CITY OF NORWALK
HISTORICAL COMMISSION
DECEMBER 19, 2007

ATTENDANCE: Peter Bondi, Chair; Eric Chandler; Kathryn Martino; Charles Yost; John Kurtzman (7:07 p.m.); Gail Wall (7:08 p.m.)

GUESTS: Scott Kuykendall, Norwalk Historical Society;
David Westmoreland, Dick Ventry Building Committee, Norwalk Historical Society; Jackie Lightfield, Yourct.com

CALL TO ORDER

Mr. Bondi opened the meeting at 7:05 p.m. and noted that they did not yet have a quorum, therefore no action could be taken.

REPORTS: BOARDS

A. NORWALK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Mr. Kuykendall introduced himself to the Commissioners. He reported that they had a gingerbread workshop which received very good media coverage. Mr. Kuykendall read his written report. They are finalizing plans for electrical improvements.

Mr. Kurtzman joined the meeting at 7:07 p.m.

A quorum was now present.

Ms. Wall joined the meeting at 7:08 p.m.

ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES – November 28, 2007

Correction: Page 4, under “Friends of the Norwalk Museum”. The sentence should read “Ms. Wall said that she heard there was a problem with access to the Museum telephone.”

** MR. CHANDLER MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES
** MR. PARK SECONDED
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

B. FRIENDS OF THE NORWALK MUSEUM

There was no report this evening.

C. LOCKWOOD MATHEWS MANSION

There was no report this evening.

REPORTS: SUB-COMMITTEES

A. FINANCE – CAPITAL BUDGET DISCUSSION

Ms. Martino reported that she and Ms. Gunn-Bromley met this afternoon and went over each project in the capital budget. She said that she feels that they have good information and estimates.

Mr. Bondi reported that the operating budget discussion went well today. He said that coverage for the vandalism to the gravestones may fall under the City’s insurance. The City self insures for this type of coverage.

Ms. Martino reviewed the capital item requests and the Commissioners prioritized the projects. The Commissioners talked about increasing their request to fund the historical resource inventory because it may help with the new demolition ordinance.

Ms. Wall asked Ms. Martino if she could ask Mr. Hamilton, City Finance Director, if the rent from the Smith Street apartments could come back to the Historical Commission instead of the general fund.

** MR. PARK MOVED TO ACCEPT THE CAPITAL BUDGET
** MR. KURTZMAN SECONDED
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

B. BUILDING COMMITTEE

Mr. Kurtzman reported that there is a hole in the floor at the Gate Lodge that can be easily fixed. The rest of the floor is solid. There is going to be a problem with the new stone steps going into the Gate Lodge because there is a reverse pitch to the steps.

DAVID WESTMORELAND, BUILDING COMMITTEE

A. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF PROPOSED LIGHTING PLAN FOR THE TOWN HOUSE

Mr. Westmoreland said that several years ago money was allocated for exhibition lighting at Mill Hill. He introduced Mr. Ventry who came up with a flexible design. They said that they were looking for input to their design.

Mr. Ventry presented the lighting plan which is a track lighting system; it is the least invasive to the building and will give the best versatility. Ms. Wall said that they still need electrical outlets in the office area. Mr. Westmoreland said that they are working on that with Mr. Elect, the electrician.

NEW BUSINESS

A. APPROVAL OF TOWN HOUSE LIGHTING PLAN

** MS. WALL MOVED TO APPROVE THE TOWN HOUSE LIGHTING PLAN AS PRESENTED
** MR. CHANDLER SECONDED
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

C. CEMETERY REPORT

Mr. Park reported that he received a voice mail from Evan Robbins, the Eagle Scout notifying him that the Boy Scout Council approved his project at the Brookside Cemetery. He also reported that Ms. Gunn-Bromley has been in touch with Parks and Recreation about lighting at Pine Island Cemetery.

D. NORWALK MUSEUM

Mr. Chandler reported that he has researched ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards and accessible designs and encouraged the Commissioners to also investigate the standards. He reviewed the statute and said that a locked door with a buzzer may be in compliance. Mr. Chandler asked if this Commission is a body that is competent to set a policy. He suggested letting Risk Management decide what is compliant under the ADA.

