate account for the infrastructure funds. He said that charitable donors are usually willing to go along with this option as long as they can see an accounting of how the funds have been used in the past. Most people understand the problem that you’re faced with and the many needs--5-10% is very workable. Rosana Skelton suggested that the 10% infrastructure fee would be more realistic than 5%. Sheri Jarvis suggested that we take a look at other fundraising organizations and that we would find that there is a generally accepted percentage that we could work towards. -
Motion: Rosana Skelton moved to approve the fundraising priorities as presented, with the thought of assigning it back to Mary to discuss an infrastructure percentage at the next Finance & Management meeting. Diane Rice seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.-
Mary thanked Jeff Safford and the VC staff for their work to help prepare the list.-
-Grant Requests to Burns and Baucus – Jeff Tiberi reported that Sen. Burns was told Virginia City is a state problem not federal and the state should be taking care of this not the feds. Jeff also explained that with the political shift from Republican to Democratic in the Senate, he wrote to Baucus to request funding. Baucus wrote back and said he referred our request to a grants coordinator. Jeff then wrote to the grants coordinator to let them know that we considered our request more for a direct appropriation rather than a grant. We haven’t heard anything back from them, so it doesn’t look like any federal appropriation will be headed this way. Jeff commented that there will probably be a huge defense increase after today, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Dale Mahlum offered to call Baucus to discuss this with him. Arnie Olsen asked why we don’t want grants—is it because of matching funds needed? Jeff replied, no that in these instances we were looking for direct appropriation, but that grants are also being sought. Mark Simonich said that he worked for Conrad Burns for four years and would be happy to talk with him too. Mark said he’d be willing to continue working with Burns who is still pretty effective in DC despite the party shift. He has been effective in getting funds for infrastructure needs Bill Howell reported that he went to DC and met with a Burns staffer who was very encouraging.-
-History Conference – Arnie Olsen handed out registration forms for the Montana History Conference to be held Oct 25-27 in Helena. Arnie pointed out that Gary Molton is one of the foremost scholars on Lewis & Clark. The Society booked him two years ago, so he will be one of the speakers. Arnie encouraged everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to hear him speak.-
-Montana Historical Society Foundation Report – Arnie Olsen reported that he, Jeff Tiberi and Rosana Skelton had just come from a Foundation meeting in Billings this Sunday and Monday. Arnie said they changed the name of the foundation in order to eliminate confusion. It will be called the Montana History Foundation since they fundraise for other entities besides the Montana Historical Society. Arnie explained that the Foundation’s mission or bylaws have not changed, but this gives donors a more clear recognition that they are giving to a private entity, not to state government. Gov. Babcock, a member of the Board, was pleased with the change as he said it has been difficult to explain to people what Board he’s on. The Montana Heritage Commission has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Foundation, forming a partnership. -
-Historic Virginia City-Nevada City Memberships - Arnie told everyone about the new membership program the Foundation has started for us, and showed everyone the benefits that come with the Historic Virginia City & Nevada City Membership. Membership premiums include a window decal, a membership card, a canvas tote bag and discount coupons at Virginia City merchants. Arnie said we now have about 40 new members just since late this summer, amounting to $5,000 in revenue. Most of the memberships were purchased through Nevada City Gate admissions and at First Madison Valley Bank. Arnie said the Foundation made a mistake by not identifying who the money was for, and many people thought it was for the Virginia City Preservation Alliance, of which they are already members. Arnie said that the brochure confusion is being corrected and they’re being reprinted. He also said that the merchants or members didn’t get the full benefit from the discount coupons, so the coupons will be extended until next year, so merchants will gain the benefits intended. Arnie is optimistic about the program to be successful and expects significant growth next year. -
Arnie said that counter displays were exhibited in several stores in town. A membership gala event is planned for spring to get things going. There will also be a major membership mailing in the spring.
-Save America’s Treasures Grant- Arnie said that the Foundation was also successful in obtaining a $300,000 matching grant for electrical upgrades and fire systems through Save Americas Treasures. This will require a 1/1 match so that $300,000 match has been added to the goals of the Montana History Foundation capital campaign (bumped up to $4.5 million). Virginia City was one of only two recipients in Montana. Arnie said he expects we’ll have the money within a couple of months. Arnie said he has full confidence that we’ll raise the money, and that we can already show on the books that they have the money. The History Foundation has raised $800,000 of the $4.5 million goal already. They still have a ways to go, but the campaign hasn’t even been announced publicly yet.
