The membership meeting was held at Hauberg Civic Center and was hosted by Pam Saunders who provided refreshments. There were ten members present.

President - Linda Anderson called the meeting to order.

Vice President - Pam Saunders: The meeting schedule for the next three months will be as follows – Diane Oestreich, November 17; Pete & Terri Cone, December 15, and Linda Anderson, January 19. The December meeting will be more social, with everyone asked to bring an hors d’oeuvre or dessert to share.

Secretary - Diane Oestreich emailed the minutes of the September meeting.

Treasurer - Terri Cone reported a balance of $4907.13 but still has a $50 newsletter check outstanding. Our CD has been renewed and has a balance of $1323.14.

Corresponding Secretaries - Martha Dismer will need material for an early November newsletter. Several items were discussed. We decided that Pete Cone will write something about window repair. Jody Zwiefel suggested a “meet the members” type column. This was received enthusiastically. After some discussion of format, it was decided that Martha will generate questions that we can use in each newsletter to “interview” our members.

Committee Reports/Business

1. Neighborhood Partners:
   Pete Cone and Linda reported on a School-Neighborhood task force that includes “Safe Routes to School” which is intended to encourage walking and bicycling. Things that are being studied included sidewalks/access on both east and west sides of the Villa school; car routing, especially when students are being dropped off and picked up; analysis of where students live; and how they get to school currently. The RIPS interest for preservation is particularly relevant to maintaining the historic brick streets as low traffic, especially from heavy vehicles and to encourage neighborhood schools which are close enough to permit walking.

2. Website:
   Pete Cone is STILL waiting for pictures of the 2008 Award winners. Ways to improve the website were discussed. It was decided to devote a large part of a meeting – probably November – to a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses in our website. Homework is assigned – compare RIPS website to others, which things do you like and dislike about them? Is it easy to find what you are looking for? Who do we imagine as the audience for the website? Are we meeting that need – is it functional? What should be included that is now missing? Is the website user friendly for those who have slow dialup connections (it was noted that many folks are reverting to dialup to save money in these difficult economic times). How do we publicize the existence of the website and its resources?

   Pete does intend to revise the website, but would like to have needs discussed first.

3. Endangered Properties /Preservation Projects:
   Linda has taken the architect to see the parch pieces at the storage site. Although the pieces are numbered, there is no key to the numbering. She will contact the person who disassembled the arch.
   Diane said she’d run into Bruce Harding, architect for the new Villa school and asked about the foundations which had been found on the site. He said they were not pre-Villa as we had understood, but were small buildings that were replaced later. Diane asked him to show them on a sketch sometime, just to complete the historic record.

4. Hauberg landscape walking tour brochure and/or History booklet:
   Mike Hammer, Jean Dasso It was too dark to look at the area involved. Jean is writing some narrative, but we will need to do a walk through, probably some weekend day, to aid her and provide direction.

5. Hauberg Art:
   Diane has ordered the print from Summit Graphics. Three members also ordered a copy of the print. We are hoping either Cynthia Empen or Jeff Dismer will make the mats to frame them. Diane has a frame that will work.

6. Hauberg Tree Decoration:
   We have again been asked to decorate the entryway tree at Hauberg on December 3 & 4 and be present for the public open house “Winter in Bloom” on Sunday, December 6. Pete and Teri are willing to dress in costume for a couple of hours for that open house. Diana Alm also has a nice costume and may work. We are quite sure we will find people to decorate the tree and will ask for commitments in November. Linda will check with Debbie Weston to see if the existing ornaments are still available. It was noted that many of them are shabby and should be discarded. Suggestions for appropriate historic type ornaments included crocheted snowflakes & angels and origami tulips. Some member indicated they had some snowflakes that could be used. Ribbons were also suggested. The prevailing theme of the ornaments is burgundy and pink.

7. Rodman House Artifacts:
   Diane said that she believed some of the artifacts salvaged by RIPS from the Rodman House are still stored in Old Lincoln School. The Broadway neighborhood has received permission to auction items stored in the school in exchange for cleaning it out. Diane will look to see what is there from the Rodman house and RIPS will decide its disposition. She believed we may have saved the porch columns after the fire which destroyed the house. These could probably be reused in Old Chicago area restorations.

8. Other Business:
   A general discussion of the Villa site ensued. Suggestions for possible contributions ranged from a bike rack to tree planting to a bench. Partial restoration of the 16th Avenue entry wall was also a high priority. Noting that our funds are quite limited, given the cost of most items, it was decided to contact the schools and see what would be appropriate. Jody will follow up with this and Linda will provide the contact info for the landscape committee which already exists. One suggestion was to ensure that a new message board, which will surely be built, will be compatible with the adjacent historic neighborhoods. Martha suggested looking at the message board on Harrison just south of Locust (Young Jr. High?) and one at St. Pius/Jordan with an Indiana Limestone base as examples of signs which show more architectural design than typical.

Announcements & General:
Everyone is invited to a free walking tour of downtown Moline, led by Curt Roseman of the Moline Preservation Society. It takes place on Saturday, October 24, 9:30 - 11:00 am and starts at Model Printers, 310 15th Street. “On this leisurely walk we will trace the evolution of the downtown business district from the nineteenth century to today. We will focus on evidence of the past in today's downtown landscape. Included is a handout with twenty historical photographs of downtown scenes.”

Vintage house plan books for sale: Former RIPS president, and activist Barbara Young-Nessler now living in Wisconsin, but still a RIPS member, asks…. Is there any interest in house plan magazines from the 1940s? One of my consignors brought some in with a ton of other paper stuff (ephemera). Contact her at B. Young's Fine Consign, 135 Church Avenue, Oshkosh WI 54901, Phone 920-235-6020

ADJOURNMENT - on a motion by Terri, seconded by Pete

Diane Oestreich
(309) 788-1845
blueskies78900@yahoo.com