Rutledge Ad Hoc Historic Committee 2025.09.04

Call to order (Andrew Marques):
- The first meeting of Rutledge’s Ad Hoc Historic Committee was called to order at 6:31pm Thursday 9/4/2025 at 212 Unity Terrace, Rutledge, PA 19070 (Rutledge’s Lower Hall).
Roll call (Andrew Marques):
- Jody Roberts — Excused
- Andrew Marques — Present
- Robert Morbeck — Present
- Roxanne H. Ward — Present
- Alan McPherson — Present
Special orders:
- Preview of Ideas/Committee Introductions (All members share their vision of the Ad Hoc Historic Committee, 2-4 minutes per person) (20 minutes total)
  - Kevin Cunningham: Introduction, former mayor
  - Robert Morbeck: Introduction, excited about the semiquincentennial
  - Randy Poe: introduction, interested in local history and history of personal homes
  - Pam Poe: Introduction, professor, organist, and has experience with videography for interviews
  - Alan McPherson: Introduction, history professor
  - Andrew Marques: Research scientist and hobbist historian, interested in working with the committee on (1) material archiving, (2) capturing the personal “Rutledge Experience”, (3) facilitating sharing the history with neighbors
  - Roxanne Ward: Introduction, professional excited to work with the history for the group
  - Chris Gradle: Introduction, has many ideas including making a pocket park at the end of Linden and oral history project
- Election of Officers (10 minutes):
  - Elect of Chair
    - Andrew nominated by Robert Morbek, seconded by Roxanne Ward. The committee voted unanimously in favor of appointing Andrew Marques as chair.
  - Elect Vice Chair
    - Robert Morbeck self nominated and seconded by Andrew Marques. The committee voted unanimously in favor of Robert Morbeck as vice chair.
- Operational decisions:
  - Establish meeting frequency and location (5 minutes)
    - Location: all in favor of the lower hall
    - Time: TBD when all present and fall schedules are available. A When2meet will be sent by Andrew by 9/22/2025 to schedule the October meeting.
  - Review and affirm primary objectives as outlined in the Borough Council resolution establishing the committee (5 minutes)
    - Objectives were clear.
  - Compilation of questions for Borough Council guidance (5 minutes), including:
    - Restrictions on committee activities (fundraising, hosting events, town halls, partnerships, etc.)
    - Channels of communication with Borough Council
    - Expected deliverables by the end of committee’s term
    - What is the budget? Can we have a process for asking for money?
    - What happens if there are two people on the council that are on the committee?
- What’s in a name? Brief presentation on the speculated origins of Rutledge’s name by Robert Morbeck (10 minutes).
New business (5 minutes):
- Future meeting topics:
  - How to advertise to the public?
  - How to poll people?
  - What are potential projects?
  - How do we prepare for the semiquincentennial?
  - How do we prepare oral history? Alan: having documents can help jog memory and encourage accuracy. Pam: An oral history could feature Samuel Lemon. He was a Quaker and very active in finding the real stories in our area.
Announcements:
- The next meeting will be held in lower borough hall with a date and time TBD. The topic for next meeting will be:
  - (1) How to survey public opinion
  - (2) Identify a list of projects and allow members to decide which projects they want to work on
  - (3) Brainstorm ideas for how Rutledge can celebrate the semiquincentennial.
Adjournment:
- The meeting adjourned at 7:37 pm.