-MOU Status and Montana History Foundation Campaign – The Foundation is still progressing with MOUs and hopes to finalize them in the next couple weeks. Arnie said that the Foundation’s last newsletter cost $2,200 and brought in $11,000 in contributions. They plan to put in at least three small projects in each newsletter to garner more interest. The historic street lamp project in Virginia City will be in the next newsletter, along with a project at the Moss Mansion and one for the Korean War Memorial project at the Society. Jay Russell and Arnie visited with Ruth McFarland in the LA area two weeks ago. This was a courtesy call to continue to develop that relationship—Ruth is the primary donor for the McFarland Curatorial Center. She is pleased to have us and refers to us as the “gift that keeps on giving.” She was pleased about the scrapbook we gave her and has it displayed on her coffee table. She reiterated that her first love is the public education system, but is interested in continuing to work with us.
A steering committee has been formed for the campaign and Tom Donnelly is the Chair. Tom has been a great donor, which puts him in great position to talk with people about giving. Jay, Arnie, Jeff Tiberi and Bev have all made commitments to the campaign—don’t be surprised if you’re approached to support it also. Because of Montana tax law, this is the year to give. The best tax credits will happen this year because of tax law changes this past year. Tim Bartz, Foundation President, is writing up the details of how to give and Arnie can pass this information on if anyone is interested. Tim Bartz volunteered to join the steering committee along with Dottie Fossel and Tom Donnelly as chair. They would like a representative from MHC and talked of nominating Mary Oliver for that position. Mary asked how often the committee meets, and Arnie said he would have Tom Donnelly contact her to discuss the details. The campaign’s title is: “History Runs Through It.” It’s about increasing public access to resources (electronically, making resources available, or preserving a building so pubic can enjoy it). There are different giving levels related to the rivers names and they’re in the process of developing naming gifts, i.e., what size donation is required to get your name on something, along with levels of giving needed to accomplish a project. Tom and Jay will be taking a fundraising trip to San Francisco soon, so if there is anyone you know who would be a contact for the campaign let us know so we can set up appointments. Allen Hamilton, on the Foundation Board, has an airplane and is willing to fly people around to visit and solicit donations. There has been a significant commitment from the Foundation Board to make this campaign successful. Rosana said she was amazed at the change in the Board from a couple years ago—they have completely turned things around, there’s lots of enthusiasm, lots of resources and she thinks they will make a real difference. Jeff Tiberi said that there are three board members with family history in VC/NC area, so there’s a lot of interest in VC within that group.
The question was asked at what point are moneys dispersible to the parties involved—are you waiting until you reach the full goal? Arnie explained that this is a multi-year campaign, and that it wouldn’t even go to public until they have at least 50% raised (they need $2 million before it’s public). Some of money now raised includes pledges that are spread over a two-year period. If a donor specifies that they want their money to go to VC project, the money would be released. It’s premature to say when at this time, but it depends on when the money comes and in what forms. It could be at least a year.
