April 25, 2013
Heard Craig Carriage House
205 West Hunt, St, McKinney
6:30 P M
http://www.collincountytx.gov/historical_commission/historical_com.jsp
Collin County Historical Commission
Collin County Courthouse
2100 Bloomdale Road
McKinney, TX 75071
Becky Airhart-Smith, Valdasta*
Michael Black, Vice Chair, Workshops*
Janice Cline, Tax Abatement
Larry Collins, Grants
Naomi Emmett, Allen
Joy Gough, Secretary, State Markers
Carolyn Harvey, Celina
Linda Hess, Josephine*
Donna Jenkins, County markers
Eric Nishimoto, Liaison
Clyde Kerley, Treasurer*
Carole Lowe, Preservation Celebration
Lolisa Laenger, Cruises
Diane Miller, Melissa
Janice Quick, Plano
Paula Ross, Chairman
Loydell Seward, Historic Assets Survey
Jan Thatcher, Plano
Absent*
I. Call to order
The April meeting of the Collin County Historical Commission was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by
Chairman Ross.
II. Public Comments
The Historical Coalition meeting was held April 18 at MPAC, the old courthouse, at 7 pm.
Information on the new 2013 grant program was presented at this meeting.
The annual Historical Commission retreat will be held on September 21 at the Carriage House.
The Murphy Historical Society will hold a high tea on May 11 for Mother’s Day at Orchard Park
Senior Living Community in Murphy. Raffle tickets are available.
Barbara Johnson of the Heard-Craig House spoke to the Commission about installing a fire
suppression system for the house. The McKinney Community Development Corporation will award a
grant for the project. The approximate cost will be around $96,000. Johnson requested a letter of
support from the Historical Commission for the project. Seward made motion for the Commission to
write a letter of support. It was seconded by Collins and passed.
Michael Brown, a student at the Spring Creek Campus of the Collin County Community College,
was an observer at the meeting as part of his course work at the college.
Bear Creek Cemetery Association will hold an Open House at the cemetery from 2 – 4 on April 27
after Preservation Celebration.
On May 8 the Collin County Genealogy Society will have a representative from the Texas General
Land Office as speaker.
Thatcher and Quick asked about local oral history programs. It was suggested that they contact
Plano TV to help with interviews.
III. Minutes and roll call
Miller made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. It was seconded by Lowe and passed.
The volunteer hours for April were recorded.
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IV. Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer of the Historical Commission is in balance with the county with a balance of
$35,886.10. The deadline for Purchase Orders is June 1. There is money in the budget for members to
attend professional meetings.
The grant program is budgeted for $24,000 this year. The money will be encumbered in June.
The Cruise Committee is planning for another Cruise in the fall that will be paid for with this
year’s budget.
Bob Brinkman of the Texas Historical Commission has agreed to submit invoices for the two
markers that were declined in this year’s application cycle. The applications will be resubmitted in
September.
Laenger made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. It was seconded by Thatcher and passed.
V. Committee Reports.
a. State Markers
The Historical Markers for the Wylie Cemetery and the Prosper Presbyterian Church have been
received by the county. Approval of their installation is on the May 6 agenda of the
Commissioners Court. Commissioners Court approval is a new step in the installation process.
Bob Brinkman of the Texas State Historical Commission has agreed to roll over the $100
application fee for each of the two markers that were declined in this year’s cycle, for a total of
$200.00.. He had also agreed to roll over the $1800 marker fee for each marker, for a total of
$3600.00. The funds will be applied to applications submitted in September 2013. Brinkman will
submit invoices for the two markers to the county.
b. County Markers
All of the county marker applications for 2013 have been submitted to Erie Trophies and
Engraving for processing. No finished markers have been received as yet.
c. Preservation Celebration
The seventh annual Preservation Celebration will be held on April 27 in Allen. It will start with a
brunch at the Allen Senior Center at 9:00 a.m. and will move across the street to the Allen
Christian Church building at Allen Heritage Village at 10:00 a.m. for the ceremony.
Tables will be available for each Historical Coalition group to distribute brochures and share its
news and photos. Twelve groups have asked to have a display.
Goodie bags are red with white lettering and will contain brochures and coupons. The speaker will
be Rosemary Rumbley. Special recognition will be given for the 99th birthday of Ridgell
McKinney. Among the things that he will receive is a US flag that flew over the Capitol on his
birthday, April 7.
Over 100 people have responded to the invitations. Programs have been printed and are being
folded. Laenger and Hess will do registration. Historic photos have been sent to Nishimoto for
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additional posters.
The Elegant Door donated a $100 gift certificate to be raffled off.
