Sturbridge Community Preservation Committee

Meeting minutes of 12/04/2023
Meeting date: 
Monday, December 4, 2023

Sturbridge Community Preservation Committee

Meeting Minutes of Monday, Dec. 4, 2023

Julian Room, Town Hall

 

Call to Order

Community Preservation Committee (CPC) Chair Penny Dumas established that a quorum was present and called the CPC meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

 

Present: Committee members Penny Dumas, Kelly Emrich, Ed Goodwin, Wally Hersee, Kadion Phillips and Barbara Search; CPC Clerk Elisa Krochmalnyckyj.

 

Absent: Committee member Lauren Vivier.

 

Meeting Minutes

Wally made a motion to accept the minutes of Nov. 6; Kelly seconded the motion. Motion approved 5-0-1; Barbara abstained.

 

Continuation of planning for Community Needs Survey Open Forum

Committee members zealously thanked Kadion for quickly turning the draft Community Needs Survey into a Google survey form, and for making edits in real time at the meeting. Respondents’ answers will be able to be sorted various ways, including by demographic, by project category (housing, recreation, historic…), by listed project priorities, etc.

 

Committee members brainstormed on ideas, improvements, additions and corrections. They included:

— adding the current Senior Center renovation to the list of Community Preservation Act-funded projects.

— making some questions required, meaning that they need to be answered in order to move on to the next question. That includes a question asking resident respondents what street they live on.

— The Committee can use the town’s GIS mapping program to categorize responses by neighborhood, as that may add insight to their priorities (i.e. respondents from Walker Pond may not prioritize building more trails because of their proximity to trails-rich Wells State Park.) 

— Including “None” and “Not sure” options, especially on required questions.

— Regrouping the age brackets as follows: Less than 20; 21to 45; 46 to 64; 65 plus.

— See how long the survey takes to complete, then include in the introduction the estimated time respondents can expect the survey to take, presumably between 5 and 10 minutes.

 

At the January meeting, the Committee will fine-tune the survey, then decided how and when to have “The Big Release!”

 

Review ATM warrant deadlines for CPC proposals

No town Meeting Warrant proposals.

 

New Business

Wally introduced the Historic Committee’s idea of obtaining CPC funds to purchase and install several historic commemorative markers and monuments:

— Three markers to be affixed to the base of the Civil Warm Monument in front of the library, each displaying the name and military unit of several recently-discovered Civil War fallen: Pvt. Crockett Edwards; Pvt. Simeon G. Newton; Pvt. Ferdinand Rogers.

— A monument honoring Lucy Danforth Coleman, a Sturbridge-born woman of great historic significance. She was a women’s rights advocate and abolitionist who, among other accomplishments, fought with Susan B. Anthony, and arranged and attended the meeting of President Abraham Lincoln and fellow abolitionist Sojourner Truth during the Civil War. Preliminary ideas include having a mid-height 18- by 24-inch aluminum or bronze plaque, similar to those at Westville Dam, with Coleman’s picture engraved on it. That monument could be placed somewhere on the main part of the Town Common, or, to ensure the Common does not begin to become cluttered, be placed in or around the graveyard across the street, which attracts many historians.

— The name of William Blood can be added to the existing obelisk in front of the Library. Plans would include space to add more names as researchers discover more names of those with Sturbridge connections.

 

Penny will add the proposal to the January agenda. Wally will have more information for that meeting.

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Barbara said the Historical Commission will be submitting a proposal for $60,000 of CPA funds to pay for two historic surveys.

 

Penny noted that all proposals for the Annual Town Meeting Warrant should be submitted in time for the CPC to consider them at the Jan. 8 and Feb. 5 meetings. Kadion will pass that information on to the Recreation Committee, Wally to the Community Housing Committee, and Ed to the Trails Committee. Penny will pass the information on to Town Historian Bob Briere.

 

Adjourn

Kelly made a motion to adjourn; Barbara seconded the motion. Motion approved 6-0-0.