Management & Finance Committee – Diane Rice for Maureen Averill - Diane explained that we are at a disadvantage for taking any action on management and finance issues since three key members are not present. Diane reported that Maureen Averill, Management & Finance Chair, stated that she would like those three members to be here for any actions, so we will postpone any major decisions until we have more members present and we have complete totals for income and expenses for the entire season. Jeanette McKee asked Mark Simonich to join F & M for this first meeting.-
Diane reported on a discussion at the Management & Finance meeting stressing more emphasis on business and development for VC/NC. Jeff Safford did an excellent article on making Nevada City come alive, and there are several things that were done in the past that are not occurring now. Diane said she would like to emphasize our numbers as far as tourism and maximize advertising dollars everywhere we can. Diane said that the M & F Committee asked Jeff Tiberi to write a Position Description for two new positions: an on-site manager and a business and development manager. Maureen had several comments she wanted to make on the Job Descriptions so the M & F Committee will come up with some concrete decisions and recommendations for the Commission at their Oct. 12 meeting. Jeff also produced an organization chart that the committee hasn’t had the opportunity to review and comment on it. There was one comment that on the org chart the on-site manager should be directly above concessionaires. Other changes will be discussed. Their meeting is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 12 at Flathead Lake Lodge at which Jeff Tiberi’s performance review will also occur. Mary Oliver indicated she has conflict with that date and Jeff Tiberi said it was not good for him either. A meeting date will be determined. -
-Gambling – Jeff Tiberi – Jeff Tiberi reported that the Attorney General has ruled that we cannot allow gambling with our liquor licenses unless the legislature changes our statute, and the gambling statute to include Montana Heritage Commission liquor licenses. Jeff Safford recommended that everyone read “The Last Gamble” by Kathryn Jensen and Arty Blevins. The book talks about how gold camp towns have been destroyed by gambling. Jeanette McKee said she had read comments of those who testified at the public hearing. She thanked the public for their input on this issue. Bernie Weisgerber said he was working in historic preservation in Colorado and can personally attest that the historic integrity of all those towns was completely destroyed by gambling. Ed Chebul thanked the Commission for looking into the possibilities, and thanked Jeff Tiberi and Karlee for setting up the public hearing process and publicizing—also Diane Rice and Bill Howell for attending the public hearing. He also thanked people in town who came and thanked people for their e-mails and letters. Ed said that is was never his intention to turn the town into Deadwood but just wanted to be on an even keel with the competition. Jeff Safford thanked Ed for being a class act in responding to this.-
-Staffing – Future Directions – This issue was deferred to the M & F Committee for discussion at their October meeting. Jeanette asked the Committee for a detailed report at the December Commission meeting.-
-Mrs. McFarland’s Wishes – Arnie Olsen reported that Mrs. McFarland has some past concerns that her children had brought up about use of the Curatorial Center, but that she’s very happy with what’s been going on. One of her children visited the center recently and was very happy with the progress.-
P & I Committee – Jeff Safford-
The Commission received Jeff Safford’s observations about where we are with interpretation. Jeff said that we have made remarkable progress in preservation efforts. The preservation staff, under Rod Gwaltney and Bernie Weisgerber, has done a heck of a job (Catherine & Jeff), but Jeff doesn’t feel the same way about interpretation. He feels it is somewhat critical about what we have and haven’t accomplished in interpretation. Jeff respectfully asked the Commission to give more of their energies toward interpretation.-
-P & I October Meeting – Jeff asked that the P & I meeting planed for October 17 at Wheat Montana in Three Forks be changed to Virginia City so the whole committee can develop some scenarios for an approach to our interpretation needs, what our physical and financial resources are. Jeff spoke to the River of Gold project, enlivening of Nevada City properties, creating a vivid vibrant ongoing human activity. The music machine collection has made small strides, but we need to discuss the Bovey history center to be constructed in the NC Depot, and would like P & I to be prepared to meet in Virginia City rather than at Three Forks. Jeanette McKee encourage the commission and P & I to review Jeff’s report with a fine-toothed comb. She will also have M & F discuss it thoroughly. In light of the volume of items to cover at the December meeting, Jeanette requested that we extend it to 1.5 days—all one day and the next morning. Jeanette commended Jeff Safford for his extra efforts—the music machine collection, the Virginia City architectural model, and suggested that we come back in December to discuss at the full Commission meeting.-
-Preservation Crew Update – Rod Gwaltney – Rod reported that the roofing crew has exceeded their goal of 14 roofs, and that they are also ahead of schedule on the Kiskadden Barn project. Rod said there is one roof planned that won’t happen because the Brewery roof was scheduled as part of the training workshops which have now been rescheduled for spring. Rod introduced Catherine Nemeth, Preservation Specialist & Archaeologist, and Jeff Cleverley, Preservation Spec and Historic Masonry Specialist. Jeff has been doing most of the work on Kiskadden gave that update. Jeff said they have finished the structural steel, attached it to the back wall and are currently pulling the back wall slowly back about five inches to reengage with the back wall structure. They need to complete footings, the NW corner, trenches and buttresses to capture the wall before removing the City Bakery wall, which must be replaced. Jeff said they need a decision from this group or from P & I whether the back stone wall should be replaced? It would cost about $40,000 to stand the stone and it would have to go out on contract. The wall was round rubble rock which is very unstable and difficult to work with. -
Cathy Nemeth reported that she, Lynn Peterson and John Boughton, archaeologists on contract, have completed nine excavations inside Kiskadden, and found some interesting things--also outside (1868 dime). They are now finishing their report and winding up some other excavations around town. The UM field school is completed for this year. There was a meeting last week with SHPO, Bernie and John Douglas (UM), and Preservation staff. The group will work on streamlining the archaeological process so it will be easier to work with.
