Historic District Meeting Minutes 12-10-2015lvv�
City of Van Buren, Arkansas
Municipal Annex
111 North 12'h Street • Van Buren, Arkansas 72956
HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION MINUTES
December 10, 2015
The Van Buren Historic District Commission held its monthly meeting on Thursday, December 10,
2015 at 5:30 P.M. in the City Council Room of the Municipal Complex.
Members Present —Vice Chairman Lisa Willis, Derald Porter, Cathy Gifford and Lonnie London,
TOTMA. Members Absent: Chairman Vicki Davis (surgery) and Paul Gibson. Others Present —
Planning Assistant Julie Copple
Historic District Commission Vice Chairman Lisa Willis called the meeting to order at 5:30 P.M.
The first item on the agenda was to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. A correction
to the minutes to add the word "angled" before the word parking. A motion was made by Lonnie
London and seconded by Cathy Gifford to accept the minutes as corrected. The motion was
approved unanimously.
Next item on the agenda was going to be a discussion with Linda Sloan -Norwood. Unfortunately,
Ms. Sloan -Norwood was unable to attend tonight and will be put on the agenda for next month.
Vice Chairman Lisa Willis stated she is involved with a new 501C(3) organization called Crown Hill
Cemetery Association. They are working on getting their tax exemption. The purpose is to preserve,
maintain and restore Crown Hill cemetery and other African American cemeteries including Bill
Cemetery, St. Paul and Shibley. The organization wants to start with Crown Hill, and take one at a
time. The Crown Hill Cemetery Association approached Vice Chairman Willis in October to seek
her involvement. The organization would like to meet with Randy Smith to help with the process
and get some guidance.
The next item on the agenda was a geocache and window sign update. Derald Porter stated he is
working on the geocache coins for next spring. He also stated Maryl Koeth from the A&P
Commission has some ideas and money, concerning the window signs. Her suggestion is to use
plaques instead of signs on the outside of the building. Vice Chairman Lisa Willis will contact Maryl,
to see if she would be available to speak at our next meeting. Mr. Porter suggested we have a
prototype of the window sign, and then we can compare it with the plaques. Vice Chairman Lisa
Willis stated we will plan on changing out the brochures for geocache in March of 2016.
Next item was other business. Vice Chairman Lisa Willis mentioned sending flowers and a card to
Chairman Vicki Davis, all the commission was in agreement. She is home recovering from surgery.
The commission discussed how to get the ball rolling on meeting with the other agencies on a
quarterly basis so we can all be working together. Vice Chairman Lisa Willis will speak with Jackie
Krutch from the Chamber of Commerce to see if she could possibly be the one to facilitate. This
could be on a quarterly or bi-annual time frame.
A motion was made by Derald Porter and seconded by Cathy Gifford to adjourn. The motion was
approved unanimously.
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Vickie Davis, Chairman
Joseph Hurst, Planning Director