Ford
Homes Historic District Board Meeting
Meeting Minutes
Thursday,
April 8, 2004
Present: Mike
Assenmacher, Carter Brown, Dan Alford, Jenny Neill,
Teresa Klimkiewicz
Absent: Amy
Jelso, Leon Bergeron,
Next Meeting: To be determined - - following Spring
Meeting / Elections
Meeting began at 7:40p
Confirmed use of First Baptist Church basement for Spring
District Meeting on Thursday, April 22, 2004 at 7:30p. Carter and Dan are willing to run again for
board positions. Mike advised that Leon
stated he will also run again.
Reviewed status Standing Committees:
Teresa brought board members up-to-date on the Gregory
house situation. The Building Committee
has reviewed the revised plans for the home on Gregory and has approved them
but WITH EXCEPTIONS. The Committee
submitted a letter to the homeowner AND the Building and Safety Department with
the City of Dearborn, citing the District’s exceptions to the plans.
Teresa advised that Sylvia Tillman is interested in
turning over the FHHD Merchandising to the Board. Sylvia will replace Kurt as chair of the Building Committee. Once this responsibility has changed hands,
the Board will convene to decide on new merchandise. Mike advised that we have received about 4 responses to the new
merchandise survey on the website.
No news about Sign Rentals, Welcoming Committee.
Dan advised that he received some “very old” checks from
District tent rentals. (The checks were
dated last year.) Mike advised that we
needed to reserve a tent with Scott for the upcoming Edison Street Sale on
Saturday, June 5th.
All reviewed the current newsletter for comment /
suggestion. Nothing to note. The next newsletter will be distributed in
late May, just prior to the Edison Street Sale.
Mike advised that gift certificates from local merchants
were needed for the raffle for the upcoming Edison Street Sale. Teresa offered to speak with Mark Smith at The Henry Ford about
donating a gift certificate or gift membership. Teresa will also contact the Rushman family on Edison Street to
see if the District can once again set up the tent on their front lawn. Volunteers will be needed to work the
District tent. Teresa will prepare a volunteer sign up sheet for
the District meeting, not only to work the tent but also set up and tear down.
All agreed that FHHD merchandise will be given out as
prizes for the canned goods raffle at the Spring meeting in April, and then
will be put on “fire sale” at the street sale in June to get rid of the
existing stock so that new items can be ordered.
Mike posted a picture of the new District street signs to
the web. The signs will be double sided
and measure 18” x 24”. The City of
Dearborn will not install the signs, so volunteers will be needed. The City is providing the District with 15
signs which includes 4 extras. The cost
to the FHHD is approximately $2,400.
The signs should be delivered by the end of April.
All reviewed the agenda for the upcoming District Spring
Meeting. Again, Dan, Leon, Carter and
Jenny will run for election positions to the Board. Teresa will
prepare ballots for distribution at the meeting. Once again, the FHHD will hold a canned food
raffle for FHHD merchandise, about 6 – 8 items will be raffled. Food items will be donated to the First
Baptist Church, and Mark Davison will receive the items on behalf of the church
and take them to the organization of their choice. All agreed that we should postpone having a guest speaker at the
Spring meeting due to the amount of time the elections will take up. A guest speaker will be considered for the
Fall Meeting in October. Mike requested
that the Board members once again sit as a panel in front of the meeting attendees. Jenny suggested that lawn signs be created
as reminders for the District meetings.
This will be tabled for the Fall meeting.
Mike advised that the surveys on the website have not
generated a lot of interest, and said that about 15 people have taken surveys
(8 took the general meeting survey, and 4 took the merchandise survey).
All discussed ordering commemorative ornament or Cat’s
Meow collectible in time for the Holiday Home Tour, scheduled for Sunday,
December 5, 2004. All agreed that a
Cat’s Meow collectible would be more desirable than a Christmas ornament, and
the District could use the collectible in its regular merchandise
offering. Ruth Assenmacher to look into getting more information
about Cat’s Meow collectibles and report back to the Board.
Mike announced that a $50 gift certificate has been
purchased by the FHHD as a “thank you” for Ron Mallord who has played Santa and
run the Pumpkin Carving Contest for the past several years (often at his own
expense).
All discussed purchasing more historic home plaques. It was decided that, before purchasing more
plaques, we needed to find out if there is any interest. Teresa will prepare a sign up sheet for the Spring meeting. Mike will add a question to the current
merchandise survey to determine if there is a real need to order more.
A brief review of the agenda for the upcoming Spring
meeting was given. Mike will prepare
the agenda and distribute to the Board members. All agreed that coffee and cookies will be served at the Spring
meeting. Mike to purchase tins of cookies. It was agreed that a board meeting will be
scheduled after the elections take place at the Spring meeting. A schedule of events will be set up at that
time for the upcoming year.
Meeting adjourned at 8:55p.
__________________________
Minutes submitted April 12, 2004
Prepared by Teresa Klimkiewicz, FHHD Secretary (2003-2005)