Present: Commissioners
Decisions and Announcements • Mary Sears welcomed to Advisory Commission replacing outgoing John Sullivan and representing Franklin and Quincy Townships. • Election of officers for the year. • Heritage Sites meeting to be held October 25th at 10:00am at Park Headquarters. • Closed out fiscal year 2023’s annual budget at $306,920.07. • Approved fiscal year 2024’s annual budget at $350,000.00 with $135,000 allocated towards a variety of collaborative projects with NPS slated for fiscal year 2024. • The Commission announced this year’s Haunted Smelter event, slated for October 26-28th. • Formally thanked anonymous donor for annual contributions to the Keweenaw Heritage Grant program. A.1. Call to Order A regular meeting of the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission was opened at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 10th, 2023. A.2. Introductions See attendees above. A.3. Approval of Agenda for April 12th, 2023 • Motion to add new business made by Cooper: election of officers for the year. Seconded by Jamison. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0). • Motion made by Cooper to formally thank an anonymous donor to the Keweenaw Heritage Grant program. Seconded by Jamison. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0). A.4. Approval of Minutes of July 12th, 2023 Motion made by Jamison and seconded by Cooper. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0). B.1. Superintendent’s Report A. The new curatorial lead, Anne Lewellen, has now been with the park for about two months. Lewellen introduced herself to the Commission and meeting attendees and reported that she’s excited to get to know the place and the people here in the Keweenaw. B. The park and all aspects of the federal government are operating under a continuing resolution. This puts some work on hold until a budget is passed by both houses of Congress and the President. • Abandoned Mineral Lands funding (roughly $1 million) via the Inflation Reduction Act, will be coming to the park in the coming years to address a multitude of safety needs both inside and outside of the park’s boundaries. Priority projects are being set, and it’s expected that as work commences, new priorities will present themselves. • Wayside exhibit signage will be installed in and around the pay shed portion of the headquarters building sometime in the spring. • The transformation of the C&H Warehouse #1 into a multi-park curatorial facility is moving along. This will house collections for Keweenaw, Isle Royale, and Pictured Rocks. Questions for the Superintendent A. None. B. 2. Executive Director’s Report A. Appointments: Mary Sears, Franklin Township Supervisor, was recently appointed to the Advisory Commission to replace the outgoing John Sullivan. Sears’ term is for three years and represents the Quincy and Franklin Townships nominating party. • Reappointments for the following Commissioners also took place. o Karin Cooper (Houghton County), third and final 3-year term. o Glenn Anderson (State of Michigan), second 3-year term. o Dan Jamison (At-Large), second 3-year term. o Gerald Juntunen (At-Large), second 3-year term. • This means that the Advisory Commission should have a consistent board of commissioners for the next 2.5 years. B. The Advisory Commission and Keweenaw NHP will be hosting a Fall Heritage Sites meeting at park headquarters on Wednesday, October 25th. Starting at 10:00am, site representatives will report on their summer seasons as well as hear from a few speakers. • Amber Kraft (NPS) on volunteering. • Brad Barnett (Visit Keweenaw) on tourism updates in the area. • Sarah Scarlett (MTU) on the upcoming Vernacular Architecture Forum conference taking place in June. C. Work at the Quincy Smelter to stabilize the dockside warehouse building was completed last month. Bulging exterior support walls were shored up while access areas (both for humans and vermin) were sealed up with in some cases windows being installed to allow for natural light into the space. This secures the warehouse for future adaptive reuse. D. Haunted Smelter: The Advisory Commission, Quincy Mine Hoist Association, and Michigan Tech’s Visual and Performing Arts program are happy to announce the dates for this year’s Haunted Smelter tours: October 26-28. • Tours will take place 7-10pm, with tickets available via MTU’s website: events.mtu.edu • Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for youth 12 and under. E. Funded Projects for Fiscal Year 2024. In collaboration with Keweenaw NHP, the Advisory Commission will be funding the following projects for 2024. • Interpretive signage design and installation at the Delaware Mine Tours site. • Archival document scanning for the Finnish American Heritage Center. • A roof study of the Pattern Storage building owned by Coppertown Mining Museum. • Continuing interpretive trails installation on the Quincy Mine’s historic landscape. • Transcribing oral histories taken by the park’s History team over the last several years. • A workshop on signage and wayfinding for the communities of Calumet, Calumet Township, and Laurium. • Ongoing improvements to the Quincy Smelter property. • Continuing the School Bus reimbursement program, though with some changes made to the application process (details to be determined in the coming weeks). B.3. Presentation on recent HPTC Masonry Workshop Presenter John Arnold, Historical Architect for the park, could not make the meeting. Superintendent Davis filled in with a short overview of the workshop. • The workshop took place in mid-August both at Keweenaw National Historical Park headquarters and the historic Quincy Smelter. Put together by Historic Preservation Maryland and the Historic Preservation Trades Center in Frederick, MD, the workshop focused on the treatment of historic masonry. Repair work, tuck pointing, mortar selection and mixing, etc. Attendees ranged from community members, local contractors, Youth Crew leaders, and NPS staff. o This is hoped to be the first of many of these sorts of workshops dedicated to the training in historic preservation work, especially work specific to the Keweenaw’s unique climate and building materials. The Park and Commission will be working in the coming year to lock in funding sources to continue these workshops. B.4. Requests to Commission and Financial Reports a. Budget/Finance • Motion to approve billing in the amount of $58,726.48 made by Cooper and seconded by Sears. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0) • Motion to approve payroll and tax payments in the amount of $14,881.68 made by Cooper and seconded by Helppi. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0) • Motion to close out the fiscal year 2023 at $306,920.07 made by Jamison and seconded by Juntunen. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0) • Motion to approve the proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 at $350,000.00 made by Cooper and seconded by Jamison. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0) b. Officer elections • Motion made by Helppi and seconded by Ranville to approve a continuation of the slate of office holders from 2023 into 2024: Anderson (President), Juntunen (Vice President), Cooper (Secretary), Jamison (Treasurer). Motion carried unanimously. (7/0) B.5. Commissioner Reports A. Juntunen spoke on the recent loss of one of our Heritage Site partners, Tom Poynter. Owner of the Delaware Mine tours, Juntunen hoped that whatever the future is for the Delaware Mine site’s ownership, that the site remain a Heritage Site. • Juntunen also stated that he recently visited with Matt Portfleet, owner of the Adventure Mine, and learned that Portfleet recently acquired the Evergreen Exploration/Caledonia mine site. Plans for the site are forthcoming. F. Ranville, speaking on behalf of the Village of Calumet stated that a couple members of the Village Council attended the aforementioned masonry workshop and that by all accounts was very educational and that he hoped to see more of these taking place in the future. G. Jamison, speaking on behalf of the Calumet Theatre Board, noted the passing of Randy Wolf, longtime resident of the area and involved in several historical preservation projects over the years. H. Sears thanked everyone in attendance for welcoming her to the Advisory Commission. C.1. Comments from legislators or legislative staff None C.2. Comments from Keweenaw Heritage Site representatives A. Jean Ellis, Keweenaw Heritage Center: moving ahead with the roof replacement project but still in need of funds. Also in need of board members. • A new donor recognition display was put up on the main floor of the church building. B. Anita Campbell, Keweenaw County Historical Society, reading prepared remarks from KCHS Vice President, Karen Hintz: • KCHS News for Advisory Committee’s Meeting-October 10, 2023 • KCHS sites have been busy this summer and are happy to report an increase in visitors. For example, the Eagle Harbor Light Station reported a 14% increase in attendance over the summer months. Sites closed as of this past weekend of October 7th & 8th. • Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program Grant for Lighthouse Tower Rehabilitation--The Eagle Harbor Lighthouse Tower has been restored inside and out with the help of a Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program Grant of $60,000. The total cost of the project is $91,900. It included four main parts: brick replacement and tuckpointing, removal of white paint and whitewashing of face of tower, repair of flashings, which was the source of water infiltration between the lantern room and observation deck, and plaster repair and whitewashing of interior tower walls. • 2023 KNHP Advisory Commission Heritage Grant--“Planning & Developing Interactive Kiosks to Enhance Eagle Harbor Light Station Museum Exhibits”--This is the first year of this grant and we are off to a good start. One touch-screen computer kiosk was field tested in the Maritime Museum with the help of a MTU student intern. More tablets and kiosks will be added next year to the Lighthouse and Keweenaw History Museum. • 2022 KNHP Advisory Commission Heritage Grant – Lifesaving Museum—Using grant and KCHS funds, KCHS completed the facelift of the 3-slip boathouse, the last remaining building of the Life-Saving Service. The early wooden rescue boats and equipment used by the US Life-Saving Service are much more visible due to a new, improved viewing wall extending the width of the boat house. There is also more exhibit space for information about the men who served there. • Adventures in History—KCHS held nine Adventures in History programs from June through September, which attracted good crowds. The outreach and educational programs ranged in topics from ancient miners to Delaware mine archaeological explorations to Gull Rock Lighthouse restoration, account of the 1901 fire on a steamer, building archaeology, story-telling, Keweenaw birds, folk music traditions and Cider Making at Central. C. Dan Jamison, Calumet Theatre Board: the Calumet Theatre Board will be having a gala in the theatre ballroom on November 4th . Tickets are $60 per plate and can be purchased at the theatre’s website. Music to be provided by MTU. • Over 2,000 people attended the six performances of The Addams Family recently. • A CLG grant has been received to help with furnace replacement for the theatre building. Radiator work for the ballroom and theatre is also slated for early spring. D. Colette Marie McGlaughlin, Hanka Homestead Finnish Museum: Hanka Homestead Finnish Museum will be having our Fall membership meeting on Friday. Also wished to invite everyone for a last visit to the homestead before winter sets in. C.3. Comments from the public A. Anita Campbell wanted to inform the Commission and attendees of the ongoing project to build a statue, set in the “Green space” park being designed for Calumet between 5th and 6th streets, in dedication of “Big Annie” Clemenc. B. Bob Langseth wanted to congratulate Commissioner Cooper for her recent profile piece in the Daily Mining Gazette. C. Marci Raley of the Lake Breeze Inn in Eagle Harbor wanted to thank the Commission for collaborating with Dr. Sarah Scarlett of MTU in the planning for the upcoming Vernacular Architecture Forum conference this summer in Houghton. The Lake Breeze will be opened up for conference attendees during one of the scheduled tours of the Keweenaw. D. Graham Jaehnig, Daily Mining Gazette, wanted to thank the Commission for the invitation to the meeting and is looking forward to covering our quarterly meetings and the park’s activities in general for the Gazette. He stated that many of the history-related pieces in the paper are now being picked up by other papers in the Great Lakes region. D. Motion to Adjourn Moved by Cooper and seconded by Jamison at 1:49 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. (7/0). Next meeting will be held Tuesday, January 9th at 1:00pm at Keweenaw NHP Headquarters. |
Last updated: October 19, 2023