Following the program, tours of Allen’s Historic Sites will be offered from 12 - 2 including a visit
to the Allen Water Station, Allen Depot and a driving tour, including a Munzee search.
Next year’s Preservation Celebration will be held in Celina around the third or fourth Saturday in
May.
d. Awards
The deadline for awards nominations was April 5. Members of the Awards Committee include
Collins, Cline, Seward, and Miller. Fourteen nominations were received. The nominees were from
all parts of the county and all five categories had nominees. Plaques have been made for the
awardees and were paid for with a county credit card. Awardees will receive a copy of the
COLLIN COUNTY HISTORICAL MARKERS BOOK, STATE AND COUNTY MARKERS
2011. The books will also be available for sale.
e. Education
Letters have been sent to the museums in the county for information to put in the new museum
brochure.
The county museums are being contacted to determine if they plan to hold summer camps in
2013. Three new camps are scheduled for this year – genealogy, cemetery restoration, and a
children’s’ bus tour of McKinney. The Heard-Craig Museum may or may not have a camp.
A cemetery preservation workshop will be held on June 15 in Chambersville. It will include lunch
at the Chambersville Methodist Church Fellowship Hall with hands-on work at the Chambersville
Cemetery across the street. Rusty Brenner, owner of Texas Cemetery Restorations, will be the
speaker.
f. Grants
The 2013 grant program was presented at the April 18 Historical Coalition meeting. Grant
applications were distributed to the attendees.
The mandatory grant workshop will be held at the Allen Depot on May 4. Registration will start at
8:30 a.m. A light brunch will be provided. Three speakers will give talks about their grant
application experiences: Barbara Johnson of the Heard Craig Museum, Candace Fountoulakis of
the Young Family Cemetery Association, and Kelly McGuiness with the City of Allen, with Larry
Collins giving the final talk on the Historical Commission’s 2013 Grant Program. Elkes Market
will provide the lunch. Sample applications will be available. The workshop is mandatory for any
group that will be submitting a grant this year. Collins anticipates about 40 attendees for the
workshop.
Grant applications are due on June 7 at 5 pm. They can be mailed or delivered. No e-mailed
applications are accepted. New Commission member Emmett has agreed to be on the Grant
Committee. Other Committee members include Hess, Black, and Gough with Collins as chairman.
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There are 9 final grant report presentations to be given for the 2012 season.
g. Tax Abatement
The current county tax abatement guidelines were used this year. The changes approved by the
County Commissioners in December will be implemented in 2014.
The number of properties approved for tax abatement for 2013 was 127. The approved list of
the 127 properties has been presented to the County Commissioners for its final approval. The
2013 tax abatement season will be behind us once the approval letters are sent to the applicants.
As they currently stand, the new county tax abatement guidelines for 2014 state that:
1.
A property must have been built before 1930.
2.
Properties in historic districts must have individual recognition.
3.
Properties that do not have state or national recognition can apply for county tax abatement by
submitting a history of the property to the Historic Assets Survey to be included on the
interactive historic map.
The historic preservation officers in the county questioned the 1930 date. The National and State
standard is a ‘rolling 50 year’ timeframe. Liaison Nishimoto asked the Judge about changing the
timeframe in the guidelines to 50 years. The change is on the Commissioners Court agenda for the
May 6. Ross will be able to attend the court session.
Thatcher and Quick are working the narratives for the Historic Assets applications on the historic
homes in Plano.
h. Historic Assets Survey
The application process of the Historic Assets is changing. City and local organizers are being
used instead of quadrant captains. The new procedure has Seward receiving the final applications
from the local organizers. She forwards them to Jim Ryan. Ryan assigns a site number to each
application and adjusts the format. He forwards the applications to GIS on a quarterly basis. After
the applications are received by GIS another 2 or 3 months may pass before the sites are added to
the interactive map.
A training session was held with the Wylie Historical Society to get Wylie on the Interactive
Historic Map.
The Historic Assets Survey Committee will present five certificates appreciation at Preservation
Celebration, 3 to individuals and 2 to groups.
The Digital Frontiers Conference will be held at the University of North Texas in September. One
of the topics is volunteer groups using digitizing. The Historic Assets Survey will be one of the
participants.
i. Museum brochures
The Education Committee is awaiting responses from the county museums before starting on the
revised brochure. The deadline is the end of the month.
j. Contact list
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A copy of the contact list will be sent to the Commission members for corrections and additions. It
has been updated to include more volunteers from around the county.
k. Lakes Trails
The Lakes Trails representative was absent.
VI. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 8:37.
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