Committee Minutes
Grand Forks Historic Preservation Commission
1405 First Avenue North
Grand Forks, ND 58203
701-772-8756
Meeting Minutes
January 9, 2007
7:00 p.m.
City Hall
Present: Sandy Slater, Vice Chair, Chuck Flemmer, Gordon Iseminger, Ted Jelliff, Cory Lien,
Gerad Paul, Dale Sickels
Others: Peg O’Leary
Motion:
to approve the minutes of the December 12, 2006 meeting. (Flemmer, Jelliff)
Motion carries.
Chair Report
– None
Coordinator Report
– Peg O’Leary
Web Site Proposal Selection – O’Leary explained that six proposals were received by the deadline; five are from Grand Forks and one from out of state. She distributed an evaluation sheet (attached) that outlines how the proposals responded to various criteria delineated in the Request for Proposals Scope of Work (attached). Two proposals were eliminated because they require the site to be hosted by their company; a question arose regarding ownership of the web site in light of this requirement. One company was eliminated because the web sites they cited as examples seemed to be a poor fit with the web goals of the Commission and certain criteria in the SOW were not addressed in the proposal. Another company was eliminated because the timeline criterion was not addressed in the proposal and a number of typos and other errors in the resume and proposal were regarded as a lack of attention to detail that could be problematic during the development of the web site. The remaining two proposals (JBA Web Design and SimmonsFlint) had various positive attributes: both would consult on host sites, both had completed web sites that exemplify the Commission goals for its web site, both offer user testing (in different degrees), SimmonsFlint had a perceived advantage in its established reputation and permanence, JBA offers staff training and a “how-to” manual as part of the package. It was noted that CivicPlus would be an excellent fit for the Commission, given its expertise in working with government entities and the level of quality exhibited in the example web sites, but the ownership of the web site and the budget ($960/yr) for hosting the site were serious road blocks. Paul asked whether proposers had addressed the quantity of data they were willing to process for the budgeted amount; O’Leary said some had (about ten pages usually).
Motion:
to narrow the decision to JBA Web Design and SimmonsFlint; O’Leary will resolve the outstanding questions and recommend a choice. (Jelliff, Lien)
Amendment:
to delegate the decision to O’Leary so as not to delay the start of the process.
(Paul; accepted as
friendly
amendment by Jelliff and Lien)
Discussion: Slater wondered whether O’Leary would check into the ownership/budget situation with CivicPlus; O’Leary will.
Motion carries as amended.
2007 Meeting Dates – Copies of the meeting dates were dispersed. (Attached)
Campbell House – The State Historic Preservation Office has notified us that the Campbell House has been formally reinstated on the NRHP by the federal government.
Replacement Windows Handout – O’Leary distributed copies of an article that looks at a broad range of impacts resulting from changing out historic fabric for new wood, vinyl or metal windows and some new types of glass.
St. Michael’s Hospital and Nurses’ Residence – The Corps is still looking for sandstone samples to match the building. Limestone will not be used for the capstone of the flood wall.
Other Business
Lustron House – Iseminger asked how the house is coming; O’Leary said there hasn’t been much progress. She has shared with Urban Development her concerns about the Lustron house panels that are on site. Curt Siewert and Meredith Richards have agreed to work on it.
Historic Photos – Sickels showed historic photo postcards, from the Egeland and Newville areas of North Dakota,
which had been part of his grandfather’s collection. His grandfather was a pioneer photographer in Montana. The photos have been donated to Special Collections at the UND Chester Fritz Library.
Meeting adjourned.
8:15 p.m.
The next regular meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007, in room A101, City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Peg O’Leary
Coordinator