There are several things going on with the Heritage Network and Preserve America in Stevens County. You may have seen the coverage in the Statesman Examiner of the large certificate showing Stevens County’s designation as a Preserve America Community, that was signed by Laura Bush. It was donated to the Stevens County Historical Society by the Stevens County Commissioners on Saturday, May 3rd at the opening of the Keller Museum for the season.
Since then I (Joseph Barreca) met with the Stevens County Commissioners on Monday, May 12th. We now have an official Stevens County Preserve America Steering Committee. It will be their duty to set priorities for Preserve America activities and funds in Stevens County and to approve expenditures toward those priorities.
The following Stevens County residents have volunteered to serve on the Steering Committee for Preserve America efforts in Stevens County.
Louanne Atherly – Heritage Design, history interpretation specialist
Dave Keeley – City of Kettle Falls Planner
Gabriel Cruden – grant writer for Mary Walker School District, Colville Economic Improvement Committee
Ed Miller – Interested Citizen, City of Colville
Lela Taylor – Springdale Citizen, Commissioner Candidate
Janet Thomas - President of the Stevens County Historical Society, founder of the Heritage Network.
This makes it possible to actually accrue money and spend it for Preserve America. The county will hold funds in the General Expense part of its budget for these activities.
The first activity I am suggesting to the Steering Committee, is deploying Preserve America Signs around the county in places where they can also help travelers find Museums. In a typical situation, a Preserve America sign would be placed within a city with another sign on the same post pointing the way to a local museum. Originally we had considered having these signs at the entrances and exits to the county and most cities. That idea has been pared back to having them at 3 major portals and these signs within the cities.
The good news is that we have found a local source for the signs. They are multicolored enamel baked onto the sign metal, 2’ x 3’. The cost is similar to that of the Post Falls company that supplies them to the nation, around $200 each. More good news is that the commissioners have verbally agreed to support half the cost of the signs from the Hotel-Motel tax money. Those monies are usually handled on a re-imbursement basis. They also think the county sign crew can help install the signs and provide posts etc.
So we will be working on two goals here. First, this post will be sent to the new members of the PA Steering Committee for discussion and to approve the goal. We will see if we can do that on line and come to an agreement. Second, we will need to contact local museums to see if they want their own Preserve America sign and can solicit matching funds locally.
That part might seem convoluted to the museums, but it is part of a more long term plan. We will be informing the Preserve America officials in Washington DC of our activities. That will give both sides of the partnership some recognition. We will also be building relationships with other local businesses, clubs, governments etc. We will be able to use our tax-exempt status to credit their donations, something the county cannot do, and we will be showing that we have community support, something that will be crucial in gaining grant monies for historical research and preservation.