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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-02-06-MMC-min Monuments & Memorials Committee Meeting Minutes Thursday, February 6, 2025, 4:00 p.m.by Zoom Members Present: Linda Dixon, Chair; Avram Baskin, Glen Bassett, George Gamota, Liz Huttner, Regina Sutton, 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. Approval of Minutes The committee approved the minutes of its meeting of January 2, 2025 by roll call vote. Report on Loading Monuments into Database Nick Wong has been working with Judy Baldasaro of Lexington IT. After reviewing the amount and characteristics of the content we have produced, Judy finds the task is more intensive than first thought. She has designed a spreadsheet for our use. The discussion moved to the amount of poor or lesser-quality photos we have on hand and whether we can improve them. Nick will send Leslie some of George’s WWII photos to work on as an experiment as Leslie has some expertise with Photoshop. Since photos must be uploaded one at a time to the database, Nick suggested it might be easier just to wipe the database and upload a new clean sheet. We discussed how to deal with certain individuals listed on more than one monument, such as John Raymond, one of the eight killed on April 19, also listed on a plaque at Buckman Tavern, and decided to deal with this matter later. Regina volunteers at the National Archives Boston at Waltham, transcribing documents from the Revolutionary War period, and occasionally comes across documents that are relevant to the Monuments Committee. She will refer any that are of interest. As an example, she recently found a document written by a man from the Fitchburg-Lunenberg area who fought at Lexington. What to Present to the Public on April 19 for Lex250 The committee felt that the Monuments Committee should have something to present for Lex250 that would showcase the work we have been doing on building our database. Redesigning/expanding/improving our website , which can be accomplished by a working group assisted by Town Communications Director Jonas Miller and Julia Flood, Town Webmaster, seemed the most feasible step with the most benefit. Glen, George, Nick and Regina will form a working group to come up with ideas and content, and request that Jonas and Julia will then re- engineer the website to accommodate the new design. Linda suggested that bringing in a representative from the Tourism Committee might be a good idea. Chair Dixon, Linda submitted, Respectfully 2025. ,6 March be meeting The p.m. 035: at adjourned meeting The Update on Monument Assignments Linda reported that she and Regina had finalized Regina’s submissions on Fire Department First Responders, Cary Hall Monuments, various monuments on the Battle Green, and two monuments at the Masonic Library. Possible New Projects for Committee to Consider Out of our discussions, three possible new projects have emerged for future consideration by the committee: 1) Replacing numerous old or poor-quality photographs, repairing/improving existing photos, and taking new photographs where possible. 2) Intensive study of the Town’s 3 old cemeteries, the Old Burying Ground; Robbins Cemetery; and Munroe Cemetery, with detailed exploration and identification of individual gravesites, to identify graves that might qualify as a monument or memorial. 3) Identifying monuments that need repair or restoration, estimating their condition, and reporting this information to the Department of Public Works. 4) Creating a full list of every individual who enlisted and served in World War I and World War II. Right now, the only record we have is a listing of those men who died in service. Those who volunteered to serve, served their time, and returned home, are lost to history. Do their names deserve to be publicly shared, so that they can be honored through the generations? Question: what about those who were drafted, and served honorably? Same thing? Status of “Path to Liberty Proposal Linda reported that the Path to Liberty Monument group held a Community Open House, advertised in the Lexington Times and other outlets, at LexArt on Saturday, January 15 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. where they presented their design concept. Committee members Leslie, George, and Linda, as well as adjunct member Bill Poole, attended. About 40 people attended the presentation, and many lingered to ask questions of the artist and others. Linda is still awaiting receipt of a final Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Districts Commission. Contingent on receipt of this document, a vote to approve/not approve is planned for the next meeting on March 6.