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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06212021 Historic Preservation Special Meeting Laydown - Tanguy Libbrecht06212021 HP Special Meeting Laydown - Tanguy Libbrecht HP CLG PROJECT # 20005 WORKING DRAFT REPORT As of 6/21/21 Walking Tour and Signage Project Update Tanguy Libbrecht: Project Manager This report will serve as a progress report for CLG Grant #20005 and will seek to summarize the following: 1) Overall project goals and history 2) Timeline of said project and update on progress 3) Budget, report on private fundraising efforts and in kind, effect on City of Seward Share of project 4) Public notice, marketing outreach and donor recognition 5) Goals and expected outcomes of project Overall project goals and history CLG Project #20005 was approved by the State Historic Preservation office in late May 2020. The fulfillment of this CLG Project was started in June of 2020. Note that the project was the result of many hours of preparation and significant collaboration with Library/Museum Director Valarie Kingsland and administration including the city Manager at the time. This was additionally approved by city council who approved not only the project, also the city's share of cost. Fortunately, through thousands of documented volunteer time, city support, as well as the enthusiasm and generosity of Seward Citizens, we are nearing completion of this project (See below). The overall goals of this project and deliverables are available in the original grant application and subsequent grant notification The State Historic Preservation office has indicated they are THRILLED and IMPRESSED with the way in which we have executed this project, which is not always the case when working with grantees. Original commissioners on this project were Cheryl Seese, Sue Ward, Iris Darling, Wolfgang Kurtz, and John French. Current commissioners include Seese, Ward, Libbrecht as well as the valuable addition of commissioners Mary Ann Benoit and Jim Pemberton. Committees were set up as follows: • Historic Preservation Planning & Advocacy • Marlceting & Communications • Grant and In -Kind Donations • Volunteer Recruitment & Engagement In the words of the administration: (we) have created an activity that every resident and visitor in Seward will enjoy for years to come. (our) love of the community and the historical events that shaped it is evident in the passion (we) demonstrate for the service (we) provide. Seward is truly lucky to have such a dedicated commission. I concur......We have been told we should be commended. With that, I also concur. Goals reached and expected outcomes of project • 26 signs have been completed for the walking tour and have been shipped. These signs were offered at no cost to the recipients as cost was covered by the CLG Grant, well over a thousand volunteers hours, in kind donations from various local partners and cash donations from generous Seward Citizens • Tremendous partnerships have been strengthened with local historic societies, our library/museum and local businesses and private citizens, including renown historians and curators of our history. We ended up needing rights to over 100 pictures from our partners at SCLA and RBHS, much appreciated and of tremendous value well beyond the in kind we thought we would need for pictures. • A virtual presentation and project overview set to period music has been completed and will be shown at the City Council meeting on June 28. The public is invited, and we will celebrate with cake. This will be publicly noticed, and everyone is welcome. • Project has been documented via our Facebook page and through dozens of meetings, sometimes several a month throughout this project. • Our HP web page will be featuring the newly created walking tour featuring the 26 sign locations plus other walking tour locations of note that total over 40 stops. • Once signs are in the ground (anticipated to be in late July (Shipping by boat July 12) due to shipping delays), we will be distributing two side narrative maps with historical narrative to guide visitors. These will be made available free of charge to the public. • A thank you sign will recognize our partners, collaborators and donors and will be installed in the library garden. • A report on our timeline, project considerations and fundraising efforts is below: Budget, report on private fundraising efforts Initial estimated project cost was right around $28,000 and we are really close to that target with an estimated cost of $29,190. This may go down depending on shipping costs and or if any remaining supplies can be gotten for less. This could go up is cost of rental equipment or any excess delivery or supply fees are added. We have collected $7200 in private funding, well over $3000 of in kind and logged volunteer hours that are exponentially beyond the original 300 hours. Volunteer hours are worth over $28.00 per hour. It has been opinioned that the overall value of the combine volunteer hours for a project of this scope would be worth well over $100,000 for a paid contractor vs volunteers who have donated their valuable time, talent, treasure and professional expertise out of the goodness of their hearts for the sole benefit of Seward Residents and Historic Preservation. The original state reimbursement would not have been enough to cover invoiceable costs and anticipated costs of install. As per SHPO, the city's original required $2500 cash share contribution to the 40% match was also completely rendered unnecessary by the number of volunteer hours. EXPECTED PROJECT COSTS PERSONAL SERVICES AP Chainsaw: Quote for install of all signs CONTRACTUAL: Corvus Designs: Sign design Corvus: Printed Map Design Interpretive Sign Manufacture Thank you sign only manufacture (revised and shipped) Backhoe Rental Concrete Mixer Rental $ 1,200.00 $ 1,200.00 $ 19,468.23 $ 9,500.00 CONFIRMED PRICE $ 1,500.00 CONFIRMED PRICE $ 6,268.23 CONFIRMED PRICE $ 700.00 Estimated $ 1,200.00 CONFIRMED PRICE $ 300.00 CONFIRMED PRICE SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS Printed Maps-5000 full color $ Posts and mounts include delivery $ Fast Setting Concrete 120 bags $ Sauna Tubes x 20, Home Depot or Lowes $ Picture Rights -Various Not inc. any in kind $ Shortfall was addressed in two ways: $ 8,522.53 895.00 CONFIRMED PRICE 6,917.53 CONFIRMED PRICE Metco will pr - provide free 280.00 ESTIMATE 430.00 ESTIMATE 1) Request for SHPO additional funds (not unusual in late stages of project the maximum of $24,000 that the original request could have asked for. This was requested by project manager Libbrecht and Commission voted to accept the extra funding. Note that the original amount was $22,125 due to administrative fees collected by the state. Later, they determined that they would not be levying this fee and that they would reimburse UP to $24,000. 