MINUTES OF THE BARNES AREA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION MEETING

OF AUGUST 21, 2008

 

Chairman Dave Pease called the meeting to order at 9:00am. The meeting was held at the VFW hall.

(Prior to the meeting Dave Pease took some of the members to the site of the VFW land and walked the property)

 

Members present: Dave Pease, Carol Pease, Kurt Kuhlman, Quentin Ruprecht, Helen Ruprecht, Jon Harkness (arrived a little later into the meeting, Mike Bowes (left a little early), George Martin, Bob Oberstar, Linda Oberstar and Lu Peet. Also present was the guest speaker Valentine Vogel and his wife Dorothy.

 

Minutes of the July Meeting

Secretary Lu Peet had given copies of the minutes to the members. Motion (Helen Ruprecht / Linda Oberstar) to approve the minutes as presented. Call for discussion. Motion carried.

 

Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Linda Oberstar gave the Treasurer’s Report as follows:

Checkbook Balance as of 7/17/2008                                                       $          10,548.55

Centennial Book Sales (2)                                                                      $                 50.00

Cups and Mugs                                                                                     $                   8.00

Pie Social                                                                                              $                 20.00

Flea Market                                                                                          $               314.40

Tickets                                                                                                 $               100.00

Paul Merz Fund                                                                                     $              (100.00)

Checkbook Balance as of 8/21/2008                                                       $          10,940.95

 

 

CD One for $11,035.09 matures on February 2, 2009, at 4.50%

CD Two for $10,829.52 matures on January 6, 2009, at 4.75%

CD Three for $3,367.77 matures on December 27, 2008, at 4.75%

CD Four for $8,124.91 matures on September 28, 2008, at 5.25%

 

 

Linda reported that a total of $2,375.36 had been made on the flea markets so far this year. The one that was held at the VFW on July 19th brought in $314.40. Linda said that she had sent a check to the Paul Merz Fund per the last meeting’s directive. There was discussion on having the donations to the pie social separated out instead of just considered donations or receipts. Linda will do this for the next meeting. Lu Peet turned in the receipts for what was spent for the pie social. This came to just over $126.00 Linda will cut a check to Lu for this amount. Kurt Kuhlman said that he was able to sell some old baseball programs, etc. that we had obtained from the Hartman Estate, on E Bay. After paying a percentage to E Bay and postage, this came to a total of about $130.00. This will be added to the flea market money. Linda said that we have a CD that will come due on September 28, 2008. We will decide where to put this money later.

 

Motion (Quentin Ruprecht / Lu Peet) to approve the Treasurer’s Report as given. Call for discussion. Motion carried.

 

Correspondence

Lu Peet reported that she had gotten an email from Dave Thorson asking if BAHA had sent a copy of the Centennial Book to the State Historical Society for their records. Linda said that we did send one to the State Historical Society as well as to Utah for their records. Lu also had received a letter from the state in regard to our application for Charitable Organization status. (See section in minutes on this issue). Lu has also contacted Janet Seymour about getting a copy of our Articles of Incorporation from the State Historical Society.

 

Guest Speaker-Valentine Vogel-Naturalist

Lu Peet introduced Valentine Vogel and his wife Dorothy to the group. Lu handed out a packet of information to the members that Valentine had provided. Valentine has much experience with museums and museum displays. He and his wife live in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, but have a place in Barnes and hope to retire here in a few years. He has recently worked with the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Wildlife Museum in Hayward and the Kettle Moraine Natural History Museum in the southern part of the state, to name a few.

 

Mr. Vogel wants to help us with our museum. He said that we have to know what kind of museum we want and how many exhibits we might want. (Revolving displays, elk exhibit, and history of the area-logging, etc., Indian culture and up to the present day). He also asked if we would be charging a fee for some of the displays. BAHA has to decide how big of a museum we want and where we want to have it located. There was discussion on the land next to the VFW as a prospect. There was also discussion on what we had talked about at an earlier meeting, as far as to size and what we were looking at having in a museum. We will have to sort all of this out and put it down on paper to get the full picture of what we want in a museum. Mr. Vogel said that he has connections to various people who might be able to help us with the design, etc. Mr. Vogel spoke about funding for the museum. There are grants out there from foundations such as the Science Foundation. BAHA has to take one step at a time. There was discussion on the Silver Beach Elk. Kurt Kuhlman said the museum would have cultural aspects also. BAHA members have to talk to the old time Barnes people to get a perspective on what life was like in the early days of Barnes. BAHA members thanked Valentine and Dorothy for coming to this meeting with this valuable information.