Ms. Wall said that this issue was discussed in 2005 and the Commission unanimously passed a motion for Risk Management look at the situation. Ms. LeTourneau (Director of Personnel at the time) sent an e-mail to Ms. Gunn-Bromley stating that the door was supposed to remain open during museum hours. Mr. Yost said that that was in the past and that is not our responsibility. Ms. Wall said that she would like to see the door remain open until they get an opinion from Risk Management and the Corporation Counsel. Mr. Bondi said that it was a security issue and there is a doorbell.

Mr. Yost left the meeting at 8:20 p.m.

Mr. Park agreed that it was a security issue. He said that he was mugged in front of the Palace Theater at 8:00 in the morning which required him to go to the Emergency Room. He said that a lot of offices use buzzers. Mr. Kurtzman said that there were two suspicious people outside when he arrived tonight.

Mr. Park said that they need to put themselves in the shoes of people in this building. Mr. Chandler added that when it comes to personal safety, he would rather err on the side of caution.

Ms. Wall said that they were not the only tenants in the building. No one from the Norwalk Museum can remove the key, but that is happening. She said that the door will have to remain open. Mr. Bondi said that if it has to remain open, it will remain open; it is in the hands of the Corporation Counsel. Until then the door will remain closed.

Mr. Chandler left the meeting at 8:25 p.m.

At this point there was no longer a quorum present.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Mr. Bondi did not have a report this evening.

MUSEUM CURATOR’S AND ASSISTANT TO THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION REPORT

There was no report this evening.

NEW BUSINESS (continued)

B. DISCUSSION AND APPROVAL OF PART TIME MAINTENANCE WORKER POSITION

Mr. Park reported that he attended the Board of Estimate and Taxation meeting. Mr. Hamilton explained how the Historical Commission was left out of the maintenance contract. The BET approved $9,750 for the part time maintenance position and will forward that to the Land Use and Building Management Committee for approval and then to the Common Council for final approval.

Mr. Park said that this part time position is not a union position. The Commissioners discussed and made revisions to the job description. Ms. Wall said that the Commission needs to be part of the hiring and firing process.

OTHER BUSINESS

Mr. Kurtzman said that he did a publication on the “Whistleville and Hunkyville” sections in South Norwalk and has gotten some favorable feedback. Mr. Kurtzman distributed copies to the Commissioners.

The meeting was closed at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Rosemarie Lombardi
Telesco Secretarial Services

Norwalk Museum Report to the Historical Commission
For December 19, 2007 meeting

• The Fitch Law Office work has been delayed but is now nearing completion. The remaining painting will have to be completed when the weather warms up.

• The building committee is working with the Historical Society to determine the design of the door replacement. The current door is delaminating and must be replaced.

• The front steps to East Wall St. have been repaired.

• Weather has again delayed the repair to the Town House chimney and the moving of the stones. We are still trying to complete this work before the end of December – weather permitting.

• The used flat files have been delivered and are in the Archives. They are wonderful and have already been put to use.

• The quotes to paint the Conference Room are beyond available funding unless Purchasing will reconsider some of their insurance requirements for a small painting job such as this.
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• The management company for the building has installed locks on the NM bathrooms. A key has been provided to Ralph and to the NM volunteers and the Friends. The doors will be open when the NM is open to the public.

• The new pigeon deterrent seems to be working fairly well. There are still some remaining droppings to be removed from the sides of the front doorway.

• The increased interest in the Archives is continuing. We have two sets of high school students who are doing research projects for school that are using the archives regularly and several independent researchers who come in frequently in addition to an increasing number of others doing research.

• We have now scanned at least 100 images from the photography collection and have run out of storage. We are using the images now to show individuals images from the collection without having to pull the images thus saving wear and tear on the photographs. The system is working.

• This fall we have been able to supply the Ridgefield Bank, CVS and Silver Designs with scanned images from the collection. For this work we wil