Advisory Commission Meeting 10/18/2021

Keweenaw National Historical Park Headquarters

October 18, 2021

Present: Commissioners

• Glenn Anderson, State of Michigan
• Karin Cooper, Houghton County
• Gerald Juntunen, at-large
• Dan Jamison, at-large
• John Sullivan, Franklin and Quincy Townships
• Dave Geisler, Village of Calumet

Absent:

• Keith Koppernolle, Calumet Township

Present: Executive Director

• Sean Gohman (also recording Secretary)

Present: National Park Service (NPS)

• Wendy Davis, Superintendent

Present: Guests

• Kurt Stevens, Painesdale Mine & Shaft
• Barb Manninen, Painesdale Mine & Shaft
• Vince Karthak, Painesdale Mine & Shaft
• Amber Goodwin, Village of Calumet
• Paul Campbell, Keweenaw County Historical Society
• Anita Campbell, Keweenaw County Historical Society
• Lindsay Hiltunen, Michigan Tech Archives

Call to Order

A regular meeting of the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission was opened at 1:05 p.m., Monday, October 18, 2021.

Approval of Agenda

Moved by Karin Cooper and seconded by Jerry Juntunen to approve of the agenda for October 18, 2021. Motion carried unanimously. (6/0).

Approval of Minutes of July 19, 2021.

Moved by Glenn Anderson and seconded by Dan Jamison to approve of the minutes of July 19, 2021. Motion carried unanimously. (6/0).

Superintendent’s Report

Superintendent Wendy Davis provided an overview of recent news and summaries of key accomplishments of the various park divisions.

Operating on a continuing funding resolution. Until that’s resolved, the park cannot plan too far ahead. Two upcoming projects that are confirmed are:

• Stabilization of the Quincy Smelting Works dockside warehouse.

• C&H Warehouse #1 in Calumet is still in planning stages to e a future curatorial storage facility for Keweenaw, Isle Royale, and Picture Rocks national parks (and potentially others). Conceptual design has been approved. Contract for final design went out this week. Should be able to report on who the contractor is in January. Slated for 2027 completion, but this may be moved up 2025

Heritage Site Agreement with Keweenaw NHP is in its final draft for review by NPS legal office. It will be one agreement signed by all Heritage Sites, rather than individual agreements.

The Park will be entering it’s 30 year anniversary next year. Starting next fall, the Park would like to look into its partnerships and “reinvigorate” our shared goals, including potentially admitting new Heritage Sites. This may involve some strategic planning. More to come.

The Visitors Center will be open on Fridays and Saturdays (at minimum) this winter.

Executive Director’s Report

Executive Director Sean Gohman reported on how the goals of the Advisory Commission were supported during the quarter.

• It was hoped that the updated National Historic Landmark nominations for Calumet and Hecla Mining Company Historic District and Quincy Mining Company Historic District would be approved this fall, but due to covid-related delays, these amendments to the landmark designations will not be up for review until next spring.

• In August, the Commission fulfilled its authorized funding limit of $250,000 for fiscal year 2022. These funds will be directed towards a variety of projects taking this upcoming year.

  • $50,000 is currently funding a building assessment of the historic Calumet Theatre. The Commission contracted with UPEA for the work, which just began a few weeks ago. This assessment is addressing concerns regarding the thermal envelope of the building, and will be of great benefit to the Village of Calumet, who own the site, as well as the Calumet Theatre Board, a Keweenaw Heritage Site organization, in the prioritization of preservation projects and grant funding.

  • Another $80,000 was secured thanks to Keweenaw NHP staff and those funds will be spread over a variety of projects, though exact amounts and details are still being worked out. A rough outline of funds and projects:

    • $15,000 for interpretive trail work at the Quincy Mine.

• $5,000 for a traveling exhibit that we are working on securing a home for.

• $25,000 for an art installation/artist in residence program.

• $30,000 for addressing openings in the Quincy Smelter property that animals and birds have been using to access interiors and damage things.

• $5,000 for new a new entrance interpretive sign at the Quincy Smelter.

• The Commission is working with Alexis Dahl, a videographer in the local area that specializes in accessible, educational videos to create a 7-minute video on the Quincy Smelter. Filming began last week and will continue this week. Once finished, the video will be hosted by Dahl as well as linked to the Commission’s YouTube channel and others. Working with Alexis has been great. She recently completed filming a video for the Quincy Mine Hoist Association, and if there are other Heritage Sites out there looking to create content or highlight their resources, Alexis is available and eager to connect with you. Her videos can be found on YouTube under Alexis D-a-h-l.

New items:

• Next month (date?), the Commission and National Park will host its annual Fall Heritage Sites meeting in person at the Visitor’s Center in Calumet. The upcoming meeting will focus on sites reporting how the past tourist season went, as well as discussing a new agreement between the sites and Keweenaw National Historical Park. These agreements are currently lapsed and help define and direct technical assistance between the park and the heritage sites.