 

Old Business

Land Issues

Quentin Ruprecht said that he had walked the land as marked off by the surveyor Duke Marten. This land had a lot of possibilities he thought. We have to start somewhere. (Member Jon Harkness called to say he was on his way so the vote on the land was delayed until his arrival. Mike Bowes said he had to leave early, but that his was a “yes” vote to buy the land for the $12,500.00 from the VFW.) There was discussion on this issue. BAHA would be responsible for the costs of filing, getting the certified survey done, closing costs and any other costs involved. Motion (Jon Harkness / Quentin Ruprecht) to execute an offer to purchase the land from the Barnes VFW Post 8329 for $12,500.00. Call for discussion. (See second motion). Motion carried. A second motion was then brought to the table. Motion (Bob Oberstar / Jon Harkness) to approve of the purchase of said land from the VFW for $12,500.00 with the money being paid out in two installments. The BAHA will be responsible for the costs of filing, the cost of the certified survey, closing costs and any other costs involved. Call for discussion. There was discussion on the CD that comes due in September. This money can be put towards the cost of the land. It won’t be taken out early as we don’t want to lose the interest on the money. We will take the first payment from the checking account and pay the VFW now and pay the balance due the VFW by the end of September. Motion carried. Dave Pease will give a check to the VFW at their next meeting on Tuesday August 26, 2008.

 

Flea Markets

There will be another flea market that will be held at the VFW on Saturday, August 30, 2008 from 9:00am until done. The VFW has allowed us to hold this sale, but we have to set up the tent and tables over by the ball field and road area to avoid interfering with the turkey shoot. We will set up on Friday night the 29th and load up the vehicles, then get there early Saturday to put out the items for display. There are going to be some new items, but they should all be marked before hand. What is left after this sale will be taken to a place to be decided on later. Any thing of value will be kept or sent to consignment. Carol Pease and Lu Peet will take care of putting out the posters and Lu will get the ad in the Shopper. (Lu will contact the Shopper to see if we can get some compensation for the ad for the July Sale where the date was left off). Carol will take care of getting the change for the sale.

 

Annual meeting and slate of officers *

 

The Annual Meeting will be held on September 18, 2008 at 9:00am at the VFW Hall. Lu Peet and Carol Pease will bring some treats for the members and coffee and juice will be provided. Lu Peet will make out the Annual Report and Linda Oberstar will do the Annual Financial Report.

Slate of Officers:

The following people have given their consent to running for office:

President-Dave Pease

Vice President-Bob Oberstar

Secretary-Lu Peet

Treasurer-Linda Oberstar

Two positions are open for Board Members as the three year terms of George Martin and Quentin Ruprecht are up. The following members have agreed to be on the ballot: Quentin Ruprecht, George Martin, Carol Pease and Kurt Kuhlman. The two highest vote recipients will be the new three year board members.

 

Lu Peet will get the ballots out to all members so that any mail-in ballots can be returned before the Annual Meeting. All members who plan to attend the meeting should bring their ballots with them (there will be ballots available on the day of the election also). Lu will also make up a list for the members of the board members and their terms so that we can see what terms are up.

 

There was discussion on the book that Ariel Amend was supposed to get for us. She will be contacted about this.

 

Grant Writing Classes

Lu Peet and Mike Bowes are attending the Grant Writing classes at WITC in Hayward. Both reported that the classes were well worth while, but we may still need someone to help us write our grants. It is more involved than what it appears. The classes gave a good incite into what we need to be aware of as an organization. Lu handed out some literature on where to look for grants. (There is also a Grant Management course that Lu will be taking at the end of August.)

 

State of Wisconsin Charitable Organization Form

Lu Peet received a letter from the State regarding our application for Charitable Organization status. We still need a financial report done on the official state form. (Lu will get a copy of the form and give it to Linda Oberstar for her to fill out.) A copy of our Articles of Incorporation also has to be filed. Lu has contacted Janet Seymour about getting a copy of this document. She will get one to us. The state informed us that we have to select a date for our financial report that is at the end of the month, not as it is now [the actual date of our Annual Meeting]. Motion (Jon Harkness / Lu Peet) to have the financial report date to be August 31st of each year. Call for discussion. The date of August 31st will allow us to have a full financial report at our September Annual Meeting. Motion carried. Lu will get all of this information together and send the items back to the state as soon as she gets them all.

 

New Business

Flea Market

The flea market had been previously discussed.

Ideas for what we want in a museum

Some ideas were discussed when our guest speaker was here. We will have to get more information and have this discussion at a future meeting. Lu Peet said that she has the paperwork we all filled out when Janet Seymour came to our meeting about a year ago and will bring them to that meeting.

 

Carol Pease said that the DNR had contacted her about using some of our tables and chairs when they have their big fire training session in September. BAHA will loan them out to the DNR. Carol said that we should mark all of our chairs and tables so we know which ones are ours.

 

Motion (Quentin Ruprecht / Bob Oberstar) to adjourn the meeting. Call for discussion. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 11:40am. The next regular meeting will be held at the VFW Hall on September 18, 2008 after the Annual Meeting adjourns.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lu Peet

Barnes Area Historical Association Secretary

Dated this 4th day of September 2008

 

* NOTE: Please be advised of changes to the ballot as current Treasurer Linda Oberstar has requested to be removed from the ballot. Quentin Ruprecht has agreed to be on the ballot as Treasurer. His name has been removed from the list of board member nominees.