2) Initiation of private fundraising efforts by Commissioner Ward and Former Commissioner Darling, who was one of the named commissioners on the original grant. Ms. Darling served a volunteer fundraiser with Project Manager Libbrecht in charge of the committee. While this committee was referred to as the fundraising committee, it served the purpose of the grants/in kind committee that was referred to in the December meeting and in numerous publicly notices HP work sessions and regular meetings since that time. On June 4, a letter of solicitation was sent to potential private funders. Although the commission, and administration was apprised via comments from Commissioner Ward in several meetings that a letter was going out, it was not reviewed in a meeting or entered into public record via discussion and exhibit at our regular meetings. HOWEVER, NO Direction was provided by the Clerk's office that this would be necessary. I would like to reiterate that the fact that the committee was fundraising private funds was very clearly discussed in many meetings that the public was invited to. Question: What was the goal of the community fundraising effort: To close a gap that was initially thought to be about $3000-$5000, that was then lessened by the SHPO removing an administrative fee that increased the overall potential reimbursement to an amount UP TO $24,000. See detail above for expected cost of project. Question: Purpose (Intention) for use of the funds: The funds will be used to satisfy the cost of designing and manufacturing signs, posts and mounts, supplies, equipment rental and installation, as well as printed walking tour maps. All costs are specified in the grid above. Again, cost of material and installation came in slightly higher than expected. Question: When is the deadline for donations to be received or is it an ongoing date. Any donations that are received from here on out would only be from previously committed funding. Commissioner Ward has called all donors who indicated verbally that they would donate to thank them, establish how they would like to be listed on the sign etc. Any solicitation of funds was completed om June 10. The Welcome sign recognizing donors who gave or expressed an interest to give has passed and the sign has been submitted for manufacture. There is no further fundraising anticipated at this time. Question: Did Seward Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) increasing the budget for the Certified Local Government Grant (CLG) by $5,235 on April 30, 2021, effect the amount being requested from donations? No, the STATE Historic preservation office (not Seward) increasing the budget did not. Due to higher -than -expected costs of sign manufacturing and delivery and the elevated cost of supplies, my estimates indicated a shortfall of $3,000 to $5,000. As we moved past the design and manufacture state, it became apparent that installation costs might exceed original expectations. SHPO also originally indicated and administrative fee that would have resulted in a maximum reimbursement of $22,100 not the up to $24,000 the city may receive now. Additionally, as the value of volunteer hours has far exceeded the original estimate, there is no longer a required City Cash Match for this project. Because the city was partnering on this CLG grant for the benefit of Seward and citizens, we originally anticipated some support from Seward Public Works and or Parks and Rec to help defer the cost of installs and to provide expertise. Due to the high workload and lack of available staff and equipment, both departments indicated they would not be able to offer any support. Very recently, we have received some indication that they may be able to provide limited consultation and assistance. The inability to count on this support from our CLG partner (understandable in this pandemic environment) caused me to determine the need for additional funding. Fortunately, I have been able to secure the services of a local business owner, who will coordinate the installation with volunteers at a reduced cost. It is not unusual for project budgets to change or be modified over the course of the many months for implementation. Throughout the process, we have kept stakeholders aware our progress through work sessions, regular and special meetings. Page 32 of the executed grant request stated that we would be seeking in kind donations and private funding during this project. The city endorsed that by reviewing and signing off on our grant application. The committee called grants and in kind, was intended to be for fundraising. In April, during working sessions, in my report I indicated: Time to start working on some fundraising and eventually volunteers. This will be subject of further discussion. Need to also re[work committees. Historic Preservation committee is very active, others will now come into play: 1. Volunteer recruitment and engagement 2. Fundraising and In -Kind partnerships 3. Marketing -Radio, newspaper, Facebook This name could be changed to fundraising for this project if needed. Keep in mind that these committees are permanent committees for the commission as voted on many months ago. Question: How may donations have been received to date: According to Naneth Ambrosiani in Finance, $7200 has been received, this just a bit higher the $6500 reported by Director Kingsland on the 10th. We are not anticipating additional checks currently. Sue Ward touched bases with all donors as below to ascertain exactly how they would like to be recognized on