-Channel Islands – Bernie Weisgerber reported that he contacted the National Park Service to see if our Virginia City Preservation Crew can get some cross-training and MHC will get some winter income by going to warmer climates to work on contract. The projects would be fully funded by the park service. We are in the process of getting an interagency agreement going the other direction so we will then be on loan to work on park service land. Bernie said the western region is very excited about this possibility. The crew needs to be here during the good weather, but it would be useful to be someplace warm at other times—Hawaii, California and American Samoa are possibilities. We’ve asked for a 5-year agreement, which would be income producing as overhead would be charged. NPS is working with the State of Hawaii which owns properties with no preservation staffing. It’s not a done deal yet. Rod reported that they are still negotiating with the National Park Service in California but that project may be moved until after the 1st of the year.-
-Preservation Training Workshops – Bernie said they have postponed the workshops until next spring. They have also changed from the original plan and will now do roofing and log repair rather than masonry. Bernie said the log workshops draw the most participants. Jeff Safford told the group that Bernie lent a series of video tapes that he has done on historic preservation work. They’re training videos specific to “how to,” produced by USFS and NPS. They’re in public domain and can be copied. There are videos on windows, roofs shingle and shakes, stone masonry, windows.-
-Collections Slide show – Pat Roath – Pat gave a slide show, which was an edited version of a talk she did for the VCPA lecture series this summer. The slide show was an overview of progress that has been made on organizing, cataloging and inventorying the collections. Pat said she also is working on new grant application for help with her work. To date over 4,000 objects have been inventoried and over 1,200 objects cataloged. Of the 4,000 there are at least 3-500 more that will go into the permanent collection, but ¼ to 1/3 of the objects will fit in the Curatorial Center, so the ratio currently accessioned and stored in the Curatorial Center is right on for where they should be. They have developed two databases—one for the permanent collection and one for other inventory. Pat reported a number of conservation concerns that still need to be addressed, such as items being exposed to the weather (wagons), real conservation on these would cost between $10-20,000/object. If they’re sitting in the weather this compounds exponentially the damage to the piece. If we rescue them in the next few years they will remain priceless, if we don’t they will be worthless. Pat expounded on the damage of dust and talked about the importance of cleaning items regularly, which is very time consuming work. There are also layers of history, movie shoots, Dupuis House–and staff presence is needed for all of these unless we say No. There are constant challenges of what to keep in the Curatorial Center and what to put back on site so the exhibit retains its integrity. The archaeologists have been submitting all objects to Pat after reporting, plus keeping exhibit spaces cleaned, artifacts in concessions–working to rotate fragile objects out and display less fragile items. They are currently referring people from the Curatorial Center back to the exhibit areas, which are the towns. Pat has found that specialists are very difficult to find (i.e., rewiring the old chandelier, arcade machines. There’s also the dilemma of wallpaper layers—what do you do? We can take patterns off wallpaper and check with companies for matching or have reproduction wallpaper made (very costly), but there is constantly lots of information still to research. The question was asked about when we (the public) get to see items—are they rotated? Pat explained that they do not have enough staff right now to revamp our exhibits in all the buildings (this would require several more staff). Pat said that they have the main exhibit space in the lobby that changes once a year. It’s open five days in winter, seven days in summer. Sheri Jarvis said that she would love to have an interpretive display in her store so the bakery could participate in telling part of the history. Pat said that it would require interpretive history with explanatory labels so it would benefit everyone. -
Commissioners thanked Pat for the great presentation and thanks to City Bakery for the great treats! Jeff Safford added thanks for a first rate staff in Virginia City.
-National Historic Landmark Listing for Nevada City - Jeff Tiberi said that he is trying to keep the process moving. John Ellingsen has prepared a map with buildings that are original to the site and those that are moved in. We have graphed which buildings are original and those that were moved in and the statistics are pretty interesting.-
-Railroad Advisory Council – Dale Mahlum – Dale reported that RAC hasn’t met yet due to scheduling conflicts. Dale told the Commission that John Pickar was with the RAC from the onset and has been overseeing the train operations, but we’ve ended our relationship with him. Dale wrote John a thank you letter for his expertise and input in getting the operation up and running. Dale said that Gov. Martz visited Virginia City in August, rode the steam train and enjoyed pulling the whistle. The legislation change has allowed us to get more people certified to operate the train. Proposed changes for 2002 – we would like to run train at least a couple more weekends and will rotate crews. We would also like to secure a permanent water source for the VC Depot. Jeff Tiberi said the water tower issue is not on our infrastructure needs list, but should probably be added. -
-No. 12 Maintenance - Randy is concerned about the maintenance on the engine, and the need for tools required for the job. Dale spoke to John Larkin last Friday who is concerned with the brake problem we are having. No brakes on the passenger cars cause a problem with premature wearing on the engine brakes. Randy spoke to the safety meetings the crew has every time the engine is operated. There are minor repairs that need to be done—annually we need to level and tamp the track for at least a couple more years and there are other refined repairs that can all be done in house.-
-Railroad Museum Development – Dale Mahlum – Dale said we want to make sure this is an opportunity for visitors to see what happened with railroads 100 years ago. It will take time and funding to do this correctly.-
-New Railroad Cars Proposal – Dale reported that John Larkin sent someone to Colorado to look at some rail cars that were possible for VC. He discovered that they were in very bad shape. We received a proposal to build two cars and one caboose for $300,000. Dale talked to someone who has seen the person’s work but we now need funds to buy the cars. If we are able to come up with some cars that are more authentic, more room for passengers, we’ll see more revenue, and have a better chance for movies.-
-Link Belt Dragline – Dale said this dragline was donated by Gov. Babcock and was originally used here in the 1930s. Dale had Jeff Tiberi write a letter to Link Belt Construction from Gov. Judy Martz (to Chuck Martz) requesting their assistance with refurbishing the dragline. We haven’t received a response yet. The motor needs to be replaced, which would be the biggest expense and a paint job from the company would be a big improvement.-
The question was asked whether the RR budget is in the black. Jeff Tiberi replied, yes at the present, but not all expenses are in yet. A report will be available at the M & F meeting in Oct. Dale suggested that we could have an auction, i.e., sell a couple cars and use the money to refurbish others. The question was asked about repair on the brakes—Randy replied that he would utilize volunteers as far as we can. A water source and public bathrooms are still on our wish list but we will stay within the budget and prioritize. Jerry Fox asked about the cost of putting brakes on cars. Randy explained that we need new brakes because the cars have no weight to help stop the heavy engine, so the wheels flatten because No. 12 pulls the cars even with the brakes on. Jeff Safford suggested that the railroad try to coordinate a lot of your work on the RR with P & I—scheduling, interpretation, timing on the NC stop over, better coordination. There was a question about No. 12 revenues vs. expenses, does it pay for itself? Dale replied yes, but asked if the budget update could include a breakdown of No. 12 and No. 8 if possible. Jeff Safford said he would like to attend RAC meeting to collaborate.
