01-22-14 Community Relations - Laserfiche WebLink

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COMMUNITY RELATIONS JANUARY 22, 2014 5:00 P.M. Committee Members Present: Oliver Davis, Karen White, Derek Dieter, Gavin Ferlic Other Council Present: Tim Scott, Henry Davis, Valerie Schey, Dr. Fred Ferlic, Dr. David Varner Others Present: Sign -in sheet attached Agenda: City Cemetery Restoration Project Oliver Davis, City Council President and Community Relations Chair, welcomed all attending then proceeded to round table introductions. Each in turn gave their name and particular interest in the Cemetery Restoration Project. Oliver proceeded to thank the volunteers who helped place wreaths and flags at the cemetery for the holidays. Carol Nichols representing the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and principal organizer of the holiday decoration effort reported as many as 80 wreaths as well as flags on some of the identified veterans graves were placed. She suggested next year's decorations should be scheduled for placement earlier, perhaps just after Halloween, prior to the wintery weather. Oliver said the annual Schuyler Colfax Day commemoration would be held on Sunday, March 23 at 3:00 P.M. most likely in the Center for History Auditorium. He also suggested an annual Schuyler Colfax award be initiated. It would honor a person whose efforts exemplify the ideas and public service of Schuyler Colfax. Oliver's suggestion was roundly applauded with several ideas as to how the criteria be established and selection made. Oliver said he would follow up with those willing to take on the implementation. Moving along, Oliver asked Deb Kuehn to present a progress report on the effort to map the cemetery identifying individual plots noting location and identity of each person buried. Deb is the City's GIS mapping guru who has researched and refined software that can once completed include not only who and where; but other available information like familial relationships and even pictures. This would be of great value to genealogists and history buffs. It could also be used to identify vacant pilots potentially available for future internments. Deb said this software product would continue through the balance of 2014. Hopefully this data could be on the City website by the end of the year. Elicia Feasel from Historic Preservation said the City Engineering Department had created an accurate legal description for the cemetery land. This would be incorporated into Historic Preservation's application for historic national landmark status for the cemetery.