Historical Commission
Princeton Historical Commission December 16, 2021
Attendees: Matthew Lindberg - chair, Carl Soderberg - vice chair Larry Todd - clerk, Tom Kokernak
The meeting opened at 7:06 pm.
The meeting minutes of 11/18/21 were approved as written.
Matt received a message from Joyce saying she is resigning from the commission. We now have only 4 members and no alternates.
The commission approved a motion to send a letter to Joyce and copy the board of selectmen to thank her for her many years supporting historic preservation in Princeton. Larry will draft the letter for review.
Matt will contact the board of selectmen and inquire if there are other ways to recognize the contribution Joyce has made.
Civil War Plaques: Larry reported there are additional costs: the frame to hold the marble for safe transport is $600 and the cost to transport the marble to Leominster Monument is $950. We will look for additional donations to cover these unanticipated costs. Larry will ask if there are any other costs not part of the contracted price.
Tom and Larry completed their final review of the copy for the plaques. The next step is sandblasting and Larry will visit Leominster Monument to look at the plaques after this is done. He will let the commission know when this will be.
Meeting House Cemetery: Matt spoke to Lynne and told her the commission did not approve of adding a flagpole to the cemetery and Lynne agreed.
Regarding the bricking up of the tomb and storage of the stone fragments, Lynne said the cemetery commission will handle this when funds are available.
Matt has not heard from TaMara about her work which is probably complete.
Public Safety Building Committee: Carl said there is an upcoming meeting which will consolidate recommendations for cost savings. He said it is too early in the process for any design review, a topic discussed at our last meeting.
New business: Larry sent Matt a message from the Massachusetts Historical Commission announcing round 28 of the Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund. This is an annual appropriation, now about $800,000 for matching funds for local historic preservation projects. Larry attended a workshop about this several years ago and although the application process is quite involved the funds are available. Princeton received grants in the past for work on Bagg Hall and the library.
Our next meeting will be held remotely on Thursday, January 20 at 7pm
The meeting was adjourned at 7:41 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Larry Todd, clerk