Rena Hermann - Rena Hermann had requested time on the agenda to address the Commission. Rena told the Commission she has been in Virginia City for the last 25 years. She has been in business here, paid the highest interest rates, worked here and is proud of it, has helped the town a lot. Rena said the Boveys were tough to work with, but Ford Bovey looks like Mother Theresa compared to the State of Montana. She said we’ve had to pay for our own buildings to preserve them so the competition with business owners in state buildings is unfair. Jeanette McKee asked if Rena was talking about our advertising participation? Rena said no, that she thought it was only fair thing for the State to buy out the private businesses and give them the same deal that the State gave the Boveys. Dale Mahlum asked Rena if the state is competing against her. Rena said that yes, there are several gift stores in state buildings. Dale asked if the state has a gift store. Rena replied yes, there are more concessionaires than when Bovey was here. The cost incurred to be an independent concessionaire provides unfair competition to the private business. Doug Monger asked Rena to clarify what she was asking the Commission for. Rena replied that she wanted numbers–more visitors. The NPS report says 150,000 visitors came to VC. Dale asked, don’t you think that part of the change is from when the Boveys left in a state of flux. There was no advertising done for a number of years, and no maintenance. Rena replied that there are a million good ideas in this room, but when it comes to marketing, you need a professional. You have very little money to work with. Dale–to Jerry Fox, how much does the city have to spend on advertising? Jerry - $5-7,000. Jerry said that they have asked businesses in the past to contribute to the advertising fund but have had little success. Bill Doyle – One thing Bovey did that you don’t do is that Bruce went out annually and booked all the rooms, the theatres, the package deals. One of the big things that's missing is that the numbers are gone since the state took over – Bruce left his door open for you to get his ideas and help. Jeff Safford replied that this is not entirely true. We have been trying to interview Bruce for a number of years and he has declined. -
Jeanette McKee said she would like to appoint a committee made up of local businesses, city, chamber and Commission to work on these issues. Jeanette asked for the following and all agreed to serve: Diane Rice (chair), Rena Hermann, John Benedict (Chamber and concessionaire rep), Karlee Smith (MHC staff), Maureen Averill (commission) and Jerry Fox (city). By the December meeting Jeanette requested a report on what the committee’s recommendations would be for the towns regarding advertising and marketing responsibilities, both Commission and the entire community. Jeanette said she fells that Jeff Tiberi has been very good about trying to include the public, so we hope this committee will help this process-
DIRECTOR’S REPORT – Jeff Tiberi-
-Future Scenarios – Jeff gave a handout of possible future scenarios. Jeanette said that she and Jeff have talked about possible futures for the project. Jeanette said that P & I and F & M meetings should come first, then the full Commission would discuss the future more at the December meeting. Jeanette wondered if we should consider having a facilitated discussion with Ginny Tribe for a portion of the meeting to talk about the future scenarios.-
-Summer 2001 Operations Review – Jeff reported that it was basically a pretty good year. In May we were up 31% over last year, mostly because of filming revenues. June was pretty wet and visitation was down in the parks, but our revenue was up 2.8%. July went down slightly (-2.1% for month of July), but Yellowstone park entrance was down 6% for July. August revenues came back up to 21% and September revenues to date are up 32%. Overall, we’ve had a 12.5% increase for the year. Jeff has seen families on the street and observed people reluctant to spend money. Jerry Fox said that in July 60% of the businesses in town were up, 40% down, in August 75% were up. Sheri Jarvis said that since she is a new concessionaire she has no numbers to compare to, but feels they did well. Sheri said that it’s absolutely necessary to infuse this community with positive comments to counteract the negative comments from some. She will make a sincere effort to put that out into the community. -
-Winter Work Plans – Jeff thinks the staff is overly ambitious but if we get a lot of the work done, all will be happy. -
-Volunteer Summary – Jeff reported that we are very happy with the volunteer program and the results produced by Dan Thyer in his first season as Volunteer Coordinator. Jeff told the Commission that at a recent staff meeting concern was expressed by staff, that with all these volunteers here we don’t get any work done. Jeff told the staff that may be true, and that it’s difficult for staff to stop doing what we’re doing, but they did get lots of work done—a very impressive list. They are all good people, very cheerful and some were very skilled workers. Jeanette reiterated that volunteer participation is critical and even though it’s time consuming it’s a balancing act that needs to continue. Jeff told the Commission that the Volunteer Coordinator position was funded by the Foundation ($15,000) and Jeff told the Foundation at their recent meeting what a great job this position did but he didn’t make a formal pitch to renew this funding.-
Dan Thyer said he wanted to recognize Jim Jarvis for coordinating the walking tours. Dan suggested that we should change the name of the walking tour to Historic Tours of Virginia City. Dan said he had one volunteer from June 4 through Aug 26 who donated about 540 hours to the Montana Heritage Commission. Dan wanted to especially recognize Bobbi Dirks from Hawaii. We had a great start! Dan is in the process of sending thank yous and certificates of appreciation. Dan asked his volunteers what would make the volunteer program better and they said job satisfaction, doing something meaningful.
