HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-05-MMC-minMonuments & Memorials Committee
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, May 5, 2022
Conducted by Remote Participation*
7:00 PM
Members Present
Linda Dixon, Chair; Glen Bassett, Bebe Fallick, George Gamota, Charlie Price
Members Not Present
Chuck French, Leslie Masson, Avram Baskin, Danjun Pu
Guests
Doug Lucente, Vice Chair, Select Board
Cassidy Xu, Holly Ding, Wei Ding, Dawn McKenna, Michelle Tran
Business
Linda convened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. and read the Town notice regarding the
conduct of public virtual meetings.
Presentation by Cassidy Xu, Co-Leader, Lexington Youth STEM Team
The Lexington Youth STEM Team is a volunteer group of Lexington High School
students who are helping on our Database project. Co-leader Cassidy Xu introduced the
team members, explained the role of the team, and described the projects the team is
currently working on.
• Cassidy Xu and Baoren Liu are the Team Leaders, working with 5 other students,
Ashley, Jerry, Ellen, Eddie, and Irene.
• Their goals are to help create a digital database of monuments and memorials, and
to commemorate citizens, events, and places as they deserve.
• Their current assignment is the verification of GIS coordinates with accuracy
within one meter of the memorial. They use satellite views or make personal site
visits, if necessary. They are updating the data in the spreadsheet created by
Chuck French.
• Working with Judy Baldasaro, GIS/Database Administrator for the Town, they are
updating GIS coordinates and markers on Town spreadsheets and maps.
• They conduct two rounds of verification; one round of execution; one round of
checking.
• They are working with a temporary map. Eventually this will be merged with a
public-facing map, which will be updated with the addition of images.
• Upcoming tasks include visits to schools and other public buildings to access
monuments housed in these spaces. Access to semi-public buildings with limited
hours when open to the public has been a challenge.
• Long term goals include creating a website that shows up as a top google search
result, and a collaboration with Tourism to make this user-friendly information
available to visitors.
A robust discussion followed, after which the committee thanked and praised Cassidy for
her excellent presentation.
Progress Report on CEL Grant Application
Glen Bassett reported that he, Linda, and Prof. Wei Ding had a follow-up meeting with
CEL members for continued discussions about the committee’s application for a CEL
grant. Glen felt the conversation went very well. The CEL representatives were
impressed with the high level of cooperation we have achieved with various town
organizations: the IT Department, who will maintain our database and make it available
to the public on the Town website; the DPW, who supports our efforts to find lost
memorials; and the Tourism Committee, who see the benefits of offering attractively
packaged information about Lexington’s history to visitors.
Crowdsourcing
Once we have verified the GIS coordinates of known monuments and memorials, we will
begin a crowdsourcing program to augment the database. Glen stressed the importance of
conducting a small beta test and using the knowledge gained to guide the actual
crowdsourcing process. He volunteered to draft an initial master plan.
Policies & Procedures Manual
Linda is awaiting input from a variety of boards and committees
The meeting adjourned at 8:27 p.m. Next meeting: June 2, 2022 - 7 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bebe Fallick, Secretary