HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-01-02-MMC-min
Monuments & Memorials Committee
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, January 2, 2025, 4:00 p.m.by Zoom
Members Present: Linda Dixon, Chair; Avram Baskin, Glen Bassett, Regina Sutton, George
Gamota, Leslie Masson, Liz Huttner, Mariela Vaso, Nick Wong
Guests: Dave Pinsonneault, Director, DPW, Bill Poole
Business:
Linda convened the meeting at 4:05 pm, read the Town notice regarding the conduct of
public virtual meetings, and declared that a quorum was present.
The committee approved the minutes of its meeting of December 5, 2024 by roll call
vote.
Update on Monument Assignments
Linda reported that much progress had been made on editing and polishing monument writeups
to prepare for submitting them to Nick Wong for uploading to the database. Writeups included
profiles of those killed on April 19, 1775, monuments in and around the Battle Green, military
members who died in service in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. She is currently
working with Regina Sutton on monuments in Cary Hall, the Masonic Library, the Battle Green
area, and the Fire Department; with Leslie Masson on the “Something is Being Done” women’s
monument; and with Glen Bassett on the various USS Lexington memorials. Glen urged
everyone to connect with each other when researching and writing to avoid duplication.
Over the next month, Nick will upload many documents and report back at the February
meeting.
Status of “Path to Liberty” Monument Proposal
Linda mentioned that she was still waiting to receive a final copy of the Certificate of
Appropriateness from the Historic Districts Commission. Barry Cunha, spokesperson for the
group proposing the memorial, has notified her that they have scheduled a Community Open
House to view the proposed monument on Saturday, January 25, 2025 at LexArt. A press
release scheduled for publication in the Lexington Times will introduce the monument and invite
the public to attend the Open House.
Monument Repair and Restoration Planning
Dave Pinsonneault, DPW Director, emphasized that the M&M Committee could provide
valuable assistance to DPW in 2 ways:
1) Identify the monuments we know about, specifically, what they are and where they are, so
he can find them, assess them, and create a database.
2) Support his budget request to the Select Board for an ongoing maintenance fund.
Nick offered to send Dave the link to the monument database.
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Dave has selected Ivan Myjer of Arlington as his preferred repair and restoration consultant.
Mr. Myjer is nationally known and has contracts across the country. Dave expects to receive
the consultant’s cost estimate within the next few weeks. Dave will submit a budget request in
spring 2026 and hopes to receive by August 2026 the consultant’s budget identifying 1) those
monuments most in need of attention; 2) a long term (4-5 year) work plan; and 3) an ongoing
work plan. If Town Meeting is slow to approve his budget request, Dave will cover the cost with
his operating budget if the situation warrants.
Dave also mentioned that earlier, when CPA funding came available, his department
catalogued every marker in the Old Burying Ground, Robbins Cemetery, and Munroe
Cemetery. Leslie Masson asked whether we could have access to this data. Dave will leave it
at the front desk at DPW HQ for Leslie to review.
Committee Business