P.A.H.S. Meeting of 3/22/2010

The meeting was called to order by Chris at 7:00pm at the PACE meeting room in Glenbrook Elementary School.

Those attending were Marian Schroeder, John Mihalko, Larry Puzen, Jim Zajac, Doris Malcheski, Larry Szymanski, Harry Slezewski, Sharon Bauer, Diane Wichlacz, Chris Jaworski, and Norine Heuser. Absent were Pat & Bob Budz and Tammy Brzeczkowski.

The secretary’s report from the 2/22/10 meeting was read by those attending. A correction was noted in the amount of funds that had been raised for the Stone Barn Fund to that point. They were incorrectly recorded as $21,000.00 and corrected to read $2,100.00.  A motion to accept the report was made by Larry Puzen and seconded by Jim Zajac.  Motion carried. 

The treasurer’s report was read by Larry Szymanski .The checkbook balance as of 03/22/2010 was $8,176.16 with cash received of $688.00 less expenses of $601.64. Larry said Citizens Bank donated a new stamp for our check endorsing.  Sharon made a motion to accept the report and Diane seconded. Motion carried.

Chris said he found out we need to file a form with the state to hold a raffle. Our current license expires 8/11/2010 so if anyone has any thoughts of what we could do for a raffle, let Chris know. 

The Wisconsin Council for Local History sent Chris a survey asking him if our society would have any interest in their hosting our website. They also asked for a $15 donation. Chris will fill out the survey but not send a donation.

Marian said Bernadine Torznik asked the high school to make a plaque to showcase the 9 people responsible for getting Pulaski incorporated. John will check with the school to see what their understanding of this project is. Jim will check with Keith Chambers to see if the village would display it outside the village hall. The members thought it would be a good idea to have the PAHS present this to the village for the centennial. 

Pat Budz, in an email to Chris, asked if anyone had any thoughts on the displays we were asked to do for the centennial. John said he would like to showcase local farmers, military, religious life, car dealers, elected officials, industrial leaders etc that have made a major contribution to Pulaski. He will also check to see why the photos of the former graduates are not being displayed anywhere. Jim will check to see about getting information from Alvin Styczynski and Mike Ryba. 

The bake sale is May 7^th and Pat will be taking care of this when she returns. 

Chris reported the Stone Barn Foundation received a $50,000.00 donation from Baytek/MCL/ALS.

He then read an email from Pat Budz that stated she feels more discussion is necessary before we make a donation to the Stone Barn Fund when we need to maintain our own budget. She feels our members and donors give money to our society to help fund our society. Bob Budz also wrote that when their church collects money for a certain cause, it can only be used for that cause.

Chris responded that 1/3 of the Stone Barn will be used as a museum and we will also have the ability to expand our museum to a different site. Larry Puzen suggested we table this for now and discuss it at the next meeting. 

John Mihalko asked if we could have committee reports. This will be done.

Marian said the Spring Newsletter needs to be out before the bake sale. It will include a note from the president, bake sale and centennial information, an old ad for the phone company since they are also celebrating their 100^th year in business as well as a list of our officers and board of directors.   She asked if we can use the chamber of commerce postage permit since we are now a member. This will be checked with Gloria Morgan. Marian also asked if anyone has any ideas for the newsletter to let her know. John would like to include a message asking local residents to submit stories and pictures regarding local families. The committee is Chris, Marian, and Pat Budz. Diane & Sharon also volunteered to help. The deadline is mid April.

Chris will be attending an Archaeology Seminar on April 30^th in Prairie du Chien sponsored by the Wisconsin Historical Society. He will learn how to identify, display and preserve collections. If anyone is interested in going, he will drive and the $35 cost will be covered by the PAHS. 

Larry Szymanski reported that both he and Chris will be signing checks. He also reported that we received a donation of $500 from the Frank & Theresa Joswick Fund. We should get a thank you card to sign for the next meeting. He also mentioned we need Theresa to give us the original CD for one at Premier Bank. 

Diane asked if anyone sent Theresa a thank you card for all of her years of service. Jim suggested presenting her with a plaque and/or gift certificate at our annual meeting.

Larry said he contacted the Wisconsin State Historical Society to see if they have a procedure that needs to be followed to enter donations in our bookkeeping system correctly. He is waiting for a reply.

Pat Budz had asked if we could discuss our Open Museum Hours. It was suggested we consider opening the museum for the Farmers Markets, Centennial and Polka Days. The will be talked about when she returns since she is in charge of that schedule. 

Chris asked if anyone has any ideas for the Polka Day Float.  Norine suggested using the buggy in the back of the museum. Harry suggested contacting the Amish to see if they would have a horse or use one of their buggies for the parade. Harold Otto may be able to help with that. Chris said if anyone has any ideas, let him know.

Larry Puzen reported the roof was patched last year and said the parapet wall needs to be flashed and capped. He will get estimates. Jim said he will ask the company who is doing repairs on the church steeple to stop in and give an estimate also. He said the parking lot repairs were successful in keeping the water away from the building. He will also spray the weeds again. Marian asked him to check the light bulb in front of the building.  

Marian told Chris to thank his cousin for helping out the high school by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in Polish. She said she did a beautiful job!

Our next meeting will be April 26^th, 2010 at 7:00 pm in the PACE room of Glenbrook Elementary School.

Jim made a motion to adjourn. Harry seconded it. Motion carried and meeting was ended at 8:30pm.

Minutes taken by Norine Heuser, recording secretary.

to match a donation, the check should be made payable to “Pulaski Area Historical Society” because we are a 501C3 organization.  The Pulaski Area Historical Society has designated a Stone Barn account for such purposes.  So far, $21,000.00 has been raised.

Larry Puzen reported the raffle has been completed. 100 tickets were sold at $1.00/ticket. The amount of money in the bottle was $574.32. The $50 savings bond donated by North Shore Bank was won by Bob Bryfczynski. The $25 gas card was won by a student who goes to Stevens Point and the $15 food card was won by Gloria Krumrai. Larry donated the latter two prizes. Dynamic Design donated the printing of the tickets. The total earned from the raffle was $103.00. Chris will check to see if we need to file a raffle report and thanked Larry for running that event. 

The web site review was reported by Tammy who said it has received 137 hits since its inception. She changed the html coding so when you Google Pulaski history, it shows up on the first page. There is a new photo and a link to the centennial and Stone Barn. When the brochures are finalized, she will add that as well. Anyone who has any old photos or ideas of what should be put on the site should let her know. That website is: www.pulaskiwihistory.com.

The brochures will be finalized in April when Pat returns.

Marian said we received a painted portrait of Count Pulaski from Pete Kurowski. The painting is from the 1800”s and was given to Pete by a man who owned the cigar store in Pulaski. Her daughter, Claudia, checked into getting it restored and the estimate was between $4000-$5000. She stretched it on her own and it is now ready for framing. Larry Puzen made a motion to have it restored for not more than $125.00. Tammy seconded. Motion carried.

Marian said we need to start thinking about the next newsletter. She suggested including information about the centennial, the Stone Barn and some notes from our president. She was also asked by a high school Spanish teacher if anyone knows someone who could recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Polish. Chris said he will contact his cousin. 

Tammy reported on the Pulaski Centennial. The logo is finalized and will be used in all of the marketing. Gina Sanders is putting together a commemorative booklet. Nsight has volunteered to pay for the majority of the printing. Businesses can place ads and they have had a very nice response. John suggested the PAHS buy an ad in the booklet and Tammy will design one and let us know the cost.  Arlen Thayse is working on the website. It will include a list of events including: April 9^th opening at the Pulaski High School, June 6^th Cemetery tour being chaired by Sue Winter, June 27^th Old Timers Softball game and ice cream social, Polka Days parade, Downtown entertainment for the Farmers’ Market on Aug. 21^st, an old car & tractor show in September and the closing ceremonies in October that will include a dinner.  They are working on souvenirs and if anyone can help, Gloria Morgan would appreciate a call. Tammy said they do have a budget available. She thinks the village gave $10,000.00 for that purpose and she will be sure to tell Keith Chambers to be sure everyone knows it is available. 

For the Open Discussion session, Doris asked if we had ever joined the Chamber of Commerce. Tammy will check with Gloria. Larry Puzen made a motion for us to join. Tammy seconded. Motion carried.

Larry Szymanski then asked how we want to handle our years for tax purposes. It had been done fiscally from Oct. 1 to Sept 30^th but in 2008, Theresa changed it to a calendar year. Marian said that was done because of issues she was having with tax filing. Larry provided us all a copy of an Exemption Application he had found showing that we had applied using a calendar year. Larry will check into this with the IRS to see what would be the best way for us to proceed. He will let us know what he finds out and then it should be added to our by-laws.

Jim Zajac said he has been updating the mailing list but if anyone else wanted to take it over, he would have no objections.  We all felt he is doing a great job and should continue to do so.

Chris mentioned if anyone ever wants to go to a workshop to learn about anything that would help our historical society; they would be reimbursed for the price of the workshop.

Our next meeting will be March 22, 2010 at 7:00pm in the PACE room of Glenbrook Elementary School.

Norine made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Tammy seconded. Meeting ended at 9:18pm.

Minutes taken by Norine Heuser, recording secretary.