the Thank you sign that will be installed in the library gardens. DONORS TO THE WALKING TOUR Sweet Darlings Ms & Mr. Lezlie Wilfer Tony's The Tufted Puffin The Cobble Company The Lindsey Family Apollo Restaurant - Kosta and Demi Kanakas Coastal Heritage Properties - The Casagrandas Arctic Paradise B & B Northern Lights Staging The Tides Inn - Peter and Jodi Toloff Seward Alehouse In memory of Matthew Byars The Hohl Family This includes the previously received donation from Rotary Club of Seward. Question: If the commission receives more donations than needed, then where will the additional funds go, or will they be returned to the donors? We will not know if there is an excess until signs are fully installed. At that time, we will complete the final report for the State Historic Preservation office and report on all budget and expenditures, applying volunteer hours, in kind, monetary expenses to the budget. We can then either 1) Ask for less contribution from the state if we have excess funding or 2) Retain excess funding for additional printed maps or ancillary costs related to the project 3) Use any leftover funds to produce more signs or 4) Return any excess funds. This option does not make sense as we would simply ask the state for less funding and hence have no funds left over. This saves taxpayer dollars and allows for the involvement of local stakeholder who will have been recognized in perpetuity on our Thank you sign, which is to be in the library garden. They will also have been recognized publicly via our PPT presentation which will be shared at the city council/public event on the 28t1i. Deputy Clerk Stallard reported on the 15'1i that Ms. Kingsland was looking into ways to properly account for and hold aside excess funding for future project needs. It should be noted that ALL Checks have been made appropriately to the City of Seward as indicated by finance. If there was an issue regarding collection of donations, it should have been brought up by the Clerk office, finance or any member of administration at an earlier time. There was ample notice of our fundraising efforts in multiple meetings. Current budget outlook reflects a possible excess of $2,000 when project is complete, we will not know this until we are done with installation and all deliverables. Question: Does the public have a copy of the Donor Sign that their names will be on if they donated money to the historic walking tour project? If not, then one needs to be provided to the clerk and the public. This has been provided by Commissioner Benoit during work sessions. The Welcome sign and donor recognition have been discussed multiple times, and we held a special session just to focus on donor recognition on 4.19.21. The sign is in production with final submission complete. How donors wanted to be listed has been confirmed by Commissioner Ward. We wanted to make sure that all donors were appropriately recognized. This is also part of the PowerPoint presentation that will be sent to council This will be provided as a laydown as well now that it is finalized. Again, there have been NUMEROUS, FREQUENT discussions of this in reports by commissioner Benoit in publicly noticed meetings. TIMELINE UPDATE: (To be provided as a laydown) Walking tour narrative is complete and sent to Mary Ann and Peter, they are going to Tanguy working Cost of map design is going to be included in 5/3/2021 complete the map on this the original design cost All artwork provided to (- Zone, pre -production and Peter Briggs- 5/15/2021 fabrication starts Corvus On Track Order posts once after reconfirming type of post Tanguy and Will order next week per Peter, they have 5/20/2021 land number needed Peter some in house Walking tour map design Peter Briggs- Walking tour map is almost complete and may 6/1/2021 complete Corvus be ready in time for City Council presentation Manufacturing of signs Signs shipped last 6.14.21 unsure of exact complete (tentative) and arrival time. There is a delay on posts and shipped (tentative) mounts of 4 weeks. Expected shipping date July 12, may be able to order utility locates, I-Zone/Peter to install 6/10/2021 verify tubes and concrete before then. Printed maps recevied Will need to budget and for these. Color on one side, black and white narrative on other. 5,000 Maps These are close to production. Hope to have 6/15/2021 estimated by 30t". Signs received (Tentative) Signs may be received week of the 21st or at least by end of month. Trying to confirm arrival 6/21/2021 Received c/o? date and time. Hold public event This will occur showing off signs not yet during 10-minute in ground slot at City Council Note: It is OK if signs are in ground after 6/30 if in 7/28/2021 meeting hand and shown to public Sign Installation Sign installation will not happen until posts and Complete/may require mounts are received which have been volunteers or city delayed. SHPO is OK with this. Ideally collaboration. complete by July 31 in accordance with our GRANT PERIOD ENDS final report. They have been apprised of delays in receipt of mounts. Signs are on schedule to be here before June 30 and can be displayed in part or in whole in library or other facility. A local resident, Austin Chapman has offered his services to oversee installation. He has submitted an invoice and detailed agreed services including all digging, filling and coordination of installs. This will still necessitate some volunteers. Bid submitted at $1200 for this service for installation of all in ground signs. Austin will pick up equipment, handle concrete and fill material needs, transport equipment and materials from site to site and oversee all install procedure. He has submitted W-9 and a pre invoice to Director Kingsland who will forward to finance. Do Volunteer/In Kind we need any type of vote or agreement on 6/30/2021 Committees this? 7/31/2021 Final Grant Report Due Ivaiarie Kin stand I also commend our incredibly enthusiastic, dedicated and talented commissioners and express tremendous gratitude to all our partners and supporters that are pulling together to bring this project to fruition during some incredibly challenging times. Respectfully submitted for consideration: Commissioner Tanguy Libbrecht