• The Commission would like to remind educators that our School Bus program is up and running again after a break due to the coronavirus pandemic. This program reimburses schools for bussing students to Keweenaw Heritage Sites. Bus grant forms can be found on the National Park website under the “Learn About the Park/Education” tab.

• Finally, the Commission would like to invite everyone to the upcoming Haunted Smelter Tours at the Quincy Smelting Works taking place October 28-30 from 7-10pm each evening. The Commission is hosting this event that in past years took place at the Quincy Mine, but this year the Mine Hoist Association asked that the hold the event at the smelter. Putting on the scares are students from Michigan Tech’s Visual and Performing Arts program. For the last six weeks, students and MTU faculty have been working with myself, the Mine Hoist Association, and National Park staff, to design a safe and engaging experience for people who’ve never been to the smelter before as well as those, like me, who’ve never spent much if any time at the smelter at night. In the dark.

• Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased via the Quincy Mine Hoist Association or at the smelter office building the days of the event.

• Go to Quincymineevents.com for more details

Commission Committees and Projects

Announcements / Executive

Last meeting we discussed setting up a Quincy Smelter Steering Committee to identify future uses for the facility. This decision was made prior to the donative letter written to the NPS Midwest Regional Office to accept the smelter from the Commission and so discussion was tabled. As we have not yet heard back from the Regional Office, it was moved to table this discussion again. John Sullivan motioned and Jerry Juntunen seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. (6/0)

Budget / Finance

Moved by Sullivan and seconded by Juntunen to approve annual FY22 budget of $365,351.00, with anticipated expenses of $314,301.00. Motion carried unanimously. (6/0)

Moved by Glenn Anderson and seconded by Juntunen to approved in $4106.06 billing and wages and tax of $11,457.66. Motion carried unanimously. (6/0)

Other reports from Commissioners

Karin Cooper announced a new Sherriff for Houghton County (Josh Saaranen) to tentatively replace Brian McLean and Elizabeth Bjorn was appointed new County Administrator.

Glenn Anderson announced that the state budget has been approved and it included all the flood damage repair funds for Houghton County. This leaves $10-14 million in budget surplus and unspent emergency funds. This makes it a good time to ask for supplemental funds from your State government.

John Sullivan stated that the Quincy Mine Hoist Association had a successful and busy year with visitors. Cooper Country Firefighters History Museum also had a record breaking season.

Jerry Juntunen has been visiting Heritage Sites south of the bridge recently. Ontonagon County Historical Society are having a great year in terms of visitor numbers. Also visited Painesdale Mine & Shaft and was impressed with the work they’ve been doing.

Dan Jamison announced he was recently appointed to lead up the Calumet Theatre organization. Jamison praised the cooperative work with the National Park to keep that building going for the next hundred years. Jamison invites any who would like to get involved with the theatre to contact him.

Dave Geisler introduced Amber Goodwin, the new Manager for the Village of Calumet (started on October 1st). Clean up is proceeding on 5th street’s 100 block. Council has adopted a new Downtown Development Authority plan and a new tax increment finance history plan. A new zooming ordinance will hopefully be in place by November. The first update to the ordinance since 1997. The Historical District Commission was awarded a grant from Michigan State Historic Preservation to resurvey the Historic District. The first since 2002.

Comments from Legislators or Legislative Staff

None

Comments from Keweenaw Heritage Site Representatives

Anita Campbell informed everyone that the Keweenaw County Historical Society has an amazing year in terms of visitors. The Gay School Museum does not however get many visitors. KCHS is interested in improving that with perhaps new signage in Gay regarding the School Museum. Visitors are also often unaware of the National Park and/or Visitors Center in Calumet and we should think on solutions.

Barb Manninen from Painesdale Mine & Shaft wants to know how they can become a Heritage Site. What more do they need to do? Superintendent Davis commended PM&S on the work they have been doing. Davis stated that discussions about expanding the Heritage Sites membership are ongoing at a Regional level. Gohman stated one of the primary benefits of being a Heritage Site is it makes your organization eligible for NPS Technical Assistance. PM&S is also inside one of three geographical regions eligible for Keweenaw Heritage Grants, so in many ways PM&S is getting a lot of benefit already. However, that the easiest path towards Heritage Site membership is to join up with an existing site, in this case Copper Range Historical Museum. They are telling linked stories, and could work well together since CR does not usually apply for Heritage Grants. Manninen stated that these organizations work together quite a bit already, and that that is something to look into.

Comments from the Public

None

Motion to Adjourn

Moved to adjourn by Sullivan, and seconded by Jamison at 2:20 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. (6/0).

Next Meeting

Wednesday, January 19, 2022.