Hope Historical Society Executive Meeting
April 13, 2022

The meeting was called to order at 9:00 am by the Society's President, Juanita Hunt - attendees, Gwen Brodis, Mary Ireland, Cindy DellaPenna, and Margaret Morse.

Gwen provided a printout of the Treasurer's Report for the period, October 31, 2021 to March 31, 2022. Our receipts were $2,877.38 vs expenses of $3,992.18. The receipts were made up of $813.30 from goods sold Nov. 2, 2021 (voting day) at the Town Office; and $2,064.08 in miscellaneous receipts in the fall from lawn sale, cook book sales, donations, memorial contributions (Jane Mitchell and Evelyn Ludwig) and Coastal Opportunities. Our expenses were a combination of regular utility, maintenance, cook book purchase, electrical goods for additional garage lighting, and payment to Danny Hunt, electrician, for upgrading the wiring in the kitchen and electrical entry box, for safety purposes. Danny fit the Historical Society into his busy schedule and gave the Society a significant brake in cost - his service is very much appreciated. As of March 31st, we had $996.12 in our checking account and $24,786.58 in savings, plus the three-year annuity of approximately $36,000.

We discussed how Bill and Judith Jones are working with Coastal Redemption to hopefully recover missing receipts for returnables over the winter.

We discussed lawn care. Juanita had called "Jason of Warren" to obtain a quote. He came to the house and looked at the yard. His quote is $50/hr. for spring cleanup, he did not think it would take long, then $80/wk. ($320/mo.) for mowing regardless of whether the lawn needed mowing or not. We did not even get into how long his mowing season would last, as the figure appears too high. It was suggested we could inquire of the town as to who they contract with and see if when they mow the Fire Station, they could mow our yard as well, at hopefully a fairer amount. Juanita will talk with the Town Administrator to obtain contact information.

We have spoken of internet service at the Society home, it is long overdue. The likely provider is Tidewater. We speculated whether as a tax-exempt organization we could obtain a discount; additionally, we wondered if there was any possible way we could work with the Hope Fire Department, presuming they must have internet. Juanita will make some phone calls.

Part of the Hope Historical Society sign out front was blown off during the winter. It needs to be cleaned and new chains attached. Volunteers?

Someone should check gutters and provide an opinion as to the condition of the exterior paint. Juanita will check with Jarvis to see if he would volunteer.

Juanita was volunteered to replace the living room window shades.

Mary Ireland will check into map display holders - something that hangs on a wall and allows display of multiple maps in a swing out fashion, similar to what one sees for poster displays.

We need volunteers to clean the downstairs of the Society home. Gwen has done the upstairs. It was suggested we could circulate a volunteer sheet at the general membership meeting; perhaps have a specific "cleanup" day.

Juanita reported that Randy Merrifield will be repairing the upstairs ceiling this year and also plans to put rolling casters on one of the display cabinets to facilitate easier movement and display arrangement.

We discussed whether there should be a regular open house schedule similar to the past, when we were open Monday's. We also have had open house days during the summer in the past. Marie Berry has coordinated the open houses and since she was absent this day, it was determined we should discuss with her. Again, volunteers to man the house for "open" days is needed.

We agreed to assemble for Executive meetings on an as needed basis.

The sign in book should be used every time we enter the home - it will be located on the kitchen counter.

Publicity for general membership meetings when a speaker is scheduled was discussed. Donovan has been providing posters. Margaret arranged this month's speaker and has provided the information to various news media i.e., Pen Bay Pilot, Village Soup, newspapers - The Free Press, the Courier-Gazette and the Camden Herald, and our local Hope Happenings blog. Thank you! She would appreciate recommendations and assistance.

Gwen will ask Donovan if he would create a professional stationary head for use by the Hope Historical Society with a small picture of the home at the head of the page. As an aside, our Post Office Box is: 2001. Gwen still prefers all membership dues sent directly to her, but other correspondence can be sent to the PO Box.

Susan McIntyre, our Webmaster, has done a good job of updating our website; her services are much appreciated. We will now post our membership meetings in advance and minutes of meetings are also shown.

We will try to list material donations in the meeting minutes, so everyone is made aware of our holdings. This winter we received the "Beaver Camp Budget - 1911 to 1947" of the former Beaver Camp for Girls. We also received a box of interesting local historical books from Shirley True in California - they need to be accessioned into inventory. The earlier digitized version of Hope, Maine: Town Clerk Records 1804-1848 has now been printed in a hardbound book format. A copy has been issued to the Hope Town Office and the Society has a copy.

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.

Respectfully submitted by,
Cynthia S. DellaPenna, Secretary


Postscript - The word volunteer was used a number of times throughout the meeting; we need to gently remind everyone, we are a volunteer-based society and whatever time one can expend in assistance is most appreciated.