-Advertising – Karlee showed the Commission a binder she put together our advertising for 2001, along with the Chamber’s ad campaign that we prepare cooperatively with them and the City. Sheri Jarvis asked if there was a chance someone at Travel Montana could take a look at our advertising plan. Mark Simonich said yes that could happen. Jeff told the group that Nichols Gilstrap (the marketing firm we contract with a couple years ago) told us that we were doing a great job with the funds we have to work with. Jerry Fox reiterated that yes, Nichols Gilstrap told us our ad placement was excellent, and the way we’re piggy-backing ads with Travel Montana has been our key. We’ve also done travel guide ads in localized areas (Butte, Yellowstone). Jeff Tiberi said that we realize we’ve made mistakes, but will continue to learn from them. Suzie Johnson said that PR is as important or more so than advertising. She suggested we try to hook up with an organization with a great PR person. PR can get you much better response. Jeff Tiberi said that within the next six weeks we have writers scheduled to visit from Seattle, New York, AAA New Hampshire, Dallas newspaper, West Yellowstone and Italy. He said that machine is working thanks to Travel Montana. -
-New Econonomic Development Position Governor’s Office – Jeff Tiberi told the group that Governor Judy Martz had just hired a new Chief Business Development Officer, David Gibson. Jeff has heard good things about him and he’s talking small business. Jeff is trying to get a meeting with him in Virginia City if possible. When Judy Martz was here, Jeff talked to her about a possible reproduction company here. Jeff wants to bounce that idea off David Gibson. Mark Simonich said that he’s on a group that’s helping David get up to speed and David is particularly interested in communities that have a resort tax.-
-Camel Train – Jeff Tiberi told about an article that Ellen Baumler wrote about camels in Virginia City. Jeff called the Dept. of Livestock about the camel owners he knew were in Montana and they may be interested in coming to town for a special event to attract visitors, but Jeff is looking for someone to take on and organize the event.-
-State Parks Futures Committee – Jeff has been asked to provide advice to a new State Parks Futures Committee. There are also advisors from the Historical Society, L & C Bicentennial Commission who will act as staff to the committee. Committee members will be sought by party distribution and statewide location distribution.-
-Blacksmith proposal – We received a proposal from a blacksmith in Louisiana who is interested in setting up an authentic blacksmith shop in Nevada City. Jeff talked to Jon Scott who said he would welcome another blacksmith in the area. Jon said he is too busy to do everything that’s requested of him, and would help make Nevada City more alive.-
-Land Board – Jeff said he hopes to be at Land Board in September for the BLM land along the RR track between the towns. There are two small parcels of land that don’t belong to us, one privately held and one BLM which they want to turn over to us.-
-Reeder’s Alley – Jeff reported that MHC has been offered the Reeder’s Alley properties in Helena as a donation. The property is self-sufficient, has 22 rental units which are all rented out with a waiting list. Revenue is about $28,000 annually, with expenses of $30,000/year (includes $7,000 depreciation). Jeff said he has written an EA for public review which closes on October 6. After that time we will summarize the comments. Then the Commission will need to vote one way or the other whether to proceed on the acquisition. We could do an e-mail vote with the entire commission in early October. -
-SAT Grant – Jeff thanked Randy Kleindorfer and Julie Johnson for preparing the grant application which was successful for $300,000 in matching funds. The original grant application was for $1.2 million so we now need to revise the operating proposal to fit the $600,000 reduced budget. We could probably use the list of buildings that Jeff Shelden prepared as a basis for priorities. -
-Alder Gulch Shortline – Jeff handed out the home page of an unofficial website on the Alder Gulch Shortline that was developed by Marion Thompson with Applied Management Corp. in Helena. Marion is a friend of Joel King’s and put the site together out of personal interest. It contains some great photos and information about the train. The site is at: http://www.helenet.com/~alder/ -
-Narrow Gauge Annual article – Jeff also reported on an article about No. 12 in the “Finescale Railroader” magazine—The 2002 Narrow Gauge Annual, September 2001 edition. The article was written by Mallory Hope Ferrell who apparently was in Virginia City some time in the past as he had some older photos of the towns.-
