2023-12-07-MMC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Monuments & Memorials Committee, Lexington, MA Minutes of Meeting December 7, 2023 By Zoom Teleconference Members Present Linda Dixon, Chair; Glen Bassett, Avram Baskin, Bebe Fallick, Chuck French Guests: Nicholas Wong and Elizabeth Huttner, prospective members; Jonas Miller, Director of Communications, Town of Lexington, James (Yue) Pan, parent mentor. Business The meeting was called to order at 4:05pm. The Chair declared that a quorum was present and that the meeting was being held by Zoom. The minutes of the meeting of November 3, 2023 were approved by roll call vote. Welcome New Members Linda Dixon introduced Nicholas Wong and Elizabeth Huttner, who have applied to join the committee and who should be formally approved by the Select Board soon. Both Nick and Liz learned about the committee through our community outreach asking for help in identifying local monuments and memorials. Nick is a native of Lexington, a Tufts graduate, and works as a program manager in Bedford. Liz is Associate Director, Learning & Development at TJP and has higher education and industry experience through her work at MIT and IBM. The committee gave them a warm welcome. Introduction of new Director of Communications Linda introduced Jonas Miller, the Town’s new Director of Communications. Jonas will temporarily oversee the Town website until a replacement is found for Bethany Ramirez, the former Webmaster. At a meeting with Chuck French and Linda Dixon on November 27, Jonas commented that the committee website could be enhanced in several ways to show a visitor what we have done, what we are now doing, and how to locate a specific memorial anywhere in town quickly and simply. The committee will form a website working group to explore ways in which the Heroes team can contribute. Jonas agreed to be a resource for the committee. Relationship of HDC and M&M in the Monument Approval Process Experience with handling monument proposals has shown the need for an adjustment in the timing of a proposer’s visit with the Historic Districts Commission (HDC) and the Monuments and Memorials Committee (MMC). After discussions among MMC Chair Linda Dixon, HDC Chair Paul O’Shaughnessy, and Select Board Member and MMC Committee Liaison Suzie Barry, it was agreed that HDC would be the final stop made by the proposer before meeting with the Select Board, for the following reasons: