The meeting of the BAHS was called to order at 8:00pm at the Public Library with only 8 members
present.
Minutes were read & approved by Joe Greiwe & seconded by Margie Wilhelm.
Treasurer’s report by Margie Wilhelm was read & approved.
Membership report was given by Margie Wilhelm with 62 members paid.
The free membership luncheon was announced. It is to be January 31, 2008 at the Hillcrest Country
Club at 11:45.
Jean had 20 new Postcard scenes printed at Mc Phearson’s. She had 200 cards printed from each scene
for a total of 4000 postcards for a price of .13 each. Total $520.00.
An update on the new home for the BAHS museum was given. 2 locations are being considered.
The old Buck Building & the Jake Flannery house on Walnut St next to the Library.
An executive committee has been formed to comply with our articles of incorporation. They are:
John Dickey, Tim Dietz, John Harmeyer, Dee Dee Kaiser, Elsa Soderberg & Jean Struewing.
They will meet periodically during the year, aside form our monthly meetings.
Attending the Farm-City Banquet took the place of our regular November meeting. The Historical
Society’s History presentation was a big success; everyone enjoyed the slides & the history
lesson.
A letter was read from the Ripley Co Historical Society asking us to help get information about
Ripley Co Veterans from W W II. Jean passed out forms that need to be filled out & sent to Norris
Krall at Versailles.
Jean explained about the book proposal that she is working on to print a book about Batesville in
pictures by means of the Arcadia Publishing Co.
More donations have been received since the last newsletter.
Respectively submitted by Jean Struewing in the absence of Paul Wonning.
The March meeting of the Batesville Area Historical Society was held on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at the
Batesville Memorial Public Library. President Jean Struewing called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM
with twenty one members in attendance.
President Jean Struewing read the minutes from the January meeting. A motion to approve the minutes
as read was advanced by Joe Griewe, seconded by Ginny Stewart and approved by voice vote.
Treasurer Margie Wilhelm gave the treasurer's report. Don Karbowski motioned to approve the report, and was
seconded by Joyce Kirshner.
Membership chair Joan Karbowski reported a membership of seventy seven. The Membership Luncheon held
at Hillcrest Country Club on January 31, 2008 resulted in ten new members. It was suggested that we
hold two membership drives per year. There will be more discussion about this proposal.
Jean Struewing has made up twenty new postcards which are offered for sale at the Sherman House, the
Hampton Inn and the Chamber of Commerce office.
A form was passed around during the meeting for the purpose of collecting member's email addresses.
We need these so we can contact members in a more efficient manner.
Norris and JoAnn Krall of Versailles, Indiana are compiling a book which will be entitled "Ripley
County's Greatest". The volume will contain information about World War II veterans and their
photographs. Forms to fill in information about the veteran are available from Mr. and Mrs.
Krall.
A book about Batesville will be published by Arcadia Publishing Company. The information is being
compiled by Jean Struewing, the deadline in August. Our president requests assistance with
proofreading and other tasks necessary to complete the project. The cost to publish this book to
BAHS is nothing. Arcadia will pay the costs to publish it.
Tim Dietz of the Hill-Rom Company gave a brief and informative presentation on the progress of
acquiring a building to use as a new home for the Batesville Historical Society Museum. There are
two buildings currently under serious consideration. One is on Sycamore Street, near downtown,
referred to as the Old Buck Building. The other is on Walnut Street adjacent to the Batesville
Memorial Public Library. The Buck Building has over 6000 square feet on three floors and would
need very little renovation. The Walnut Street property is a much better location but is only
3000 square feet and would require more work to make it suitable. Current sentiments are more in
favor of the Buck Building.
At this point the board is moving slowly on the acquisition. The reason being that funds to purchase
the building are almost available, but a revenue stream to maintain the facility after it is purchased
does not exist. Two options are being explored. One is to lease the building for a period of
time and see how it works out. The lease would be $1600 per month, with some of the utilities included
in the price. The other option being explored is to purchase the building and lease the upper two
floors. This would provide some income to fund the eminence of the building. As the Society's needs
grow, we could allow the leases to expire and then use the space for our own purposes.
A question and answer session followed the presentation.
Question 1
If the society were to buy and lease the two top floors, what type of use is suitable for the
space?
Answer - Commercial office space. We should not have a hard time leasing the space as the current
owner has had calls about it.
Question 2 - The Buck building has good parking, but the Walnut St property has limited parking.. How can this be
resolved?
Answer - This is one of the problems the board is looking at. There are some issues with parking, but
there are solutions.
Question 3 - If we buy, would it be a mortgage situation.
Answer - We are close to having the funding to buy it outright. The building price is $200,000, and
we have around $120,000
Question 4 - Would we be better off with a building in a better location?
That is one question the board is addressing. The Buck Building is a bit out of the way, but it would be a draw for the downtown area.
Question 5 - Is an elevator mandatory?
Answer - Only for a new building. An older building it is not necessary. Over time we may want to
install one.
The Old Batesville State Bank building downtown was also briefly considered. The owners do not want
to sell.
Question 6 - What are the next steps on acquiring the building? <
Answer - This will be discussed during the Executive meeting Thursday, March 20, 2008. The officers
of the Board need to be in place and then decisions can be made. Steps are being taken to assure that
the officers of BAHS are not held financially responsible for anything.
At the end of the meeting a CD was played which recounted the history of the composition of the Star
Spangled Banner.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Margie Wilhelm, seconded by Sally Widener. The meeting
adjourned at 7:50 PM.
Batesville Area Historical Society
April 15, 2008 Meeting Minutes
The general membership meeting was held at the Batesville Public Library community conference room. Attendance was high with over 35 BAHS members present. Several critical agenda items were discussed with the membership.
1. The BAHS meeting was called to order by Jean Struewing, President of the BAHS.
2. Minutes from the March 17, 2008 BAHS meeting were reviewed by Jean Struewing and approved. The minutes provided participating members with an update on finance, membership, dues, the new book release, and progress on the BAHS building acquisition.
3. Marge Wilhelm presented the treasurer’s report:
A Motion to approve the Treasurer’s report was made by Jean Struewing and approved by Bill Van Hook and second by Joe Griewe.
4. Joan Karbowski presented the membership report stating BAHS has 76 current members.
5. A "general topics" discussion was facilitated by Jean Struewing.
a. A WWII Veterans Book will be authored by Norris and JoAnn Krall from Versailles, IN and titled "Ripley County’s Greatest". Jean made a request for information from the BAHS membership asking members to notify her or the Krall family of WWII veterans in the area.
b. Copies of "The Walking Tour of Batesville" brochure were requested by the Ripley County tourism office. Jean Struewing updated the brochure and submitted it to Katherine Taul of the tourism office.
c. A "photo book" featuring Batesville’s historical sites and its people will be authored by Jean Struewing and published by Arcadia Publishing. Jean described that there is no cost to publish the book and that she has targeted to have the book available by Christmas 2008. There was a robust discussion and several suggestions were made from the membership about the cover of the book, how many copies were needed to print, pre-selling advertisements in the local newspaper and on the net, as well as questions about the price of the book and revenue it will create for the BAHS. Jean informed the membership that the BAHS will address each issue and provide a full report to the membership. It was also agreed that interested BAHS members would submit their favorite Batesville historical picture(s) at the May 20th membership meeting to be considered and nominated as the "book cover".
6. Jean introduced John Dickey, Dan Harmeyer and Tim Dietz to provide the officer and director’s report.
a. John Dickey presented the approved BAHS Board of Directors and Executive Committees and their agreed upon service terms.
BAHS Board of Directors Class I Directors: (Serving 1 Year Terms)
Jean Struewing - President, 1Year
Tim Dietz - Board Member, 1 Year
Don Karbowski - Vice President, 1Year
Class II Directors: (Serving 2 Year Terms)
Dan Harmeyer - Board Member, 2 Years
John Dickey - Board Member, 2 Years
Paul Wonning - Secretary, 2 Years
Class III Directors: (Serving 3 Year Terms)
Juanita "Dee Dee" - Kaiser - Board Member, 3 Years
Margie Wilhelm - Treasurer, 3 Years
BAHS Committees Executive Committee
John Dickey, Chair
Jean Struewing
Paul Wonning
Joan Karbowski
Finance Committee
Dan Harmeyer, Chair
Margie Wilhelm
Tim Dietz
Marketing and Membership
Don Karbowski, Chair
Juanita "Dee Dee" Kaiser
b. Dan Harmeyer presented a detailed Finance update informing the membership of the BAHS’s total liquid assets and how each account was currently managed. Mr. Harmeyer then presented the membership with a Finance Committee update on activities. Mr. Harmeyer stated the Finance Committee would establish controls around financial decisions, specifically, these controls would require policy for the expenditure of BAHS funds, contracts, budgeting, as well as establishing a Financial calendar which considers tax returns, etc. Mr. Harmeyer also informed the membership the Finance Committee would investigate consolidating BAHS banking with the objective of maximizing return of liquid assets at lowest possible risk. Also, Mr. Harmeyer stated that the Finance Committee would establish and appropriate frequency to update the membership on BAHS financial matters.
Mr. Harmeyer presented a balance sheet scenario to the BAHS membership describing expenses and debt liabilities if a property acquisition was made. The "Buck" building was used as an example. Annual operating expenses were estimated at $32,100.00, with $17,200.00 mortgage or lease payments as the primary expense. This was compared to annual income of $10,900.00 of which $7,800 is generated from partial rental of the property. Membership dues, fundraising, and interest income generates $3100.00. Subsequently, the estimated annual deficit would be $21,200.00. Mr. Harmeyer advised the membership that BAHS is not financially prepared to acquire property at this time. He stated that the BAHS must significantly add to its liquid assets prior to an acquisition thus appropriately covering operating expenses for several years in the future.
c. Tim Dietz provided the membership with an update on it’s property and building investigation. Mr. Dietz described the "Buck" building situation stating the sale price was $200,000.00 reduced from $269,000.00. Mr. Dietz stated the building was in good repair and was a good price. Mr. Dietz suggested to the membership that even though the property was offered at a great price the BAHS, per Mr. Harmeyer’s counsel, should decline the offer due to inadequate BAHS funds. The membership was in agreement with Mr. Dietz and Mr. Harmeyer.
Mr. Dietz also informed the membership that the Canfield House is on the market and that he would investigate the property and selling price. The membership discussed the great possibilities that could be presented to the BAHS if this type of property was acquired. The expansive property could be used for revenue generation and fund raising. Joe Greiwe suggested a thorough inspection would be required as residences do not have the same weight bearing strong structures that exist with commercial structures.
7. Comments from the membership were solicited by Jean Struewing. Members Tim Dietz, John Dickey, Ham Struewing, and John Schuerman provided several excellent ideas to improve the BAHS fund raising activities such as writing a grant for Hillenbrand Foundation funds, state grants, and working with the City of Batesville to apply for funding.
A motion was made to adjourn the meeting by Jean Struewing at approximately 8:30 P.M. Motion was approved by Mr. Richter and second by Mr. Bill Van Hook. Top Of Page