-Home & Garden TV – Home and Garden TV recently aired a documentary that included the Sedman house in Nevada City. We have had a number of these type of programs filmed that have given us free publicity.-
-Resort Tax – Jeff referred the Commission to a handout that had the Virginia City Resort Tax figures graphed since the tax’s inception in 1993. The graph shows that resort tax revenues have increased every year since 1997 when the State of Montana took over the Bovey properties.-
-Collections Progress – Jeff reported that we have begun to secure the Railroad Silver question that the Commission has previously been concerned about. We went through about 10 boxes and now have five of those permanently accessioned in acid-free boxes in the Curatorial Center.-
TOWN OF VC UPDATE - JERRY FOX -
-Olsen case – Jerry reported that the city has spent from June to the present doing briefs on the case, which is in the Supreme Court’s hands. There are three possible outcomes: 1) the Supreme Court could throw out Judge Davis’ decision, 2) they could uphold it and order the house to be torn down, 3) it could go back to district court for trial. Jerry is confident that the court will rule in our favor, but it could be anywhere from two months to a year before we hear anything. -
-Advertising – Jerry referred to the summary of responses in the handout on advertising by the Commission and the Chamber. He said that the summary of responses shows another example of free publicity where the Country Discovery magazine article, taken from the traveling public was written by a woman from Utah who came here as a child and returned. The article raves about Virginia City and especially the Star Bakery. Jerry has a copy of the article if anyone is interested. -
Jerry suggested that we might consider a new advertising theme. With Virginia City being Montana’s first long-term territorial capital and the birthplace of Montana, make it “Coming Home to Virginia City--come back to your roots.” We would have an advertising company produce the ads as we always have done, but still do the placement in house. Sheri Jarvis asked that we let her know when the advertising committee meets.
VCPA – SUZIE JOHNSON – Suzie reported that VCPA had a great season with great people to work with. She said she love’s the way all the various groups are working so well together. -
-Hangman’s Building is open. They did everything on the honor system due to lack of funding for a staff person. They sold books, received donations all through an honor drop box. The made a good amount of money and people loved the experience of being in the building. -
-Victorian Ball – Suzie said they had lots of PR and had 125 people, more than double the amount from the past. Next year has been scheduled for Aug 17. Suzie invited everyone to come and see the decorations at the gym as they are still up.-
-Wednesday Night Lecture Series – Suzie said they had a number of great presentations and the series was extremely successful—the education of Virginia City and the West was really told this summer. Many thanks to he Elks for opening their doors to us, and thanks to the many presenters. -
-Annual Dinner – Suzie said VCPA is planning their Annual Dinner for September 15th at the Wells Fargo. The dinner will include the Clark & Lewis Show presented by the Vigilante Theatre Players.-
-Future Plans – VCPA would like to plan some more special events, possibly some more dances— for example, the Titanic today.-
-Walking Tours – VCPA worked in conjunction with the Montana Heritage Commission to offer guided tours. Commission volunteers coordinated by Dan Thyer did the tours in the morning and Jim Jarvis did free daily walking tours for donations to give to VCPA.-
-Madrigal Dinner – VCPA is planning for a repeat of the Madrigal Dinner planned for Nov. 29th.-
CAROL BROWN – COMMISSIONED ARTIST PROPOSAL – Carol Brown introduced herself as a natural resource artist work in all mediums and subjects. She came to the Golden Spike Ceremony for No. 12 and had the idea to do a painting of No. 12. Carol would like to create an 18 x 24 commissioned painting of No. 12 surrounded by the dignitaries who were present at the Golden Spike Ceremony. The Commission would own the original artwork and she would retain the copyrights. The price for the 18 x 24 would be $2,000. The Commission would finance the litho limited edition printing. Carol has prices for the limited edition prints. The artwork and prints could be available by next May. Jeanette asked the Finance & Management Committee to take Carol’s written proposal and make a recommendation to the full Commission at the December meeting. -
NEXT MEETING DATE: Dec. 3rd and 4th a.m. – in Helena at 9 a.m.
Task List From September 11, 2001 Montana Heritage Commission Meeting